That's my plan...to make a gal a month (for now). I've been reading on a quicker, drinkable mead using wyeast 3787. So maybe 2 gals per month...lol
Well with the first bit you asked, I don't know Joe (I believe Oskaar may do) and have no way of knowing whether the recipe was "pot luck" or a very careful, studied development.
Yet it would seem that with some thought and consideration, the orange is "all of the above".
The recipe but with just juice and zest or even segmented flesh and zest would end up too sweet - it'd open the "which yeast is best?" can of worms......
Bread yeast with that amount of fermentable sugars will leave residual sugars. Residual sugars are in turn balanced by the bitterness. The orange also provides some non-sugars nutrition to the yeast.
The shaking mentioned in the recipe is intended to provide enough air/O2 for yeast development.
The flavours from the orange and spices are obvious.
The raisins are also nutrient providers, possibly also to contribute body/mouth feel and balance (theres not enough to contribute flavour).
As for the "no chems" route ? Don't allow yourself to be conned. Some of those used are actually produced naturally, we just use a more refined, higher strength version to achieve a desired result. Sulphites being a prime example.
Plus your other point about "quick" meads ? There's no such thing really, just that some recipes and methods produce an acceptable result if done in a certain way. They often need stabilising with sulphites/sorbate so the newly produced mead can have any base faults masked, often with back sweetening, acid and/or tannin addition. There are a few recipes that are just quicker than "normal". Plus the base faults I allude to would include lacking balance, alcohol hot, etc etc.
I'm not familiar with that wyeast type so can't really comment. The only ones I've bothered to try are the dry and sweet meads. The dry mead is fine, the sweet mead is a finicky PITA. Stuck ferments, not starting,
are among the problems often posted about it. Iv tried it 3 times and all 3 were problematic.
Liquid yeasts may be fine for beers, what with their needing specific properties, whereas with wines and especially meads, direct cloning is much more difficult.......
Hence IMO, they're not worth the money...... good luck with trying though. I'd be more than happy to try a different one if it seems to produce good results.
Don't forget, the cell count in dry yeasts are much higher than the liquid ones which is, I'd guess, why liquid yeasts lend themselves to needing a starter being made......
