My mead
- Thread starter GunnerExcel
- Start date
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Are those all Joe's Ancient Orange? Looks like you caught the mead bug though. Not even two weeks before you brewed a second round.
Yup, those are all JAOM's with some experimental variations such as honey content and/or orange rind on off. I figure by Christmas they will all be pretty tasty.
My wife is pregnant and her folks are coming into town when the baby comes in August, unfortunately my "mead" room is also the guest bedroom and the wife says I can't get to carried away with the new hobby until they leave.
I'm looking forward to getting some real glass carboys and some real yeast strains so I can try even more mead variations.
My first batch started 8 may was done with red star bread yeast and another gallon done with some rapid rise pizza yeast that my wife got me. At about a month I did a little tasting and both where pretty bitter I assume from the orange rind. They both tasted pretty strong though but no hydrometer yet so no way to measure. I also only used 3 pounds of honey in each because Joe's recipe said it would finish sweet with 3.5 pounds and in more of a semi sweet guy.
I think this weekend in going to do a strawberry Joan variant and my buddy wants a promgrant but I gotta figure out how I wanna do that, I defiantly think I need some real yeast for that though.
the extra half pound in the Joes recipe is really to go towards countering that bitterness from the orange piths. So that could be why you're experiencing some bitterness. But since you're waiting until Thanksgiving / Christmas, most of it should be well aged out as a pleasant note instead of bitter forwardness.
Yeah, good luck with the bitterness receding.
I did exactly the same thing... Cut the honey down to 3 lbs. because I prefer dry wines.
BIG mistake.
The honey is definitely needed to balance out/hide the bitterness of the orange pith. Mine has been aging now for 7 months and, if possible, its gotten even more bitter.
I'm experimenting with backsweetening now. It broke my heart to see the haze and mucky looking stuff that the added honey caused, but I added bentonite to clear it and it's back to crystal clear now.
If there was any one thing that everyone trying the JAOM recipe should have drummed into them, it is this: DO NOT CUT BACK ON THE HONEY! Not with this one.
Just my $0.02,
Joe
I did exactly the same thing... Cut the honey down to 3 lbs. because I prefer dry wines.
BIG mistake.
The honey is definitely needed to balance out/hide the bitterness of the orange pith. Mine has been aging now for 7 months and, if possible, its gotten even more bitter.
I'm experimenting with backsweetening now. It broke my heart to see the haze and mucky looking stuff that the added honey caused, but I added bentonite to clear it and it's back to crystal clear now.
If there was any one thing that everyone trying the JAOM recipe should have drummed into them, it is this: DO NOT CUT BACK ON THE HONEY! Not with this one.
Just my $0.02,
Joe
What happens with 3lbs of honey and no orange pith?
I know it voids the warranty, im just playing around trying different things.
I know it voids the warranty, im just playing around trying different things.
The pith is where all the bitterness resides for the most part. You may also find that bitterness tolerability is different from person to person. I made some mead with a friend back in January.
He used less than 3lbs of honey as well as the entire orange. I directed the entire batch via texting him and never saw the mead until it was bottled in late May. I opened one up a few weeks ago, and it was actually really good. And despite the orange having sat in the fermenter for several months, it was not too bitter.
