Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[tellyho]

Seems to be a personal preference or some other variable. I used the bread yeast and followed the recipe exactly and my JAOM was completely undrinkable at 2 months, unless you like orange jet fuel. It's been in the basement for 7 months now, and I'm shooting for a year before I bottle.


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[brewski09]

I find temperature at which you ferment makes a huge difference. If it's too high you get different treat characteristics and different alcohol imperfections.

 

[sablesurfer]

Brewed on 1/10 and seems I just cannot follow the recipe. Had to move them out of my opaque fermentors and over into clear glass. Both of these are much cleaner already than the ones that had an ale yeast, those are hot and fusel like cheap whiskey shot. The JOAMs are smoother already. They are back in basement to rest for another month or so before I bottle.

None of the dreaded orange pith some people are reporting.

 

[HB_in_Subic]

Anyone try using a Belgian Ale yeast with this? I am contemplating using M27 Belgian Ale Yeast (tolerates 14% ABV) for a batch.

What ale yeast did you use sablesurfer?

 

[sablesurfer]

I used red star instead of flischmans because I forgot what to get when I was at store. Worked fine and they are definitely high in alcohol with some good sweetness.

 

[rythmabduction]

So brewed this 2 weeks ago and had to use a pack of us-05 I had laying around because for some reason the grocery store I went to was all out of redstar and flischmanns. Should I still let it sit till the fruit drops or should I rack it due to the different yeast?

 

[JDWebb]

So brewed this 2 weeks ago and had to use a pack of us-05 I had laying around because for some reason the grocery store I went to was all out of redstar and flischmanns. Should I still let it sit till the fruit drops or should I rack it due to the different yeast?

You should wait until the 2 months like the instructions say. I wouldn't touch it until it clears. Might be several months or more. My JAOM was started on 12/31/14, fruit dropped on schedule, but its very slow in clearing, still very cloudy.

 

[MidwestViking]

Has anyone tried this recipe with Distiller's yeast? I'd like to up the honey to 5lbs with nutrient and energizer and see if I cannot get this mead close to 20% ABV like Viking Blod. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Has anyone tried this recipe with Distiller's yeast? I'd like to up the honey to 5lbs with nutrient and energizer and see if I cannot get this mead close to 20% ABV like Viking Blod. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this.

Ive used wine yeast and champagne yeast. These created a semi sweet and a dry mead.

 

[RhodySeth]

What category is this mead considered when submitting it to homebrew competitions?

 

[JDWebb]

What category is this mead considered when submitting it to homebrew competitions?

Melomel I believe because it has fruit in it.

 

[Culinarytracker]

I put this together 5 weeks ago, and today I checked on it, and it has cleared!

I can read through the 1 gallon jug.

So where do I go from here? leave it alone for another month? Try it? transfer it?
I was expecting it to take 2 months to clear, so just thought I would ask.

Its my first mead and I'm quite excited. I can be patient if needed though.

 

[BrotherGrim]

Well, just put it all in the jug. Zested, peeled and added orange chunks without peel. One clove as I am not a huge fan of the flavor. Other than those minor mods it is straight up by the recipe. This is my first mead so here goes nothing. I will update when it clears up.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I put this together 5 weeks ago, and today I checked on it, and it has cleared!

I can read through the 1 gallon jug.

So where do I go from here? leave it alone for another month? Try it? transfer it?
I was expecting it to take 2 months to clear, so just thought I would ask.

Its my first mead and I'm quite excited. I can be patient if needed though.

I think you will enjoy it more if you wait a while longer, but if you are really anxious to get at it I dont see any reason why you shouldnt bottle or rack off the lees and prepare for drinking.

What *I* would do is wait until this friday night. Rack. Start another batch. Invite over a group of friends and polish off the finished batch over one or two nights over dinner or appetizers. :rockin:

I mean, you are going to need to test it to establish a baseline for how it tastes at 1 month right? You dont want to miss an opportunity like that...

 

[brewski09]

Or throw it in a few bottles and label it well. Designate 1 for 1 yr & one for 2+ years. Decide what to do with the rest after tasting the leftover you will inevitably have with bottling.

 

[Andi Dawson VO]

Sorry if this question has been asked, but there are a LOT of replies to this thread lol

The recipe says water, but can this be tap water? Presumably would have to be boiled first if it was?

The recipe mentions more than once about things that the ancients would've had, and I figured that surely shop bought spring water was one of those things they couldn't have laid their hands on?

 

[fuzzy2133]

Sorry if this question has been asked, but there are a LOT of replies to this thread lol

The recipe says water, but can this be tap water? Presumably would have to be boiled first if it was?

The recipe mentions more than once about things that the ancients would've had, and I figured that surely shop bought spring water was one of those things they couldn't have laid their hands on?

I have made this with both tap water and spring water. Both taste very similar other than what aging does.

All jokes aside the ancients did not have chlorinated water.

 

[Andi Dawson VO]

Thanks - that's answered my question perfectly :-D

 

[brewski09]

Sorry if this question has been asked, but there are a LOT of replies to this thread lol

The recipe says water, but can this be tap water? Presumably would have to be boiled first if it was?

The recipe mentions more than once about things that the ancients would've had, and I figured that surely shop bought spring water was one of those things they couldn't have laid their hands on?

They didn't have chlorinated water but "natural" spring water isn't always so natural. Minerals are added to these a lot. Bottom line is use whatever water you want and make some nice mead.

 

[Andi Dawson VO]

Brilliant - on this tomorrow then thanks again everyone!

 

[mmlipps]

This will be my first Meade. And first time brewing something besides beer. Do I need to use a blow off tube in beginning since its a 1 gallon batch in a 1
Gallon carboy? I'm going to make 3
Versions of this, 1
With the bread yeast and one with a wine yeast.

 

[RichBrewer]

This will be my first Meade. And first time brewing something besides beer. Do I need to use a blow off tube in beginning since its a 1 gallon batch in a 1
Gallon carboy? I'm going to make 3
Versions of this, 1
With the bread yeast and one with a wine yeast.

The one major lesson I learned is to use a 2 gallon plastic bucket or something similar for your JOAM fermenter.
With the fruit in the must it is hard to get enough liquid for a full gallon. With a larger fermenter, you can make 1 gallon or more of must and then add the fruit plus all of that fruit won't be floating up in the neck of the fermenter.

 

[fuzzy2133]

This will be my first Meade. And first time brewing something besides beer. Do I need to use a blow off tube in beginning since its a 1 gallon batch in a 1
Gallon carboy? I'm going to make 3
Versions of this, 1
With the bread yeast and one with a wine yeast.

If you decide to forgo RichBrewer's recommendation then yes definitely use a blow off.

 

[jhoson]

Oh boy, 2 year old JAOM is freaking delicious.

By first year i was like "i don't like how it tastes, wont ever again do this mead again".

Fast forward to yesterday , opened a 2 year bottle to show some friends what is mead. And WOW, the taste changed completely, will try to find a better honey and do a 5 Gallon batch to age in bulk.

 

[vburshteyn]

Hi,
quick question.. and I do apologize in advance as I am a total and complete newb when it comes to brewing.

So i have a 3gl carboy of mead that has been brewing for 3 months now. I am curious to try it. If i remove the airlock to syphon some out, will that stop the fermentation process?

or I can try it.. put the air lock back on and wait another few months if need be.

Thanks,

 

[RichBrewer]

Hi,
quick question.. and I do apologize in advance as I am a total and complete newb when it comes to brewing.

So i have a 3gl carboy of mead that has been brewing for 3 months now. I am curious to try it. If i remove the airlock to syphon some out, will that stop the fermentation process?

or I can try it.. put the air lock back on and wait another few months if need be.

Thanks,

It won't stop the fermentation process. After three months it should be pretty close to if not complete anyway. What type of fermenter is it? I would suggest racking the mead off of the lees into another fermenter at which time you can taste a sample. Remember to keep head space to a minimum in the fermenter from here on out.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Got this put together tonight. Followed the recipe except:
1) Used mango instead (cut into approximate french fry shapes)
2) Added fruit, raisins, cinnamon, honey, and most of the water with 1 tsp pectic enzyme approximately 8 hours before pitching (I'll pitch around 5AM EST tomorrow).
3) I'll add 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient when I pitch my rehydrated bread yeast tomorrow morning to make up for any lost magic from not using orange.

Hopefully it'll turn out. If not, I'll be out a few dollars of ingredients and a bit of time. I'll report back with results.

I touched this mango experiment for the first time since August. It probably should have been racked way sooner but excuses and what not.

I was tempted to dump it based on the smell. It was super flat and nasty smelling (oxidization? autolysis?) but tasted it anyway.

Frankly it tastes like a syrupy honey water. There's not much in the way of mango flavoring but it still has the potential to be a decent (super sweet) dessert mead.

I racked it from a one gallon carboy to a 3 liter jug and capped it to bulk age for a few months. We'll see what happens.

 

[sablesurfer]

Oh boy, 2 year old JAOM is freaking delicious.

By first year i was like "i don't like how it tastes, wont ever again do this mead again".

Fast forward to yesterday , opened a 2 year bottle to show some friends what is mead. And WOW, the taste changed completely, will try to find a better honey and do a 5 Gallon batch to age in bulk.

HA....I just asked a real mead maker about the idea that after one month in bottle this was so hot it was rocket fuel. I have the rest of the batch from last year aging, but this gives me hope!

 

[brewski09]

Temp control during the main fermentation can help with the rocket fuel syndrome. Also, yeast selection. Try an experiment where you use a yeast meant for fermentation as the primary purpose and I think you will be happier with the product. Again, I can't stress enough the temperature control though. I don't let mine get above 70F.

 

[TheWadeShow]

So I followed Joe's Recipe pretty exactly, but I did it in a batch for 5 gallons. I just increased everything by five, except for the Cloves. I started it off on 1/3/15, and I've run into a bit of a snag.

Around 4/5/15 I noticed that it was no longer bubbling. I've brewed this before in 1 gallon batches so I was rather happy to see it progressing along. However when I took a better look I noticed that it hadn't cleared up at all, and none of the oranges or raisins had descending yet. So I just kept it tucked away.

Checked it again on 5/1/15 and I noticed about 3/4 of the oranges had sunk, but none of the raisins. So I figured it could do with some more time to clear up. This morning I was in the room and noticed a bubble which threw me off so I checked it again, and all my oranges were once more floating at the top.

So I'm pretty confused and would appreciate some guidance!

 

[Hanso]

That stuff will rise and fall with temperature change as well as CO2 formation as it collects on the fermenting fruit, which physically holds its sugars in harder to get places for the yeast.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_thermometer

 

[TheWadeShow]

So just keep it sitting in it's dark location until everything sinks and it clears out? I've just been waiting so I can bottle it.

 

[brewski09]

Leave it alone until at least June, maybe longer.

 

[TheWadeShow]

Thanks Brewski! I'll just keep it put away. Mostly wanted to make sure that the rising of the oranges wasn't a sign of an apocalypse within my carboy. hah

 

[jhoson]

Temp control during the main fermentation can help with the rocket fuel syndrome. Also, yeast selection. Try an experiment where you use a yeast meant for fermentation as the primary purpose and I think you will be happier with the product. Again, I can't stress enough the temperature control though. I don't let mine get above 70F.

Will keep that in mind next time I do a batch!!!

My JAOM was brewed during summer; and where I live (countryside in Brazil ) the temp during summer normally is around 96°F even going to 107°F on extremely hot days.

Maybe a swamp cooler will do the job :fro:

 

[sablesurfer]

Finally getting around to my JOAM and WOW, it is very good. It is smooth, warm, crystal clear with plenty of flavors.

Orange is there, but not overpowering, bigger in the aroma than taste. Good strong honey aromas and flavors with nice spicey finish. A bit of the rind/pith that people talk about, but this is 4 months in and it is just in the finish and really helps to clean it up. The heat after about three sips, I'd put this in the 13% wine area of alcohol.

Next time, I will go bigger on the raisins to see, it's like I can barely taste them because I know they should be in there, but no judge would pick it out.



(Yes I had to bulk age it, so kind of a secondary, which is not supposed to be needed, but I had no capacity to bottle and needed the other fermentors. Bulk aged for however months fine and VERY drinkable now.)

 

[sablesurfer]

My JAOM was brewed during summer; and where I live (countryside in Brazil ) the temp during summer normally is around 96°F even going to 107°F on extremely hot days.

Maybe a swamp cooler will do the job :fro:

Oooo...dig a hole, put the mead in a bucket with lid, put in hole, cover with dirt. Dig up a buried treasure in 4 months. Then you've invented a whole "new" thing.

 

[sablesurfer]

OH.....DAMN.

This is the 14yr old wild/buckwheat honey that I got from my father's garage after he passed. The color is ALL from the honey. It is gorgous. Spicey, earthy, citrus with tingling heat on tongue. Rich with hints of chocolate and raisin and floral notes. I little 'olivey', but in an umami(?) way in finish, where as the other version I tried to Mino Choi is WAY olivey.





(This one was brewed on same day as the clear one, but with this family heirloom honey.)

 

[bismarkarek]

So im curious what will actually happen if i rack out my JOAM at say the 1 month mark? since i have 6 gallons bubbling away nicely at almost the 2 week mark i REALLY dont want to **** this up, im just curious.

 

[sablesurfer]

So im curious what will actually happen if i rack out my JOAM at say the 1 month mark? since i have 6 gallons bubbling away nicely at almost the 2 week mark i REALLY dont want to **** this up, im just curious.

My guess, would be that a bread yeast might not be super efficient at cleaning up after itself. So it could take longer to chew up the off flavors it made along the way.

<shrug>

Rack off 3 gallons and tell us.