Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and spice Mead recipe

[sb44]

Anybody with half decent taste buds will love this, don't worry you will not be disappointed.

Well I started one gallon today so hopefully it will taste great.

My husband was asking what mead tastes like as he has never tried it and I can't remember as it is nearly 30 years since I last tried it!

Can someone please let me know what this compares to drink wise please?

Ta!

[Duffbeer]

Unfortunatly, it does not compare to any commercial wine/mead, it has a citrus finish that is not compared to in commercial wines, however it is still a pleasant drop to make and drink.

[rjb222]

I did it

Well I finally got up the courage to mix up this mead recipe given in the front of this thread. It is still too warm to pitch my yeast but I am cooling it in a sink of cold water. This is a first in more ways than one I have also never tried drinking a mead before so in a couple months I will let you know what I think of this brew. Thanks to all for the guidance and thoughful comments.

[fatbloke]

Well I finally got up the courage to mix up this mead recipe given in the front of this thread. It is still too warm to pitch my yeast but I am cooling it in a sink of cold water. This is a first in more ways than one I have also never tried drinking a mead before so in a couple months I will let you know what I think of this brew. Thanks to all for the guidance and thoughful comments.

Ah! well I finally got round to mixing up 2 gallons over the last weekend. So now I have 3 X 1 gallon finishing/clearing/waiting for fruit to drop (one with orange, one with lemon and one with lime) and 2 X 1 gallon, both with lemon and lime, bubbling away. The only difference being that one has bread yeast and the other has Lalvin 71B.

Oh and if it turns out a bit "blleeeaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh"! when it's finished, don't chuck it. Just syphon, filter and bulk store it. The change in a couple of months (6 in my case, from last time I made some) was truly remarkable. The finished result was "mega yum yum"

regards

JtFB

[rjb222]

Ah! well I finally got round to mixing up 2 gallons over the last weekend. So now I have 3 X 1 gallon finishing/clearing/waiting for fruit to drop (one with orange, one with lemon and one with lime) and 2 X 1 gallon, both with lemon and lime, bubbling away. The only difference being that one has bread yeast and the other has Lalvin 71B.

Oh and if it turns out a bit "blleeeaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh"! when it's finished, don't chuck it. Just syphon, filter and bulk store it. The change in a couple of months (6 in my case, from last time I made some) was truly remarkable. The finished result was "mega yum yum"

regards

JtFB

Right on I am looking forward to trying this mead. I inoculated mine with Lavin D47 everything was working well this morning.

[Richard S]

Just read through this facinating thread. I have never considered making mead/melomel before but I am going to give this a go. I will make a batch using the original recipe but with gp yeast.

During my last trip to India I bought some spices from a spice plantation. A few days ago my wife found the vanilla pods and they smell FANTASTIC! How do you suggest using them in a mead, ie what sort of recipe?

Why is the whole process carried out in a dj? Surly it would be easier to use a bucket with lid and airlock.

[Rich]

Rich, I think the purpose of using the bread yeast with this, is so it doesn't ferment to bone dry. Also, It's done in a demijohn as it's meant to be an ancient type of recipe.

Mine is now aging in bottles, and tastes very orangy, but not too sweet and it was done with bread yeast. (It did seem odd doing it like that.)

It all worked great, cleared down fine, even the oranges came out of the demijohn, which I was doubtfull of.


Rich

[rjb222]

It all worked great, cleared down fine, even the oranges came out of the demijohn, which I was doubtfull of.


Rich[/QUOTE]
Rich the removal of fruit is an easy thing I recover lots of my beer bottles by getting people to sell me their Carona bottles that are always contain lime wedges or lemon wedges. I just put some water in and give the bottle a good down swing out every thing comes.While Carona it's self is undrinkable swill to me they make a nice reusable bottle.

[Richard S]

Rich, I think the purpose of using the bread yeast with this, is so it doesn't ferment to bone dry. Also, It's done in a demijohn as it's meant to be an ancient type of recipe.

Mine is now aging in bottles, and tastes very orangy, but not too sweet and it was done with bread yeast. (It did seem odd doing it like that.)

It all worked great, cleared down fine, even the oranges came out of the demijohn, which I was doubtfull of.


Rich

I'm not too worried about it fermenting out to dryness as this will give me a solid foundation to sweeten from. I have put a batch on, just added the 1 clove this time.

[sb44]

How many wine bottles do you manage to fill from a one gallon batch of this?

There is so much gunk at the bottom of mine and the fruit hasn't dropped yet so there will be quite a few centimetres of solids at the bottom when finished so less clear liquid to syphon off.

Do other people find that there are bits of stuff on the sides of their dj?

It reminds me of when you sometimes get clear algae on the side of the fish tank.

[lockwood1956]

Twist the DJ side to side a little and it will drop the bits from the sides of the DJ, waiting till the fruit drops will ensure that the sediment is compact too, but the lees will be fluffy because of the bread yeast

regards
Bob

[sb44]

Thanks Bob, off to do that now.

Blimey, I bet you are the only brit on here posting at the moment, I would think most are watching the Man U v Chelsea match.

[lockwood1956]

errrrr...

its half time

lol

[sb44]

errrrr...

its half time

lol

Well I am sat here in the armchair with the laptop on my knee, about a foot away from the tv.

Show how much interest I have in the match!

[lockwood1956]

Full time now.........


another 30 mins to go