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Mat.the.W

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 27, 2011
8
0
0
First off, I have been lurking here for a few weeks, so Greetings everyone.

My mead story all started back in the day while reading and always seeing the word "mead" in books, yet never knew where to get this stuff, finally got sick of looking for it locally because I have a thing about ordering edibles off the internet, and ended up looking into making it. To my surprise, I found Joes Ancient Orange and decided it was time to give it a shot that way.

So as I type this, I have a 4L wine bottle under my sink that has been smelling fantastic for 13 days now. I can't wait to give it a shot, but in the mean time have been researching and reading anything I can find online.

So I suppose my question is, once this one is done and I try it, I am sure I will like it if the smell is any hint of the flavor, where do I go from there? I went with JAO because of its ease and low introductory cost ;) My next batch I will be buying a bit of equipment, a hydrometer, rubber plug, and air lock at the least. But I am looking to stay in the 1gallon batch range. Does anyone have suggestions on some good 1 gallon recipes?
 
The nice thing about mead is that you can go in any direction your whims (a d your pocketbook) will take you!

Read the Newbee guide, then just for good measure, read it again. Peruse a bunch of brewlogs to get an idea of what can be done, what has been done, and might be done. Then...do whatever pleases you, what sounds good, what you have the resources for, just do it. The mentors will help you with problems, most of which aren't fatal, and you'll be in business!

Welcome to Gotmead!
 
Thanks for the welcome, it is good to know that it is so forgiving.

I have actually read through the newbee guide at least twice, and was planning to read it again. My wife has a garden with one of her friends and they tend to have just a ridiculous amount of red raspberries, so I was thinking I might try throwing together one of the raspberry recipes from the recipe section, but that will involve some math to knock them down from 5 gallons, but if it comes out tasty maybe I will be able to convince the wife I need to do a 5gallon batch next ;D
 
Welcome Matthew. This is tough because everybodies taste is different. I try making meads that have flavor combos I like from cooking and from fruit and herbs I can either grow or pick. This gave me specific ideas for types of mead and from there, people here were able to help me fine tune my recipes. So maybe try to throw out some ideas and see if that helps get some good responses. I also found the search tool to be helpful for recipe ideas.
 
Hi there Mat.the.W,

Welcome to GOTMEAD?

For my second batch, I made a 6 gallon batch of cyser. Why a cyser? Well, you get to keep the 1 gallon apple juice/cider jug to use as carboys. ;D

There's even a brewlog for raspberry cyser around here somewhere.

BTW...JAO may be drinkable in 2 months, but mine turned the corner at 6 months and went frorm drinkable to awesome. :p
 
I was expecting to wait until 4 months probably on the JAO, but might just bottle it whenever it goes clear and try it as time goes on.

I will look for the raspberry cyser log, but I looked forever for apple juice in a glass gallon jug and could not find them here, but I will have to check the orchards during their open season.

And yes, i imagine I will regret only one gallon, but my wife is not big on the home brewing idea so i have to take it semi slow at this current point in time.
 
Mat.the.W said:
I will look for the raspberry cyser log, but I looked forever for apple juice in a glass gallon jug and could not find them here, but I will have to check the orchards during their open season.
Click to expand...

Try looking for glass jugs of apple juice/cider at your health/whole/natural food store. The price may be a little high, but consider a empty jug will run you around US$4.95.
 
mmclean said:
Try looking for glass jugs of apple juice/cider at your health/whole/natural food store. The price may be a little high, but consider a empty jug will run you around US$4.95.
Click to expand...

It can't be any more expensive than the 4L bottle of wine i bought for the jug and ended up dumping more than half of because i just could not drink any more of it after a month of trying.
 
wildoates said:
You'll probably regret doing only one gallon, by the way...just warning you. :)
Click to expand...

+1! The first time you realize your mead tastes really good, and you only have a few bottles of it (and it took a long time to produce), you'll go to 5-6 gallon batches real quick. (only took me 3 batches....)
 
New question regarding this batch...

Everything I have read on Joes ancient orange says that it is "done when it is clear"... What counts as clear exactly?

I can see through it as well as a person can see through a cylindrical liquid filled object (lots of distortion) but it does have a strong amber color to it. There seems to be a large bed of yeast on the bottom of the jug with the cinnamon stick resting in it, oranges are still floating, but the raisins are a mix between the two.

There is still a bit of bubbling going on, I used a balloon not an airlock for this batch, so I cant count bubbles or anything... What should I be looking for in order to know this is safe to bottle?
 
Can you read a newspaper through it?

(and for you youngsters, a newspaper is this paper thing that has all the news that you find on the internet printed on it, except that it's yesterday's news. It's an archaic term, I realize. Check Wikipedia for more information ;))
 
I waited untill I could easily read small print through it and after all the fruit fell. All bubbles had stopped by then. There's no real hurrry wit JAO. You just don't want the fruit breaking down own you.
 
A newspaper huh? Can I pull something up on my iPad and read that instead? I dont want to have to go use one of them old fashioned green machines by the store, then I have to get coins! :o

Alright, I will continue waiting. And unfortunately there is a hurry, I have never tried mead and very much want to lol.
 
Mat.the.W said:
Alright, I will continue waiting. And unfortunately there is a hurry, I have never tried mead and very much want to lol.
Click to expand...

If you want it better, quicker add some oak. Kills some of the pithy taste everyone talks about.

I didn't care to much for mine until around 6 months and after adding some oak. YMMV. :)
 
Mat.the.W said:
A newspaper huh? Can I pull something up on my iPad and read that instead? I dont want to have to go use one of them old fashioned green machines by the store, then I have to get coins! :o

Alright, I will continue waiting. And unfortunately there is a hurry, I have never tried mead and very much want to lol.
Click to expand...

If you're "that generation", it's clear when you can operate your iPod nano while looking at the menus through it :p
 
biochemedic said:
+1! The first time you realize your mead tastes really good, and you only have a few bottles of it (and it took a long time to produce), you'll go to 5-6 gallon batches real quick. (only took me 3 batches....)
Click to expand...

.... or you start bottling more 350 ml bottles instead of 750's...
 
Sorry for slow responses...

I already plan on using beer bottles due to single person sizing for sampling purposes and because a friend of mine drinks a ton of expensive beer with non twist caps so i get free bottles.

I ordered my capper and caps last night, as well as a real air-lock for my next batch.
 
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