Ozinkent is describing a JOAM style recipe. JOAM in itself can be very good.
The whole artical around JOAM can be found here:
http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1938&Itemid=14
The besic recipe is:
1 gallon batch
3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller, rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional - a pinch of nutmeg and allspice (very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon
For a 5 gallon recipe just multiply everything by 5.
Ozinkent's recipe suggestions are a little more basic. Without a few concepts down this will turn out more like jet fuel and will take a long time to age out befor becoming real good.
First of all always add in your honey cold. Spoon it out if you have to. Then just take some warmed water "About as hot as hot tap water" and add that to the remaining honey stuck on the insides of the container to disolve and add to your fermenting bucket/carboy.
Water can be important. If not using good spring water at least make sure your tap water is ran through a good water filter. Hard water can make some off flavors that don't turn out well.
Here would be a break down of what I would think Ozinkent recipe instructions would look like in more detail. Ozinkent please correct anything if you think it looks wrong:
5 Gallon Batch
1 gallon (12lb) Honey
5 oranges peeled, Frozen, Thawed and added to carboy
100 Raisins or golden raisins torn in half
1lb of Briess Golden Light Dry Malt Extract
Yeast starter
2 cups water
2 tbs of honey
1tsp of DME
Spinkle yeast on top (I would suggest Lalvin K1v-1116 for a recipe like this)
Wait at least two hours befor pitching the yeast starter.
Once the fermentation is done and the yeast is settled mostly (About 3 weeks) Siphon off the clearer liquid into a new container leaving the fruit and most of the yeast behind.
once every 30 days siphon off any dropped lees (Yeast) into a new container.
Once no more yeast drops out add in the following to stabalize the mead so no further fermentation can happen.
5 camden tablets
2 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate
after a couple hours add in 2lb of honey. This will make the mead murky again but should clear within a week or two. If you want a bolder flavor then you can add in fruits/spices or what ever you prefer from there. Let this sit until the mead is at least 6 months old and then feel free to bottle from there.It will be good at 6 months but much beter after a year.
That recipe will make for a semi sweet mead & is pretty basic for a "Melomel" type mead but should turn out well.[/quo
Thanks you two, this is exactly what I was looking for. You know how you have the perfect biscuit recipe, then you can go from there, that is what I wanted. I do not like mead (gasp), but the husband loves it, he is just not too fond of rocket fuel!