Spiced Blood Orange Mead.

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Kyzaboy89

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By request of Dan O, the Spiced Blood Orange Mead I started yesterday 2/21/21.

O.G. 1.106 - before spices and nutrients added.
1¾ gal. water.
5# Wali world Honey.
1# Wandrys Apiary Honey (Clover Honey.)
3" stick of Cinnamon.
1 whole Clove (bigger size.)
1 tsp ground Nutmeg.
½ tsp ground Allspice.
1 tea bag Twinings of London, Earl Grey steeped 10 min. in ¾ cup boiling water.
1 tsp DAP.
½ tsp Energizer.
1 pack D47 pitched dry.
3 Blood Oranges, medium (fist sized) peeled, separated, frozen and thawed.

Combine Honey, Water and Tea, then mix well to aerate.
Take gravity reading.
Add remaining ingredients to fermenter and mix.
Apply bung and airlock.
Aerate/Degas Every 12 hours.
Add 1tsp DAP, ½ tsp Energizer again at 2/3 and 1/3 sugar breaks.

That's it so far and will try to keep this updated, pretty standard for how I do things and this was prepared and started while sampling some JAOM.
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Original plan was to make a Blood Orange Melomel but the wife really wanted to spice it and hopefully have this with Holiday dinners. I prefer spices in secondary so I went about half way with what I would normally add.
 
Original plan was to make a Blood Orange Melomel but the wife really wanted to spice it and hopefully have this with Holiday dinners. I prefer spices in secondary so I went about half way with what I would normally add.
You da MAN! Thank you very much
 
Very active fermentation after 24 hours and at 48 hours we are at 1.080 on the hydrometer. ⅓ sugar break is at 1.070 so most likely tomorrow morning I'll need to add nutrients before heading off to work.
 
I personally have never had a blood orange, so, I guess I'll be stopping by the market today to get myself a sample to see exactly the flavor profile I'll be working with.
 
Looks and smells like an orange, then you open it up and I get a sweeter raspberry flavor with citrus. I actually want to press some and try that to but need to build some shelving to convince the wife. Might do it once I rack this batch off the slurry.
 
Maybe try some zest as well? Just like the flesh isn't exactly like an orange, I find that the zest (especially from ones where the peel is starting to redden) is slightly different, too...

I have a blood orange tree out back and just brewed a blood orange wheat (based off of the Blood Orange Hefe in extreme brewing)..., I used 4 small ones (zest and flesh) at the end of the boil and 2 medium ones (zest and flesh soaked in a bit of vodka to sanitize) after a week in primary.

Mine don't peel easily or separate so cleanly, so I zest them, then cut off the pith, and crush what's left into a juicy pulp.

I have used them in a JAOM before (I actually have a 1 gal B/O JOAM going right now :p ) and they work well...
 
Ha, wish I still had citrus trees around, living in zone 4 now so it's a bit chilly. I like using zest when finishing, had a few brews where the zest just overwhelmed everything I was trying for, I find more control in secondary when adding spices and flavors.

I was curious about the darker peels, didn't have one this time but in the past I have, how and why the turn red or stay orange is a characteristic I want to learn about.
 
The longer they stay on the tree, the darker they get... And they darken on the counter even after they've been picked... never truly red, but a deeper reddish-orange...

Same with the flesh... If picked too soon, the flesh isn't red... They start being ready in mid-Decemberish here in SoCal
 
So I continues to ripen on the counter, does it affect flavor at all or just coloration?
 
By request of Dan O, the Spiced Blood Orange Mead I started yesterday 2/21/21.

O.G. 1.106 - before spices and nutrients added.
1¾ gal. water.
5# Wali world Honey.
1# Wandrys Apiary Honey (Clover Honey.)
3" stick of Cinnamon.
1 whole Clove (bigger size.)
1 tsp ground Nutmeg.
½ tsp ground Allspice.
1 tea bag Twinings of London, Earl Grey steeped 10 min. in ¾ cup boiling water.
1 tsp DAP.
½ tsp Energizer.
1 pack D47 pitched dry.
3 Blood Oranges, medium (fist sized) peeled, separated, frozen and thawed.

Combine Honey, Water and Tea, then mix well to aerate.
Take gravity reading.
Add remaining ingredients to fermenter and mix.
Apply bung and airlock.
Aerate/Degas Every 12 hours.
Add 1tsp DAP, ½ tsp Energizer again at 2/3 and 1/3 sugar breaks.

That's it so far and will try to keep this updated, pretty standard for how I do things and this was prepared and started while sampling some JAOM.
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Just got my blood oranges today. Hope to get it going by Sunday night. I have a 3 gallon FERMONSTER that needs a beverage desperately. 😉😋
 
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Can't wait to hear how it goes. I get to load train all night so y'all have a good one
 
So I continues to ripen on the counter, does it affect flavor at all or just coloration?

Not 100% sure how much flavor change is involved in counter ripening... Never really did a comparison. Definitle color change though...

We tend to leave them on the tree until we need them. We still have a few on the tree even now, though peak was in December...
 
Got home around 4:30 am, woke up and checked my mead, wife was kind enough to degas while I was away so yay! This morning degassed and checked gravity, it's at 1.034 so final nutrient addition went in and decided I'm going to wait a bit longer before I top up the carboy. Depending on work this weekend my plan is to transfer to a new 3 gallon so I can get the orange slices out easier, then press and keep the juice while removing the pulp. Removing as much of the solids so later the slurry can be used, not sure if I'm going to wash it or not, don't think I've ever "re-used" spices in a slurry but the most I think could happen is just a muted flavor from spent spices, at most the still spice the next batch. Also will sample to see if the cinnamon and clove will stay in longer or not.
 

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Added ½ gallon of water this evening after taking a gravity reading, s.g. is at 1.000 and wanted to know if that amount of water would get the fruit close enough to the top to grab. Not quite close enough and I'm going to top off more later, thinking of adding water and honey together at my o.g. to keep the abv where I want and juice the fruit. On an interesting note I can't see any color change in the mead but the orange slices appear to be losing their color from fermentation. Going to be taking a closer look when they come out. Anyway, here it is as of this evening.
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Don't worry, there's a backup plan if I want to try for more color or flavor :thumbsup:
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Don't worry, there's a backup plan if I want to try for more color or flavor :thumbsup:View attachment 720656
I bought 6 blood oranges when I was @ the market the other day. I zested all 6 & peeled them. Then I started to take the thin membranes off of the individual sections. I do this with grapefruit all the time, but MAN!, Those blood oranges do NOT like to shed those thin skins! Hopefully I can finish those tonight so I can freeze them for the batch I was supposed to make over the weekend, which now, I won't be able to do until later this week. I HATE when my mead making adventures get pushed backwards. 😡 I mean, I'm running low🤣🤣
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I think I will use some of the zest when I get to make this, but, I will only use about 1/3-1/2 & save the rest for another batch of something else.
 
Hahaha ya I have an OCD streak once in a while and while I did try to remove the fine skins my wife was questioning my ridiculousness. So I left them on thinking if it does add enough bittering to notice I can cover that with backsweetening. The few I did get skins off of have completely separated the pulp in the carboy, looks like little minnows swimming around in there haha. If it works out I'm going to be pressing my excess oranges and trying it that way without the pulp and skins but zest is being used in both.
 
Hahaha ya I have an OCD streak once in a while and while I did try to remove the fine skins my wife was questioning my ridiculousness. So I left them on thinking if it does add enough bittering to notice I can cover that with backsweetening. The few I did get skins off of have completely separated the pulp in the carboy, looks like little minnows swimming around in there haha. If it works out I'm going to be pressing my excess oranges and trying it that way without the pulp and skins but zest is being used in both.
Now that you mention it, WTF am I doing trying to peel all those segments? What the heck am I thinking? 😂 Juicing them & leaving the pulp out of it sounds so much easier. Thought about putting them in a brew bag, too. I just took readings on my Christmas spice BOMM & there's a bunch of pulp floating around in there. Should've learned my lesson with the first batch ( now on batch # 3) of that stuff that I did.🤨 Good idea, @Kyzaboy89!
 
No worries, I've only used a bag twice now and I honestly don't know why I don't use them more. We have all don't things silly and luckily we can learn from each other when we actually engage thought and reason haha I can be a bit stubborn with changing my process. Can't wait to hear about yours starting up.
 
Yeast has fallen out of suspension, a little left in the haze and fruit has lost about half it's color but currently the orange slices are the only thing fermenting. Planning to rack off the lee's, juice the fruit, then with juice pressed from more blood oranges or honey water, maybe both, top up carboy and let it finish clearing for a while.
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Racked to get the fruit out and spices were at a decent point, knowing they will mellow a bit is fine, and decided against reusing the yeast slurry. Once I racked I noticed after an hour or so there's a triple layer separation, nothing unusual just always fascinated by the layering, fun to watch it move every day. I noticed about half or more of the fruit still had color and the juice in the pulp was still untouched. Either freezing didn't fracture the cell walls or I get to experience something new again, and I do have plenty of blood oranges to backsweeten or add character. Planning to wait and see how this sits after a month of I can let it sit that long, I'd like it to clear so I can rack and backsweeten/add orange.
 

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They're back in season and we finished the last bottle I was trying to hold on to for at least a year now, time for another Spiced Blood Orange Melomel!
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Notes from samplers and swmbo we're, "It's very good... I wish there was more flavor." Very pleasant light citrus Mead that mellowed out after about 6 months, wife said spices and oranges were thin or muted. So we upped the anti on everything and it's rolling along now very well for 2 days.

I'll add the updated recipe and steps I took differently in a bit, cheers all!
 
They're back in season and we finished the last bottle I was trying to hold on to for at least a year now, time for another Spiced Blood Orange Melomel!
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Notes from samplers and swmbo we're, "It's very good... I wish there was more flavor." Very pleasant light citrus Mead that mellowed out after about 6 months, wife said spices and oranges were thin or muted. So we upped the anti on everything and it's rolling along now very well for 2 days.

I'll add the updated recipe and steps I took differently in a bit, cheers all!
Awesome. Can't wait to seethe changes you made.
 
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