Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

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MixnMatchBrew
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Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by MixnMatchBrew »

This has won me a number of ribbons. I do this exactly the same each time.

The recipe is out there for anyone to google and its a very nice mead.

The style is metheglin and it is sweet. Do not get all excited and bent out of shape when you see the yeast strain!
Read the entire recipe before you judge it. If you want to taste it let me know. I pretty much have it on hand all the time.

If you make a 5 gallon batch you will not multiple the cloves, cinnamon or yeast by 5. I would double the amount of cloves and cinnamon, use the same amount of yeast and multiply the rest of the ingredients.

Recipe Type:
Yeast: Bread yeast
Yeast Starter: nope
Batch Size (Gallons): 1
Original Gravity: 1.100????
Final Gravity: 1.030?????
Boiling Time (Minutes): 1
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 months

Ancient Orange Mead (by Joe Mattioli)
1 gallon batch

3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon

Process:
Use a clean 1 gallon carboy
Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy
Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts)

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's)( Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.

Racking --- Don't you dare
additional feeding --- NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- Your not listening, don't touch

After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (Like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80). If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated.
If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make good ancient mead.
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JaySchafer
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by JaySchafer »

Nice. I've seen this one on the forums and am looking forward to trying it on your brewday.

Jay
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truckpoetry
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by truckpoetry »

How do you get the oranges and cinnamon stick OUT of the carboy? Do they just slide out?
Cameron Mathews
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MixnMatchBrew
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by MixnMatchBrew »

I use a bucket for 5 gallon batches.

You will siphon off the mead and then pull out the oranges slices. At the end they are soft and fairly easy to pull out.
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by MixnMatchBrew »

Did a batch of orange mead.

Modified the recipe a bit. Juiced the oranges and microplaned one of them for some peel. Decided to see how fast it will clear up without all the pith in there.

Evertthing else was pretty much the same.
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rack04
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by rack04 »

I'm thinking about experimenting with mead making. Any tips on honey? Is the stuff at Wal-Mart of Sams good enough for this recipe?
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by MixnMatchBrew »

rack04 wrote:I'm thinking about experimenting with mead making. Any tips on honey? Is the stuff at Wal-Mart of Sams good enough for this recipe?
It works fine for Joe's. I prefer the version made with raw wildflower honey, but it was not worlds better compared to batches made with store bought honey.
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rack04
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by rack04 »

How is mead typically bottled?
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by MixnMatchBrew »

rack04 wrote:How is mead typically bottled?
Depends on the mead. If it is not carbonated you can use wine bottles.
Beer bottles will work with all styles and is a reasonable amount to serve.
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rack04
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by rack04 »

Thanks for the tips. Here is my batch about 12 hours later.

Image

I'll let you know how it turns out in a few months.
rack04
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Re: Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Post by rack04 »

Image

3 weeks in and it's already fairly clear
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