Malkore's (not so) Ancient Orange Mead

[pgrevie]

Changed my plan a little bit. I am doing the staggered nutrients according to High Test's methods. They can be found in the Mead Forum FAQ section. I also added about 50 raisins. The 71b yeast is no joke. It's already bubbling away like crazy. It's only been 6 hours.

 

[sielm]

I'll be bottling this tomorrow. It's been on the primary fermentor for about 4 months and a half and it's probably completely done. I will use 0.5 liter brown swing top bottles to store and age the mead, I'll post pics if I get a camera!
Cheers!

 

[pgrevie]

I've been thinking about how to bottle. 375ml is too small and 750ml is too large. Will probably end up using swing tops too.

 

[jonmohno]

Ive noticed alot of discussion,not just in this thread about wyeast/whitelabs mead yeast being stuck or not fermenting. I just think that all with this problem should have been making a starter with them and they were not.

 

[sielm]

I'll be bottling this tomorrow. It's been on the primary fermentor for about 4 months and a half and it's probably completely done. I will use 0.5 liter brown swing top bottles to store and age the mead, I'll post pics if I get a camera!
Cheers!

Well, after some troubled weeks I finally bottled my version (used D-47 yeast instead) today. It's been in the fermentor for 5 months and a half, and it did NOT clear completely. It is in fact pretty cloudy. I bottled using 0.5 liter swing top brown glass bottles.

I collected a sample to check for gravity and it ended @ 1.002 (from a SG of 1.092, so the ABV is somewhere around 12% yay!). The flavour is nice as is, it has some sweetness to it, and somehow reminds of a flavourful strong beer or wine, but it leans more towards the dry side. I love the stuff

It is already drinkable, but I will allow at least 1 month into the bottle before popping open the first one. Awesome recipe, thanks a lot Malkore!

 

[Scots_Pagan]

Just put me one of these on; got a SG of 1.090; added some raisins as well. 4 hours in and already I've got an inch of foam and a bubble every 9.1 seconds, so it's definitely going to be alcohol.
Pretty miffed about the smell though; I used the cheapest honey I could lay my hands on and it has no aroma, but this was just an experiment with the cheapest ingredients I can get...

 

[Headybrew]

Hi,

I'm a cider fan, but this is my first meade.
I started a batch of this on 11/15/2013 using D-47 yeast, oh, and 4 clementines instead of the orange. I'm racking to secondary today and it tastes fantastic, even though it is only 2 months old. Now I'm wishing I made a bigger batch.

Yeast: Lalvin ICV D-47
Batch Size: 2 gallons

Gravity:
2013-11-15 1.108 orig
2014-01-04 1.012 racked to secondary @ 50 days
Gravity drop 0.096
ABV est. 13.5% (which is about what I expected from D47)
Taste: Moderately sweet, fruity, mildly spicy, yummy.

So how long should I wait before bottling this? I almost want to just bottle it right away...

Thanks everyone for the great info in this thread, and Malkore for the recipe.

 

[fizgig]

I made this a while back (March?) and the clove totally overtook all the other flavors, I would leave that out next time. Anyone know if clove ages out?

 

[bredle]

Brewed a 1 gallon batch of this this morning, pretty close to the recipe. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few months.

Brew info on the blog, and a photo of the pre-fermenting product below: http://boykingbrewhaus.com/?p=248

 

[johngottshall]

Here is a bottle of this recipe have not tasted it letting it sit and age until next year

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[trbig]

@ John... Anyone who can brew/ferment anything and not taste it at all for a whole year.. is a sign of a seriously sick mind!

I'm going to start up a batch of this tonight. Sams had 5lb bags of mandarin oranges for sale. I poured a glass of regular mead I've got aging and squeezed some juice from one of the mandarins into it. I ended up with almost all the juice from the fruit into the glass (Remember, they're pretty small) before I could have a nice "orangey" aftertaste to it. These mandarins have a nice thin skin and nearly zero white pith between the rind and fruit. I'll probably just slice up all 5 pounds and throw in the carboy to make 4 gallons mead. Also.. I detest anything with cloves, so those won't be added and cinnamon sticks go a long way, so I'll just add two and leave in the carboy.

I've had meads that used the D-47 in them and I could taste the yeast as much as I could taste the honey. Bleh!. I've had really really good luck with the 71B yeast with my wines and it seems to leave no taste of it being there, besides actually accentuating fruity flavors. (To my taste buds anyway) Plus, it's very low foam. I have never had it puke out the airlock yet.

My first basic mead used 3lbs of honey per gallon and I used a Red Star champaign yeast (Equivilent to the EC-1118 yeast) which came out a very dry .990 at just over 15% alc. It's been 6 months with that batch and it's just now getting to the tolerable drinking age to where I can taste something besides jet fuel. So.. This batch, I'll bump up Malkore's honey ratio of 2.5 lbs per gallon to 3 lbs like I used before. 71B yeast is supposed to crap out at the 14% level, just a little short of what I had with the champaign yeast and hopefully leave some sweet, but not sickeningly sweet. I'm not against back-sweetening with some K-meta and sorbate if it turns out too dry. I'll add some energizer and nutrient at the beginning and look at racking to a secondary off the fruit/cinnamon after a month or so if it's stabilized. I'll post back later with the results and probably post a pic of the must this evening if I get it made up.

Thanks for the recipe, Malkore.

 

[trbig]

OK, got my batch done tonight. I added some yeast energizer at 1/2 tsp per gallon and yeast nutrient at 1 tsp per gallon. I ended up with @ 13.5 lbs honey added because I had a partial bottle of honey already, so I used it all along with two new bottles.

I just decided to peel the mandarin ornages. They peel really easily, and once i got going, it only took a few seconds per orange. I'd slice in half then the peel would come off the fruit really easily with almost no white pith remaining.





I sliced the halved oranges across the grain thinly to open up each individual slice for juice transfer to the must.







All the oranges, a couple cinnamon sticks, and topped up with water to almost the 5 gallon mark. (Figure the oranges are displacing close to a gallon) I left a little head room for foam, if any, then I'll top up with water after innitial ferment.





Innitial OG was 1.110. If I can get a F.G. of 1.003-4, that will put me at @ the 14% alc level. Hoping to get at least below a 1.005. Even my mead at the .990 level has some sweetnes to the taste, so I don't want TOO sweet. I figure 2 weeks or so in primary before checking. I've heard some experiencing a rotten fruit smell and I'd like to get the oranges out of there when I can. Oh, I also added two packets of 71B-1122 yeast to help get it going.

When you guys remove the oranges, do you squeeze the liquid out and add back to must? I had thought about even just smashing these oranges up and adding juice/pulp and all, but the slices look prettier! lol.

 

[trbig]

Well, had my first air lock puking from some 71B yeast. I pitched it a little warm at 80 degrees (Tired of waiting for it to cool more) and it was starting to bubble within the first 30 minutes. After two hours, it was really going good. I thought it might happen, so I got the carboy into a bucket before I went to bed. I had a messy carboy to clean up this morning, but at least not a messy counter and floor. I racked off @ a gallon of the liquid and I will re-add that when the ferment calms down some.

 

[aschupner]

This was my first mead. I used like 12-15 cuties instead of a regular orange. I squeezed them first, set that aside and kept the spent oranges. Melted 12.5 lbs of honey in the pot with some water then added the juice and all the squeezed oranges with peels. Added 3 cinnamon stix and 4 cloves and yeast nutrient and energizer. Kept it at 150 for 45 minutes. Then strained into fermentation bucket, left one cinnamon stick during fermentation. Added water up to 5 gallons, and let it cool to room temp. Used Wyeast 4184. OG was at 1.086. Gonna shoot for 3 weeks in the primary then rack off to secondary for couple more weeks. Hoping for around 10-12% alcohol and finish sweet.

 

[aschupner]

Well, had my first air lock puking from some 71B yeast. I pitched it a little warm at 80 degrees (Tired of waiting for it to cool more) and it was starting to bubble within the first 30 minutes. After two hours, it was really going good. I thought it might happen, so I got the carboy into a bucket before I went to bed. I had a messy carboy to clean up this morning, but at least not a messy counter and floor. I racked off @ a gallon of the liquid and I will re-add that when the ferment calms down some.

I always put my fermenter in the tub in the spare bathroom for at least the first week to avoid any explosions.

 

[trbig]

Mine had slowed to nearly zero on ferment with no more air lock activity after 8 days. The orange slices were just sitting there on top looking a bit mummified and dried out, so I decided to get the fruit out of there and racked into secondary yesterday. Today, it's already starting to settle out and clear...





I've got a basic mead I made last July that still isn't cleared all the way. I hope this one doesn't take so long.

 

[The_Bishop]

Mead isn't beer; it's more like wine.

The most important ingredient? Patience.

I have two five gallon carboys full of mead that have been aging for over a year. One of these days I'll get around to bottling it.

 

[PasbitinusBluinusRibbinus]

What is the longest I can leave this on the lees? I'd like to avoid a secondary if possible. It's a month and a half into primary at the moment.

 

[The_Bishop]

It depends a lot on the yeast. If you're going to age it for extended times, rack it into secondary.

 

[CaptainCoJo]

I actually bought the ingredients for joes's version today and I remembered I had a packet of lavin 71b-1122 sitting in my room along with some nutrients and energizer. Should I change anything from his recipe and will this yeast be okay to use and should I use the whole packet? I'll be brewing a gallon.


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[Headybrew]

OK, I bottled this on 2014-04-27.
I couldn't wait any longer. It's tasty!
I'll let it age in the bottles and crack one open now 'n' then to see how it ages...
It clarified fairly well, though it could be slightly better.
Should it taste better warm than cold? Because I think it does, maybe.

I'm thinking about starting a new batch of a different recipe soon. But this was an excellent first attempt.

Thanks to all who have given so much good information in this forum!

Hi,

I'm a cider fan, but this is my first meade.
I started a batch of this on 11/15/2013 using D-47 yeast, oh, and 4 clementines instead of the orange. I'm racking to secondary today and it tastes fantastic, even though it is only 2 months old. Now I'm wishing I made a bigger batch.

Yeast: Lalvin ICV D-47
Batch Size: 2 gallons

Gravity:
2013-11-15 1.108 orig
2014-01-04 1.012 racked to secondary @ 50 days
Gravity drop 0.096
ABV est. 13.5% (which is about what I expected from D47)
Taste: Moderately sweet, fruity, mildly spicy, yummy.

So how long should I wait before bottling this? I almost want to just bottle it right away...

Thanks everyone for the great info in this thread, and Malkore for the recipe.

 

[aschupner]

Mine cleared up quite nicely, but I cheated. I used Super Kleer finings. I agree with you, it does taste better at room temp rather then cold.

 

[Northerngal]

I've racked to secondary, and stabilized with kmeta and sorbate. My plan is to let it bulk age in my carboy. It is already starting to clear, however I ended up with a fair bit of headspace, should I top it up or leave it be? What should I top it up with, if anything? OG of 1.135 FG of 1.009 and it is HOT!


Thank you!

 

[CaptainCoJo]

I want to make this but is there a sweet mead yeast with a wider temp range? I don't have a chamber so I have to just put it in a closet. It's around 70-76 degrees. And I how the must raises temp during fermentation. Any advice?


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[Headybrew]

It's about 10 months after I first pitched the yeast. I racked to secondary @50 days (Could have done it sooner). I bottled at about 4 months.
It has been in the bottles for about 5 months now, and the flavor has mellowed somewhat.

I picked up a nice store-bought mead the other day, Redstone Meadery Traditional Mountain Honey Wine It is very good, and similar to my first attempt at Malkor's NSAOM, so I thought I'd do a side by side comparison.

The color and clarity is almost identical, a nice honey amber, and very clear. I couldn't tell them apart. As for aroma, the store-bought mead had a noticeably stronger pure honey fragrance, though both smelled delicious.

Now for the taste... As predicted by the aroma, the Redstone had a bit more of a honey flavor to it. And my Malkore's was a bit more orangy. I can't really taste the spices in mine... Maybe I can, but I may be mistaking a slightly higher alcohol content for spice. I think mine had a touch higher alcohol content, which is right in line with my 13.5% estimate. The Redstone says 12%.

They are extremely similar. Overall I think the Redstone's is a bit better than mine. But for my first attempt ever, I can't complain at all!

Oh, and at $18/750ml bottle, my Malkore's much less expensive and still ridiculously tasty.

OK, I bottled this on 2014-04-27.
I couldn't wait any longer. It's tasty!
I'll let it age in the bottles and crack one open now 'n' then to see how it ages...
It clarified fairly well, though it could be slightly better.
Should it taste better warm than cold? Because I think it does, maybe.

I'm thinking about starting a new batch of a different recipe soon. But this was an excellent first attempt.

Thanks to all who have given so much good information in this forum!

 

[stella_tigre]

Just made a gallon this morning. Very anxious to see how it comes out! Per recipe except less nutrient and a few halved raisins, used the remaining third of a packet of cider house select yeast. First mead, yay!

 

[edwardgjimenez]

You can definitely use beer bottles, or wine bottles. I find it hard to drink a wine bottle of mead in a sitting though, so 12 oz longnecks work out to a couple wine glasses worth.

depending on the yeast strain used, you could prime or leave it still. both JAOM an MOAM are sweeter meads, so its hard to prime them because they are sweet due to the sugar content exceeding the yeast's attenuation.

of course if you have a keg, you can force carb, and then bottle.

I've read through about 6 pages of this topic looking for an answer to carbonating with priming sugar before bottling (in 12oz beer bottles). This quoted post seems to suggest that further carbonation is not necessary. I know meads are generally not highly or even moderately carbonated. So what is the best answer on this? I don't really want a carbonated mead but I don't want to have it flat either. Thoughts?

 

[JDWebb]

Got mine started on the 22nd, with small variations as I heard 4184 could be a bit finicky and may crap out too early;

Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead yeast
6 pounds honey
zest 3 oranges
3 sticks cinnamon
3 allspice berries
1 tsp superfood
SG: 1.110
ABV: 14.4%
pH - 4.6 (monitored daily, and should come down, but will manage to keep it at 3.6)

Stirred 3 times a day and fed 1tsp nutrient on 2nd stir for 2 days. Will repeat one more day, then just stir once a day for 3 days more.

I have a 5 gallon variation that I started in December, it was racked from my big bucket to a glass carboy for bulk aging last month. At that time, it tasted like an early semi-sweet white wine. I used D47 yeast in that batch.

 

[stella_tigre]

Racked this to secondary a couple of days ago. The Cider House Select yeast blew through almost all the way to 1.000 (started at 1.095 or so.) Whew. So I added some more honey and water back in (back to 1.020,) a bit more nutrients, and another cinnamon and clove. Couldn't taste much spice, but there is some orange.

Hope it comes back down to a nice place, it's burbling slowly along right now. I'll have to monitor the SG and rack it when it gets to 1.010 or so, see if I can hold it there!

 

[JDWebb]

Started on the 22nd at 1.110 SG

2-23-15 Stirred 3 times, fed ½ tsp nutrient
2-24-15 Stirred 3 times, fed ½ tsp nutrient
2-25-15 Stirred 3 times, fed ½ tsp nutrient, 1.054, pH 3.1
2-26-15 Stirred in AM, added ¾ tsp Potassium Carb, pH 3.6, fed ½ tsp nutrient
3-1-15 Stirred PM, 1.018, pH 3.6
3-2-15 racked to 2 1 gallon carboys to finish, 1.010 pH 3.6