paddone
Active Member
Beautiful! I love the clarity and colour.
Mead anyone?
- Thread starter TheRandyRedcoat
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Beautiful! I love the clarity and colour.
Scots_Pagan
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Hey, I'm a newbie, first attempt sitting in the DJ as we speak, but just wanted to say that looks AMAZING.
No idea what it tastes like, obviously, but definitely an A* for presentation - I'm a graphics designer, and I love that label.
How do you get the foil? Looks very presentable...
Hope it tastes as great as it looks.
Once (if) my first stab at wine is done, I will be having a go at Mead...
No idea what it tastes like, obviously, but definitely an A* for presentation - I'm a graphics designer, and I love that label.
How do you get the foil? Looks very presentable...
Hope it tastes as great as it looks.
Once (if) my first stab at wine is done, I will be having a go at Mead...
paddone
Active Member
Most wine foils on home brews are shrink wraps. they slot on the neck and then steam is used to shrink it onto the neck for a snug fit that seals the bottle.
I don't make wine but used to help my grandfather bottle his wine. I used to love doing the foils over a kettle.
I don't make wine but used to help my grandfather bottle his wine. I used to love doing the foils over a kettle.
I have a gallon demijohn of this at home that I made seven years ago. It has moved house with me three times and been forgotten about shortly afterwards. Anyway, I brought it down to the kitchen last night and will bottle it over the weekend, assuming it tastes OK. There is about an inch in the bottom which is just what has fallen out of suspension over the years but the rest looks great.
It has been sealed up nicely and kept in the dark so I am keeping my fingers crossed for something tasty.
It has been sealed up nicely and kept in the dark so I am keeping my fingers crossed for something tasty.
hypnoticmonkey
Landlord.
Those bottles really do look gorgeous!
Gitsurfer, let us know how yours tastes. I've always assumed that if left on a sediment for too long it will just end up tasting of sediment, so I'm intrigued to find out how it's gone!
Gitsurfer, let us know how yours tastes. I've always assumed that if left on a sediment for too long it will just end up tasting of sediment, so I'm intrigued to find out how it's gone!
hypnoticmonkey said:
It's quite decent and looks great. I did rack it off the sediment after fermentation so the sludge was just what had fallen out of suspension since then. It would certainly have benefitted from more racking but it was largely forgotten about.
I generally found mead quite difficult to get a nice result on so prefer to buy commercial stuff. This is quite a good recipe to have a go with, though.
jkp
Well-Known Member
TheRandyRedcoat said:Just started my first batch of mead according to the recipe "Joe's Ancient Orange Mead". An idiots mead using;
3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend
1 Large orange
1 small handful of raisins
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )
1 teaspoon of bread yeast.
Stick in a demijohn, don't rack, don't stir, don't feed. Come back in 2 months and enjoy.
Hi
I know this thread has been quiet for a while but I just started my first 5L batch of JAOM yesterday. All seems well so far :thumb:
But then I read this thread and it's got me a little worried. You seem to have used 3 1/2 lbs (1.6 kg) of honey for a 1 gal batch, except your gallon looks like an imperial gal ~ 4.54L rather than the US gal ~ 3.79L used in the original recipe (see homebrewtalk.com forum). Have I got this wrong? Was the original recipe for Imperial or US gal?
What I did was to assume that it was a US gal, and so multiply everything by ~ 1 1/3 to get my 5L recipe (i.e. 2.1 kg of honey). So assuming that honey is about 80% usable sugars my OG was about 1.127 or so! If I'd used only 3 1/2 lbs of honey then that would have been 1.106 or so.
The things I'm worried about are, 1) will mine turn out way too sweet? 2) will it take forever to age and mellow? :?
If your yeast can get to the ABV it will eventually eat all the sugars, but it may take a while (and want extra nutrient). Mead takes a while anyway.
If it can't, you'll get a sweet mead: not necessarily a bad thing!
You could dilute now if worried.
If it can't, you'll get a sweet mead: not necessarily a bad thing!
You could dilute now if worried.
jkp
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply OB.
As per the original JAOM recipe I used bread yeast :shock: . I wasn't sure about using it at first but it seems that so many people found that it was ok, so I thought I'd try it. I think I remember reading that some bread yeast can go as far as 12-14% ABV. I'll just have to wait and see how well my yeast does. I did put some yeast nutrient in at the beginning. Do you think I should add more later to try and get the most out of the yeast?
As per the original JAOM recipe I used bread yeast :shock: . I wasn't sure about using it at first but it seems that so many people found that it was ok, so I thought I'd try it. I think I remember reading that some bread yeast can go as far as 12-14% ABV. I'll just have to wait and see how well my yeast does. I did put some yeast nutrient in at the beginning. Do you think I should add more later to try and get the most out of the yeast?
jkp
Well-Known Member
:thumb: Thanks
jkp
Well-Known Member
I've just had a quick check on my JAOM, so I thought I'd update my progress. I started it on 25th of Nov, and as I wrote above I used 2.1kg of honey for a 5L batch. It's been fermenting for almost 4 weeks now and the bubbling in the airlock is still going stong, although slowing slightly over time, today it was at about 1 bubble every 13 sec. It's in a nice warm place with a temp of around 21-22*C. The smell today from the airlock is mostly orange with a tiny bit of alcohol. It had been very strong with spices earlier but not so much now I'm glad to say. Not clearing at all yet and the raisins, clove and orange peel are still floating at the top, but it's still early days. So I'm hopeful that the yeast is doing a good job and with a bit of luck it won't end up far too sweet. I'll update again once it's finished and I have a reading of the FG.
While I'm writing this I might as well ask a question or two that I've been thinking about recently:
With the JAOM, should I degas before bottling?
If I bottle it into wine bottles with a cork, should I store the bottles upright or lying down like you would a bottle of wine?
While I'm writing this I might as well ask a question or two that I've been thinking about recently:
With the JAOM, should I degas before bottling?
If I bottle it into wine bottles with a cork, should I store the bottles upright or lying down like you would a bottle of wine?
Best to de-gas. But if you rack off the fruits and then leave it a while, giving it a shake every now and then, that'll do it.
Corks need to be kept wet to stop them shrinking, so lie it down.
As you've smelt the fruits and spices in what comes through the lock, obv that much aroma (and possibly flavour) has been lost. When you rack it off the fruit, have a little taste and see if you want to adjust the spicing in the time before you bottle.
Corks need to be kept wet to stop them shrinking, so lie it down.
As you've smelt the fruits and spices in what comes through the lock, obv that much aroma (and possibly flavour) has been lost. When you rack it off the fruit, have a little taste and see if you want to adjust the spicing in the time before you bottle.
Scots_Pagan
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Yep....my first mead was a JAOM (albeit I swapped out the bread yeast for SuperWine)..
I deliberately wanted less of a fruit flavour and more of a honey one; it had little flavour once it was done fermenting, of anything. Likely because
a) I only used the juice from half an orange, instead of the zest and juice from a whole one
b) I skipped some of the spices.
c) most importantly, I used really, really cheap honey. That was a mistake I will not repeat.
If you want flavours, you're gonna need t use a lot of zest etc. and spices. A good honey really makes a difference.
That said, on my first mead, which is only just now getting bottled, the back-sweetenning added a lot of flavour (used an expensive strong honey!)..
I deliberately wanted less of a fruit flavour and more of a honey one; it had little flavour once it was done fermenting, of anything. Likely because
a) I only used the juice from half an orange, instead of the zest and juice from a whole one
b) I skipped some of the spices.
c) most importantly, I used really, really cheap honey. That was a mistake I will not repeat.
If you want flavours, you're gonna need t use a lot of zest etc. and spices. A good honey really makes a difference.
That said, on my first mead, which is only just now getting bottled, the back-sweetenning added a lot of flavour (used an expensive strong honey!)..
jkp
Well-Known Member
I checked again on my JAOM yesterday, now 7 weeks since I started it.
All the fruit bar a few raisins had dropped to the bottom so I decided to rack it to a second DJ. The yeast layer at the bottom was quite thick but not as easy to disturb as I'd read about. Now in the second DJ it is already looking pretty clear. I tested the gravity to be 1.038 so it's in the dessert range right now, but it is still fermenting so it might become sweet.
I also poured a small glass to taste. It had a really nice straw colour, aroma had hints of all the orange and spices but not too much honey. The taste was really good, it had a slight spicy clove finish to it which was nice if a little too pronounced at the moment. I took one sip and passed the glass to the other half who took a sip her eyes lit up, and then another sip and another, finally handing me back the empty glass. I think she liked it! Even though it's still fermenting I could happily drink a glass of this. It is sweet, so I don't think it would be something to drink half a bottle of, but a glass to go with a chocolate brownie, or the cinnamon/clove spicy finish might even go well with some apple pie (my Grandfather's fav).
I plan to leave it for a few more weeks before bottling. Once it's done I'll post the final SG and maybe a pic.
All the fruit bar a few raisins had dropped to the bottom so I decided to rack it to a second DJ. The yeast layer at the bottom was quite thick but not as easy to disturb as I'd read about. Now in the second DJ it is already looking pretty clear. I tested the gravity to be 1.038 so it's in the dessert range right now, but it is still fermenting so it might become sweet.
I also poured a small glass to taste. It had a really nice straw colour, aroma had hints of all the orange and spices but not too much honey. The taste was really good, it had a slight spicy clove finish to it which was nice if a little too pronounced at the moment. I took one sip and passed the glass to the other half who took a sip her eyes lit up, and then another sip and another, finally handing me back the empty glass. I think she liked it! Even though it's still fermenting I could happily drink a glass of this. It is sweet, so I don't think it would be something to drink half a bottle of, but a glass to go with a chocolate brownie, or the cinnamon/clove spicy finish might even go well with some apple pie (my Grandfather's fav).
I plan to leave it for a few more weeks before bottling. Once it's done I'll post the final SG and maybe a pic.
chrissyteacup
Active Member
Hmmm think I'm gonna add this to my to make list... Does the bread yeast make a big difference to the final flavour?
jkp
Well-Known Member
Mine isn't finished yet but the sample I tried recently was lovely, so the bread yeast certainly didn't add anything unpleasant to it, no yeasty flavours at all. I'd suggest you try the bread yeast first time, it's a tried and tested recipe that has people coming back time and time again, so how wrong can it be?
chrissyteacup
Active Member
Ahh well looks like ill have to get some bread yeast then is the fast acting stuff ok or is better to use fresh? The other half will be pleased as I haven't made fresh bread for ages... Namely because we have no self control and eat it all!!! :grin:
jkp
Well-Known Member
The original recipe I read called for "Fleishmannâs bread yeast", but I used some "Instant dry yeast" made by the brand "Angel" as it's all there was in the local supermarket here. I think any instant/active dry bread yeast will work. I did read that you don't want to use something called "Quick-rise bread yeast", but I've never seen that in any shops here.
