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Quick JAOM Question

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M

Mead_Monster

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 13, 2013
28
0
1
Colorado Springs, CO
Hey Ladies and Gentleman,

I just finished my first batch of mead...... I think. I followed the JAOM recipe to the "T" with the only possible varience being that I used a wide mouth 1 gallon jar instead of the small mouthed more common gallon jug. Almost 18 hours before the the exact two month period for brewing the fruit began to drop and by this evening almost all of the fruit has dropped. However from what I have read about this recipe and its progression, it clears suddenly. Mine has begun to clear however it is far from clear, I would not even consider opaque to be an accurate description.

Are good things, ie. complete clearing, yet to come or am I missing something?

Thanks for any help.
 
Good things should be on ther way! Although, the two JAMOs that I've made cleared before the fruit started falling......
 
I've had them clear quick and I have had them clear slowly, and I have had them not clear to the point that I finally used bentonite to get it to clear. Just wait and it will probably clear on its own.
 
Thanks Ken and Darigoni,

I thought I would receive email notifications but I didn't. Thus the late reply and thanks. I appreciate you sharing your experiences and encouragement. The owner of the shop where I get most of my supplies told me that as long as the must is clowdy the yeasties are still active, perhaps slowly but still active.

Ken, How long did you wait past the expected time of clearig before you added the bentonite?

The "brew room" smells great looking forward to tasting my first mead.

Thanks again.

Jim
 
I waited about three months. No harm in waiting because it's not fit to drink before then.
 
I find that the sweet spot for "by the book" JAOM is 100 days. After 100 days, if the fruit has fallen or 90% fallen, go ahead and rack it off the lees into a secondary. Mine are usually pretty clear by then, but I almost always get greedy and manage to suck up some spent yeast rendering the mead cloudy anyway. What I do in either case is put on a fresh new airlock and throw it in the fridge for a week of cold crashing. That will usually get most of the schmutz to go to the bottom and then you can rack one more time to get nice clear JAOM.

I stopped making gallon batches because everyone likes it and the resulting mead that took 100 days to make would last maybe 3 days. So my advice is once you have a few (4 or 5) under your belt, switch to 5 gallon batches. Those last a little longer and you might even be able to lay down a few bottles to mature for a year. It's really worth it.

JAOM keeps getting better and better the longer you let it sit up to about a year to 18 months. After that I can't notice anything changing for the better (or worse, thankfully). To be frank, it's really hard to keep JAOM around without a mead elf drinking it while I'm not looking. I hide a gallon jug from every big batch to sit and wait the year with an airlock.
 
Hey Guys and Gals,

100 Days?! Arggh!!! Oh well, they say good things come to those who wait. I admit though that I look at my mead when I get home from work and experience a bit of frustration when it hasn't cleared already. I did start three gallons for my first batch cause I figured that if it turns out well it may not last too long.

Thanks again for your continued help.

Jim
 
I am a rookie at this ...my question is does it matter what kind of orange to use in making Joe's Ancient Orange Mead and does it matter how much head space I have in the fermenter. I am planning on making a 5 gallon batch in a 30 litre Speidel fermenter so there will be a lot of head space. Thanks in advance for any info.
 
Headspace is more important during long-term aging. Not as much or not at all during an active ferment. The better you manage your SO2 additions the less you need to be concerned about extra headspace. I would still try to keep it topped as much as you can.
 
It does say a large orange, so yes a naval orange is fine. For a 5 gallon batch you'll want to use 4 to 5 of them, depending on how large they actually are.
 
It's best not to have too much headspace. What I do is top it up after the initial week or so when I'm making a 5 gallon batch. However, 30 liters is going to leave a LOT of headspace in a 7 gallon container. Maybe bump it up to 6.5 gallons (you can never have enough JAOM) and you will be golden.
 
Thanks for that info. And another question arises...If bumping up this recipe, would I also bump up the yeast addition by 1 tsp per gallon ending up with 6.5 tsp. per 6 1/2 gallons?
 
I would say no to adding more yeast. The original recipe calls for 1t of bread yeast no matter what the volume. I've just bottled my latest batch of JAOM, without enough headspace in my opinion, and it turned out perfect. If you provide good sanitation this recipe will not disappoint.
My first batch was an 84 day jaom bottled on sept 6 2016. My second batch was a 109 day jaom bottled on jan 21 2018. 105 days. The fermentation was longer because the temps in my basement were lower. Follow the recipe. When the fruit drops it's ready to bottle/drink, not when it clears.
 
I didn't address headspace in the last response. I had over 4 inches from the bottom of the airlock, forgot to add liquid/marbles, and it did not make a difference. If it did, this batch is delicious, and I don't know if more or less would have made a positive difference. This is truly foolproof.
 
I personally use more yeast. Our understanding of yeast kinetics is much more defined today than back then. I have only made this 1 time. So I don't recall the amount of yeast that was called for. I would use that amount in the recipe for each gallon of must.
 
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