Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and spice Mead recipe

[goldseal]

The Kwik Clear was having zero effect, regardless of temperature, so I tried Bentonite (which seems OK for mead).

On mixing the contents went a similar colour to magnolia emulsion, but this morning it was almost clear. I'm surprised I wasn't woken in the night by the THUD of the sediment hitting the bottom . This evening it IS clear. I'll wait a while and wait for the lees to compact before finally bottling it.

[fatbloke]

The Kwik Clear was having zero effect, regardless of temperature, so I tried Bentonite (which seems OK for mead).

On mixing the contents went a similar colour to magnolia emulsion, but this morning it was almost clear. I'm surprised I wasn't woken in the night by the THUD of the sediment hitting the bottom . This evening it IS clear. I'll wait a while and wait for the lees to compact before finally bottling it.

Curious that it makes a good fining Pete!

Some years ago, I was working for a waste/rubbish company, I spent a week (1 load a day due to distance) hauling 3000 gallon loads of it, after it had been used as a tunnel cutting/drilling lubricant. The only weird thing was that the tanker had to be washed out after each load - and whenever I got the back door of the tank open, it never ceased to amaze me that the inside looked like it was coated in about a 2 inch thick layer of magnolia tippex!

I've got an idea though, that it's got lots of different names - I think it's also sometimes (and places) known as "Fullers Earth", though if you know your industrial history and what fullers and fulling was, then I'd guess that bentonite would be a better name

regards

JtFB

[Her Lushness]

Today I dug out of storage my 1st gallon of Orange mead that I started back in May. It's starting to taste pretty promising, so I racked it, back sweetened with some honey and put it back where it came from.
I also put another gallon on coz I have a feeling the 1st gallon's going to get drunk pretty quickly!

So, my last brewing for 2008 is a JMAO mead.

[petes]

Scaling JAOM Up

I've done a couple of these only, both 1 gallon US.
First one behaved zachary like Joe said it would. Unfortunately it didn't hang around too long afterwards either .
Second has been a bit more troublesome, to the extent that whilst things dropped, it didn't clear. At 5 months and counting I've racked off the droppings and gone to secondary. (It does taste great tho ).
When racked it was at SG 1055 which I thought was kind of high for the length of time it'd been hatching. Forgot (again) to read the starting gravity but as recipe calls for around .46kg honey per litre, reckon could've been as high as 1175

My thoughts now are for a 4 US gall brew (15.2 litres) and my question is have any of you attempted scaling Joe's recipe up?
I've worked out what I think is wanted but having just read through the sticky on additives for mead, it now occurs that maybe I could incorporate some of these into the mix - I realise it would no longer be JAOM - but it is the taste I'm after, after all.
Have any of you tried updates or thought of a tweak but not been game enough to try?
I'm open for suggestions, maybe even go for a wine yeast and backsweeten to retain the JOAM effect. I'm limited here to only 2 Lalvin yeasts readily available - 71B and 1118; if I stay on the Joe's theme I have to revert to Tasti breadmakers yeast as his Fleishmann's doesn't exist here either .
Anyone??
Cheers, petes

[rjb222]

I made 5 imp gallons just after Christmas. I multiplied the honey by 5 then I cut back the oranges and put in four. four cinnamon sticks 4cloves and about 1/2 cup raisins.This I used 5 package's of lavin D-47.lIt is starting to claer very nicely.

[petes]

rjb22, thanks for that.
One thing though, would've thought 1 pack of yeast would drive it, 2 at the most; but 5?
cheers, petes

[rjb222]

rjb22, thanks for that.
One thing though, would've thought 1 pack of yeast would drive it, 2 at the most; but 5?
cheers, petes

The reasoning is like this the honey is a slow ferment to start with as it is a six chain molecule. I wanted no stress on the yeast to produce bad flavors. A large yeast population seemed like the answer. If I had made a starter then I would have used that. But did not think far enough ahead (bad habit) so I went with the numbers and pitched five .got an excellent ferment things are clearing nicely.

[petes]

Okay, savvy that.
On another forum there's an advocate of multiple yeast packs for larger volumes, who makes sense.
(Surprised to see 'imp' in North America. Thought you'd all be aligned with your south border cuzzies )
Main thing that interests me here is that yours is clearing nicely with the alternate yeast. I'm limited to 2 Lalvin types, 1118 and 71B (1122).
Have written 2 scenarios for a 4gall (US) brew; traditional, if you like, and alternate. Still deciding way to jump; maybe should consider a Lalvin with starter and just ditch the bread yeast.
Even after racking the last one isn't looking any clearer - it did clear shortly after dropping its bundle, but shuffling things around in my brewspace stirred it and 'snever been the same since!

[lockwood1956]

I would opt for the 71B over the 1118 as using the 1118 will almost certainly ferment it to dry, and it wont be as nice (you could stabilise and sweeten of course)
this is the thinking behind using the bread yeast (although I'm not a bread yeast fan) that it leaves lots of residual sweetness.

regards
Bob

[petes]

Thanks Bob; today's the day, will go with the 71B, prestart, otherwise traditional recipe.

Are you able to offer advice, please, as to a final SG to aim for to retain some residual sweetness?

Am assuming a bit here that the yeasties won't lay down and die too early; should probably consider a SNA programme to assist their longevity.
cheers, petes

[lockwood1956]

Well......given the right conditions, 71B will go to 16% alcohol.

mead makers tend to start with hightstarting SG's and use the full alc tolerance of the yeast.

so i think a finishing SG of 1.010 is a nice medium sweetness, so to achieve yeasties dying through alc tolerance requires an SG drop of 118 so starting at SG of 1.128 would do the trick, but I dont like start SG's that high

for me....a better option would likely be to start at 1.080

ferment to 1.010 feed with sugar to 1.030

ferment to 1.010 feed with sugar to 1.030

ferment to 1.010 feed with sugar to 1.030

it should finish around 1.012

[petes]

thankyou for that Bob, it has given me something new to try, cheers, petes

[spritzer]

Well.....

This site is very addictive

And I have managed to get myself into the situation, where I will have an abundance of honey

So... It really would be criminal not to try a mead or three
Which is what I will do....

Actually... "abundace" might be too strong a word... Just more than I am used to...

Will let you all know how I get on

[ukmastiff]

Hi, hope this is an interesting beginners question ( and not too stupid).

Since cider from juice ( easy for starters but not proper) doesnt seem to have a great reputation on here for quality, I fancy a go at this mead lark :P

I dont want anything too sweet so how would you modify the recipe above to avoid this. Different yeast maybe ?. Also would I be right in assuming that instead of 3.5lb of honey I could say try 3lb plus a litre ? / or a half ? of apple or pear extract etc. What do you think am I way off the mark or thinking along the right lines.

Cheers Mas

[Mamgiowl]

Follow Bob's advice above but omit the feeding episodes and this can give you a dry mead - at least that's what happens with mine, and I back sweeten (with honey) at the end.

No probs with adding apple/pear juice -it's traditional enough to have its own name - cyser for apples and I don't know if it's different if you use pears.

(Someone will tell both of us if it is)