Strategy tips for 5 gal JAOM?

[Liekos]

Hey folks,

So I just bottled my first 1 gallon JAO attempt, and it worked out beautifully! I didn't wait for the fruit to drop..I was too impatient. The only problem..all I got out of my batch was a measly x6 16oz bottles :-[.

So now I want to ramp it up to get more that I'll be able to share and tuck away, and I could use some tips. I have a couple 5 gal fermentation buckets, as well as a 5 gal carboy..but because I had so many foam up issues with the one gallon (airlock got popped off a few times) I was considering getting a 6 gallon carbon and multiplying the recipe by 6..then leaving 1 gallon headroom for the first week (then top it off). I was considering 6 gallon so as to plan to lose 1 gallon when racking off to the 5 gallon for a total of 5 gallons from secondary to bottle.

Does that make sense, or should I avoid racking to a secondary and just follow the same procedure as the classic recipe as I did for 1 gal? Or should I use the fermentation buckets since they'd be more forgiving for foam up?

What about nutrients/different yeast etc? Are there things to compensate for or consider at larger volume, or does the same procedure yield the same result at larger volume?

EDIT : and still just 1tsp yeast, whole packet, or more?

Thank you for any tips/experiences!

 

[fatbloke]

Impatience isn't helpful with JAO. The fruit dropping is because bread yeast doesn't flocculate (settle and compact) very well and the floating fruit will carry a layer of settled yeast that will come back into suspension if the fruit is knocked while racking.

16oz bottles ? No idea, but if you think on the volumes, 1 x US gallon is 3.78 litres and a standard wine bottle is 750ml so if an exact amount then you'd only get 5 bottles anyway, but with the sediment and fruit debris you'd be lucky to get 4.

Few tips to try to reduced racking loses but irrespective of a 5 or 6 gallon carboy you can leave some of the water out for the first week or so and top it up once the most vigorous early ferment subsides. Maybe use a blow off tube instead of an airlock ?

My experiments were limited to trying wine yeast, which doesn't work well. You will ferment it dry and end up with a brew that focuses the taste on the pithy bitterness from the orange peel....... its not a good dry recipe !

A search should throw up info on variant JAO for different ingredients or if you opted for a 6 gallon carboy, you can make it with 5 gallons of ingredients but make it up to 6 gallons and then you get a similar result to mine as I use all the same numbers but made to 1 imperial (UK)gallon which is 20% bigger. A little less sweet, enough residual sugars to mask the bitterness, same strength and more liquid......

that search will give some answers though, maybe something to try.......

 

[Liekos]

Thanks Fatbloke. I know impatience is the enemy, but the JAO was crystal clear and it'd been 2 months - so I figured for a 1st attempt it'd be ok to bottle. I'll likely wait for the fruit to really drop on the next attempt.

So it really sounds like just doing the same thing, just x5. I'd also settled on using a blowoff tube as well for the first week.

Still the same 1tsp bread yeast for the entire 5 gallon?

Does it take substantially longer to clear or for the fruit to drop at the higher volume, or still about the same?

 

[mannye]

I would just throw in the remaining two packets of yeast. I can't tell if you're in the US or elsewhere, but if it's US, chances are you have a three-pack of Fleishman's yeast and have two little packets left over. Throw both in. Although, yeast being able to do that exponential growth thing, you're OK with just one. If BOMM is any indication, it takes about the same, MAYBE a few days to a week longer for a 5 gallon batch. But yeast does whatever it wants. So it might even go faster. Although, with a 5er, you might be able to steal a bottle off the top once it started clearing.

 

[Liekos]

I can't tell if you're in the US or elsewhere

Yep, United States (Washington State).

chances are you have a three-pack of Fleishman's yeast and have two little packets left over

Indeed I do.

Throw both in. Although, yeast being able to do that exponential growth thing, you're OK with just one

Thanks! I've heard the same, that you don't need to scale up with yeast - but I didn't know if the bread yeast would be vastly different than something like k1-v1116.

 

[mannye]

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

 

[mmclean]

I prefer to make 6, 1 gallon batches. Rack to a 5 gallon carboy to bulk age.

Blending meads seems to carry its own magic.

 

[mannye]

I prefer to make 6, 1 gallon batches. Rack to a 5 gallon carboy to bulk age.

Blending meads seems to carry its own magic.

Agreed! But he doesn't have room for the large carboy to age. Only one gallon vessels. Hence the advice.