First time jaom!

[helterscelter]

My first time making Mead I decided to do a jaom 1 gallon batch.

Such an easy process to do! I especially like the don't mess with it part. Just sit it in the corner and forget about it for a couple months.

Going to try to post pics as it ferments.

 

[helterscelter]

My first time making Mead I decided to do a jaom 1 gallon batch.

Such an easy process to do! I especially like the don't mess with it part. Just sit it in the corner and forget about it for a couple months.

Going to try to post pics as it ferments.View attachment 596250

16 hrs or so later..

 

[helterscelter]

11/6

 

[Maylar]

What's that stick thingie?

 

[helterscelter]

What's that stick thingie?

Thermowell. I don't intend to Temp control this one but I wanted to have an easy way to check the temp, so I double drilled my stopper and stuck a well through.

 

[Maylar]

Here's an idea of what to expect...

JAOM started 4th of July. Summer temps in Connecticut.

Day 1

At 30 days

At 65 days the fruit had fallen except for a few raisins -

Racked to secondary after 75 days

Yield from 1 gallon -

At this point, a JAOM is all orange and clove and interesting but not very pleasant. By Thanksgiving however it was wonderful.

Good luck with yours.

 

[James0816]

Such an easy process to do! I especially like the don't mess with it part. Just sit it in the corner and forget about it for a couple months.

HaHa .. this is exactly what I did ... forget about it. I just found a bottle I brewed several months ago. =) Didn't recall moving it to where I found it. Too funny. Will be racking this weekend.

 

[helterscelter]

16 hrs or so later..

View attachment 596403

Couple days later

 

[helterscelter]

Looking good. Smells awesome. Starting to get some yeast accumulation in the bottom.. and I think some on the raisins?

Kitchen smells like orange spice all the time.

 

[helterscelter]

Looking good.

 

[Maylar]

Eventually the fruit will fall and the mead will begin to clear. The general rule is that a JAOM is a 100 day mead.

BTW I have the same ugly counter top as you

 

[helterscelter]

BTW I have the same ugly counter top as you

Lol. Swmbo absolutely hates it.

 

[helterscelter]

Mmm. Mead definitely teaches patience.

 

[helterscelter]

The fruit started to fall today.

Swmbo said "I thought you were joking when you said you were going to leave that on the counter for 6 months!"

 

[Maylar]

You're pretty much on target time wise. The fruit should fall in the next 2 weeks. Then you have another 2 weeks for it to clear up. Bottle at 90 - 100 days. Wait 2 months to sample the first bottle.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Man that's pretty

 

[helterscelter]

Man that's pretty

I can't get over how Crystal clear this is.

Do I need to Degas this at all when bottling?

I've not taken any gravity samples yet; I'll probably do that just before bottling. I use an easy dense so it doesn't cost me much to sample but the instructions said to leave it alone. about where should I expect this to be at bottling?

 

[Blacksmith1]

if you aren't trying for carbonated then degas incase there is a bit of yeast still fermenting. save you from the whole bottle bomb thing...I think, not enough personal experience to say for sure.
also potassium sulfite (?) for protection from O2 and sorbate for preservative if it going to be stored long term

 

[helterscelter]

if you aren't trying for carbonated then degas incase there is a bit of yeast still fermenting. save you from the whole bottle bomb thing...I think, not enough personal experience to say for sure.
also potassium sulfite (?) for protection from O2 and sorbate for preservative if it going to be stored long term

Hmm. How much? Those are like a chemical passivation, right?

 

[Blacksmith1]

If you have campden tablets the current value is one tab per gallon. as far as the sorbate it should have instructions on it. Haven't gotten quite that far with mine but have been reading lots of the posts on this forum. after a certain point of " they all say the same thing" I gotta figure they're right.
the sorbate stalls the yeast, the potassium metabisulfite (K-Meta) acts as an antioxidant

 

[Maylar]

I can't get over how Crystal clear this is.

Do I need to Degas this at all when bottling?

I've not taken any gravity samples yet; I'll probably do that just before bottling. I use an easy dense so it doesn't cost me much to sample but the instructions said to leave it alone. about where should I expect this to be at bottling?

Follow the directions. Leave it alone.
It'll be done about 2 weeks after the fruit has fallen. Final gravity will be somewhat sweet, in the 1.015-1.025 range. This balances out the bitterness of the orange pith. There's no penalty in testing SG if you like.

Look back at my pics (post #6) and see that I racked off the lees at 75 days. I think I bottled it a week or so after.

 

[CKuhns]

Hmmmmm, Did you read the directions (Don't touch it.) - jk - Sorry couldn't help myself.... No need to degas or inhibit the yeast they have given up that's why it ends at about 1.020 or so. If truly concerned about it you could inhibit them as mentioned above or go with beer bottles and crown caps. And yes perfectly drinkable after a few months in the bottle the last JAOM and JAGM (Grapefruit) done side-by-side racked at 60 days and bottled at 120 days. After 6 months in the bottle the JAOM was good but at 12 months was very good! The Grapefruit 24 months later (Thanksgiving last year) is getting there and I am hopeful it will be good enough to share with friends and family soon. But then again, I didn't follow the recipe by using grapefruit instead of oranges.

 

[helterscelter]

Been a long while. Life got in the way. I left the fermenter in the corner until this afternoon. I bottled 4x750ml wine bottles plus a good couple oz for sampling. I stirred up some sediment while bottling, but that should settle out in the bottles.

FG came in at 1.001 resulting in a 14.8% Mead. Tastes pretty good to me. Swmbo took a smell and recoiled like I'd offered her a slug. I should have videoed it.

Has a lot of orange in the nose, definitely has an alcohol smell. Taste is off a bitter orange with some sweetness and alcohol middle then lots of orange for the finish. There is a subtle cinnamon throughout. I don't taste the clove at all, but I'm also not an expert [emoji41]

Overall I'm quite happy with my first jaom! Can't wait to see it mature in the bottle some.

 

[CKuhns]

Looks good. Dont touch it for at least a year. It will definately be better with age.

 

[Maylar]

1.001 finish is low for a JAOM. Were you light on the honey? Typically 3.5 lbs starts you at about 1.125 and it'll finish around 1.015. Below 1.010 FG will be bitter because of the orange pith. That usually doesn't age out.

 

[NeverDie]

I've not taken any gravity samples yet; I'll probably do that just before bottling. I use an easy dense so it doesn't cost me much to sample...

What is "an easy dense"?

 

[NeverDie]

1.001 finish is low for a JAOM. Were you light on the honey? Typically 3.5 lbs starts you at about 1.125 and it'll finish around 1.015. Below 1.010 FG will be bitter because of the orange pith. That usually doesn't age out.

Maybe he can backsweeten it to compensate?

 

[Maylar]

I would think so, yes.

 

[helterscelter]

What is "an easy dense"?

It's a meter that uses resonance and timing to measure a liquid s density. Basically a high tech hydrometer. I like it because it takes a very small sample compared to a typical hydrometer.. small as in just a few CC s like you'd use for an refractometer, but unlike a refractometer I can measure fermented or partially fermented wurt directly without needing any conversion/math/estimations.

Highly recommended.

By Anton paar https://www.anton-paar.com/us-en/pr...Tdc2Ply0B1Qjm48Q-faNOJqaSE7Daj3EaAkxAEALw_wcB

 

[helterscelter]

1.001 finish is low for a JAOM. Were you light on the honey? Typically 3.5 lbs starts you at about 1.125 and it'll finish around 1.015. Below 1.010 FG will be bitter because of the orange pith. That usually doesn't age out.

My og was low at 1.114. the bitter wasn't overly strong. It sort of reminded me of orange Marmalade.

 

[CKuhns]

Orange marmalade is a good description. The bitter from the orange pith does age out - Just takes a long time. I had one finish at 1.002 - Used some nutrients and obviously did not completely follow the recipe. In this case at 12 months was pretty much undrinkable at 18 months was just OK but at 24 months was pretty good.