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Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and spice Mead recipe

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  • Really great thread, read it all the way through. I have no idea what mead will be like, having never tasted it before.

    I've just started 2x 5l water bottles going. Followed the recipe to the letter, one bottle I used the hovis fast bread yeast (yellow box in sainsburrys), and the other the allinson dried active yeast (for hand baking, it's not fast, and not for bread machines) which I think will be a bit more traditional. Will compare christmas 2014. Mine had a brix of 26%.

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    • Well as the current rep for the national union of mead makers I can reassure the newer membership of a few things. Having experimented with other non-orange citrus fruit, the only one that seems to make a pleasing brew other than orange, is indeed lemon (limes are a bit of a no-no IMO).

      Plus, using local bread yeast does work out fine. Yes, Fleischmanns would be excellent, but it's a US brand not available here. I've used Allinsons, Hovis, Co-op and Tesco own brand and all seem to have been fine. If you use wine yeast, it will likely ferment dry, which ferments out the residual sugars and focuses the flavour on the pithy bitterness (which is why it's not a good dry recipe). The residual sugars are what balance it against the bitterness from the orange pith. Equally, the original recipe is made to 1 US gallon, not 1 imp gallon which is what I made my first few to - it's about 20% more mead, but also seems to come out fine.

      So if you wanted to be a purist, you will find that 3.5lb of honey to 1 US gallon will give a gravity of about the 1.125 to 1.135 area (depending on the % sugars of the honey), and bread yeast usually gets it down to about 1.025/1.035 area so that'd be sweet to dessert levels.

      Joe's point about it being ready once the fruit has dropped and it being clear is sort of OK. I find that it's better to let it age for 6 to 12 months.

      It is a bit of a swine when it comes to racking - bread yeast doesn't flocculate very well i.e. loose and fluffy. It will come back into suspension even if it thinks you've looked at it funny. I get round this, by moving it to where you're actually gonna conduct the racking a day or two before actually doing the racking. I then get a pop bottle ready, and cut the top off it and reinforce the cut top bit with some duct tape (this is so that you can cover it with cling film wrap etc). I then rack the main body of the ferment straight to bottles, being very careful not to go too near the fruit in the bottom as it will have a layer of yeast on it that is easily disturbed. Once I get enough whole bottles and the level of liquid is close to the fruit (about 4 bottles from 1 imp gallon, maybe 3, or even 2 from a US gallon), then I just rack the rest of the liquid to the pop bottle. If I pick up a little sediment or cloudiness in that, then it's not a problem (if you're worried about oxidation damage, you can just cut the bottle lower down to minimise the airspace, just that it will need the tap reinforcing so that it doesn't flop about at the top cut area when cling wrapping or moving it). The pop bottle bit goes into the fridge for a day or so, then once the sediment has dropped out again, it can be carefully moved and racked as normal, as any remaining sediment should have dropped into the molded feet of the bottle and you just lower your racking cane to the top of the molded punt in the base of the bottle - all you're actually doing is to reduce any racking losses to a minimum......

      I can usually manage to get 4.5 to 5 bottles from an imperial gallon batch.......
      Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

      Some blog ramblings

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      • Prop the DJ up so all the lees settle in a more concentrated form a couple of days before racking.
        Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

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        • I think I may have a problem folks. My only deviation was to add star anise and I used Hovis yeast. I still had no activity by this morning so I hydrated a packet of the yeast and chucked that in. I am now getting a bubble a minute 8hrs later which looks as if it is coming from some yeast that landed on bits of floating orange. As no-one seemed concerned about SG reading throughout this thread I was going to forget about this brew as per original post, but I took a reading before chucking the hydrated yeast SG and it was 1.140 so I'm guessing this is where my problem lies. Do I leave for 24hrs and see what happens ?

          Alan

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          • I have never had a batch of this fail

            you should be fine
            N.G.W.B.J.
            Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
            Wine, mead and beer maker

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            • Thanks Bob, I don't really want to have to chuck in wine yeast.

              Alan

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              • Wine yeast will ferment it to dry and it wont work as well
                N.G.W.B.J.
                Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
                Wine, mead and beer maker

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                • it will finish up well, it absolutely always does

                  regards
                  bob
                  N.G.W.B.J.
                  Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
                  Wine, mead and beer maker

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                  • Ok, I will stick it out of the way and concentrate on punching down the cap of my elderberry and damson

                    Ta Alan

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                    • What kind of cloth filter should i get to put over my tubing, preferably one I can get from amazon??? Cheers

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                      • Hi,

                        I have 2 gal of this recipe Mead but to me it tastes too dry, what is the process for post fermentation sweetening? I have not added KMet yet and its approximately 7 months old. I am determined to get it ready for xmas. wahoo....

                        Btw I know practically zero about Mead or making mead so please be gentle as this was my first attemp.

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                        • Originally posted by marcovin View Post
                          Hi,

                          I have 2 gal of this recipe Mead but to me it tastes too dry, what is the process for post fermentation sweetening? I have not added KMet yet and its approximately 7 months old. I am determined to get it ready for xmas. wahoo....

                          Btw I know practically zero about Mead or making mead so please be gentle as this was my first attemp.
                          Usually, it's 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate (or whatever the instruction on the pot say) per gallon.

                          I like to leave it for a day or so once these are stirred in.

                          For the actual back sweetening, I like to use honey and water mixed 50/50. So you might try something like 2 ounces honey and the same of water, mixed together.

                          Take a gravity reading of the brew, then gently stir in the honey and water mix. Then measure gravity again. So you know how many points you've raised it....

                          Take a small taste.....

                          Repeat......

                          You can just use honey and not mix it with water, I just do that as its easier to stir in. You could just add the honey and mix gently in the same way......

                          Also, honey can cause a haze (protein I believe) when being added for sweetness. So if you did get that, then either leave it to clear naturally (can take a long time) or get some kwik clear finings as that usually works.......
                          Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

                          Some blog ramblings

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by stukeeper View Post
                            What kind of cloth filter should i get to put over my tubing, preferably one I can get from amazon??? Cheers
                            Cloth etc won't filter. The weave is far too open. At most it will strain and prevent most fruit debris from passin into the tube.

                            Filtration is very different. ...

                            The cloth would be muslin or cheese cloth type which easily soaks up sulphite solution to sanitise.....
                            Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

                            Some blog ramblings

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                            • After a month in the doldrums my brew has eventually burst into life and is now bubbling merrily away. I knew it wasn't well but I've no idea what gave it a wake up call. Only thing I can think of is that I moved it to get to a bottle of sloe gin at the back of the cupboard.

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                              • hello, I put her 3 days ago and she's still fermenting slow, what did I do wrong?
                                Last edited by meady; 19-06-2021, 02:42 PM. Reason: More specific numbers are used.

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