Mandarin Orange Mead

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Peter D Day

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Getting close to Christmas and the grocery stores are full of Mandarin oranges. Anyone make a mead using these sweet juicy oranges....other than Joe's Ancient Orange.
 
My primary fermenter has 5 gallons of Mandarin and Navel orange mead. I'll be adding vanilla beans prior to bottling.

I've made Eric the Viking with Mandarin oranges that would have been exceptional had I negated the pineapple and clove.
 
Thanks for the reply Morgynne. How much pounds of mandarins and oranges did you use for 5 gallons? What yeast did you use? Cheers
 
12 oranges, peeled and stripped (aka get all the white gunk off). I also froze them prior to coax out as much sweetness as I could get.
I added 1 cup of fresh juice from another 4-5 oranges and the zest of 2 oranges. I also added the zest of one large Meyer's lemon and its juice.

I prefer to use lalvin (QA23) because this stuff will eat through anything you give it...even during fridged winter (like now). But be warned.. you absolutely have to mind the batch if you are going for a sweet melomel. This yeast will dry it up quickly if you're not minding the batch closely. You could end up with 18% alcohol but no (good) flavor.

If this batch ends up being awesome, I will post the full recipe.
 
Thanks for the reply Morgynne. That really sounds like it will be tasty. Can you tell me at what SG you plan to stop fermentation? Cheers
 
Mandarins may be sweet before fermented but might they be as sour as oranges when you remove all their sugars? In my opinion, oranges are one fruit that need to be diluted with water to reduce their sharpness. Never tried to make a wine or mead from mandarins but I would be cautious. My preference would be a) to base the flavor on the zest (the surface of the peel) and to back sweeten ... But I may be wayyy off base when it comes to mandarins.
 
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