An updated (improved ?) take on the JAO/JAOM recipe by Jon Talkington.......

Jon is someone I know via facebook. He is currently working as a professional brewer but has been making meads for a long time.

I haven't tried this version yet (having only just found it), but Jon seems an all round good guy who does "know his stuff", hence no hesitation in recommending that it's gonna be worth a go (even if you scale it down to try a smaller batch first IMO). 

Jon’s Spiced Orange & Raisin Mead (A modern take on JAOM) 5.5 gallons

Jon Talkington·Tuesday, 20 September 2016

I have made the classic Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead...bread yeast and all. People either love or hate it. JAOM is good for what it is and its easy for the hobbyist mead maker, but I made it this way for people to step up their skills in mead making. The problem with bread yeast (I know Joe was going for ancient) is that its inconsistent and produces many off flavors like phenolics and esters when fermented warm so I used an ale yeast for a cleaner and more consistent flavor. Another issue is the orange cut in pieces and added whole, you end up getting the bitterness from the pith of the orange. So I zested the orange with a citrus zester and used the juice, no whole orange in the recipe. The raisins do provide flavor and extra sugars however they are not “yeast nutrients” as is suggested so I added yeast nutrients in a staggered fashion which will make for a better ferment.This mead makes a nice sweet spicy orange mead to sip in the autumn and winter months. Enjoy!! Recipe: 17 to 18 lbs Honey (a lighter variety will work) 5 x Large Oranges (Zested and juiced) 12 oz. Raisins (you can use golden or dark. The darker raisins will have more of a sherry flavor) Make sure they don’t have sulfites. 4 medium sized Cinnamon sticks (I like to use Vietnamese Cinnamon its very sweet in flavor) 10 whole cloves or 1/2 tsp of ground cloves 1 tsp Ground Allpsice 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg 15 grams dry ale yeast such as Fermentis US05, S-04, S-33 or Cooper’s Ale Yeast rehydrated with 18.75 grams Go-Ferm or Start Up rehydration nutrients. I’ve use all these yeasts with good results in mead. Directions for mixing up the Go-Ferm and yeast. Mix Go-Ferm in 20 times its weight in clean 110°F (43°C) water. So this would would be 12.6 oz of 110 degree water..Let cool to 104 degree F (40°C) then add the 15 grams active dried yeast. Let stand for 20 minutes. Slowly (over 5 minutes) add equal amounts of must (juice) to be fermented to the yeast slurry. Watch the temperature difference. Do not allow more than 18°F (10°C) difference between the must (juice) and the yeast slurry. 10 grams Yeast Nutrient such as Fermaid K or Super Food added in steps. 5 grams added right when fermentation begins at 24 hours and the other 5 grams added at 72 hours. Water to top to 5.5 gallons Make sure all fermentation equipment is clean and sanitized. Mix honey,orange zest & juice, spices and water into the bucket (no boiling the honey) stir well to make sure the honey is all dissolved thoroughly. Rehydrate the yeast with Go-Ferm in warm water per directions. Aerate the honey mixture and pitch in the rehydrated wine yeast. Add the nutrients as needed and ferment 2 to 3 weeks at 64 to 68 degrees F before racking into a glass carboy for secondary fermentation and aging. Rack as necessary, when clear and stable the mead can be bottled. Cheers! OG- 1.130 to 1.135 FG- 1.020 to 1.025

If you read "around the bazaars", you will find the original version of the JAO/JAOM recipe, along with many variants. Of the variants, people often substitute a wine yeast for the bread yeast, but that leads to issues of bitterness.

Jon has gone some way to modify the recipe with lots of apparent (as above, I haven't tried this yet) improvements that remove some of the issues that arise from just using the original version of the recipe with wine yeast instead of the originally suggested bread yeast.

It reads to me that while a total novice could make the original recipe by just following the recipe/instructions, you only need to have a little bit or prior knowledge to follow Jon's version as it reads to me like an easily followed, straight forward update/improvement.

Thank you Mr T. Nicely put :D

Oak chips anyone ?

Doug kindly sent me this link for oak chips. It's a German based site, so some appears to be in English, but not all so you might need to do a bit of translating.

I haven't personally tried it, but when I take into account the excellent assistance and customer service I got when I used the Walter Lang GMBH site to get some honey I couldn't find any closer, I'd be happy to try the "oak chips site".......

Glass V Plastic fermenters, containers etc etc.

There's long been questions about whether it's safe to use plastic instead of glass for fermentation.

Glass is the traditional choice, but it does come with a few caveats i.e. heavy, breakable, etc etc.

Plastic is a more modern material, but also seems to have it's issues. Damages easily, only certain types are "safe", you can't really use it for certain production techniques, some are air permeable, etc etc.....

I'll let you decide for yourself, but here's an interesting thought/idea/comment on it.....

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/the-problem-with-bpa-free-alternatives-are-just-as-troubling/

Interesting read.........

http://www.beesource.com/resources/usda/honey-composition-and-properties/

It's a bit of a "dry" read if you're not into making meads, but seems to contain some useful info about honey etc..........

Thinking about flavours etc........

I spend much time reading, reading, reading....... Particularly at the forums and places on facebook that focus on meads (no surprise there).

So what's the issue ? Well, I might not be much of an expert, but some of the flavour combinations are absolutely fucking ridiculous.

For example, anything with chocolate. Why ? I hear you say........

If chocolate was such a good and easy material to use, it'd be in every fucking thing! It's marvellous when made into hard(ish) confectionery. Equally, it makes a wonderful, warming, winter evening drink. Mostly because it's got milk mixed with it or at least some sort of lower calorie non-dairy whitener......

Pure cocoa/chocolate powder is not a good flavouring element for everything. If you look at the sort of alcoholic drinks that do contain it, the ones that are successful are the ones that have a cream base.

Now I can't say for certain, but there do seem to be so many reasons to stick with the basics of flavour combinations, so as not to bother making anything slightly unusual.

Ok, I'm happy to admit that there are some strange ones out there, that have been proven to be successful despite being counter-intuitive, like chocolate and chilli or strawberry with black pepper, but these are exceptions not the rule. Most of them have been found or worked out by experts in the field, like chocolatiers and molecular gastronomists etc.

Not by use home booze makers.

Sure, there will be some flavours and tastes that are culturally localised, but outside that region the sort of combinations that nobody would normally consider.

Maybe the issue is what the wine/mead is made from ? Tomato wine ? Parsnip wine ? what the fuck are those. Tomato is great in cooking, but the flavour changes so much with primary fermentation (which is, after all, controlled rotting, so "it" changes to a different flavour), parsnip is just something that I don't like anyway, so I wouldn't eat it let alone ferment it.....

Of course, it's fair to say that if it's edible it's likely that it can be fermented. Equally that doesn't mean that it SHOULD be fermented.

As I said above, there are good reasons to use materials with a proven track record. Why bother using materials that produce stuff that tastes like puke!

Allergic to wine or sulphites in wine ?

Don't talk out of your fucking arse !

Read this and you'll understand what the likely problem could be......

And if you don't know who Tim Vandergrift is, look him up and you'll see why he knows his stuff.......

"Making Mead" by Roger Morse.

When my copy of this book first arrived, I "power read" the first part/intro section. Well written, with a few bits of info and sources that I hadn't come across before.

Puffed with enthusiasm, I posted an initial post.

I've since decided to delete that post. Not because I'm any less enthusiastic about making mead, for real or via the book.

Just that it was interesting to read, but much of the guidance is now quite dated. No less relevant, just that things have progressed since it was written. Better or maybe just more up to date ideas, materials, ingredients, methods etc.......

Ergo, I recommend it as a good book to have in a library of mead making books, but it's not the "be all, end all" book to have.

Worth getting a copy though. Some of his concepts/info about mead making are good to know, but if you keep up with current ideas, you'll follow why I prefer not to expound this older info.

Hey ho!, there is a more recent book to get. More recent than even the Great Ken Schramms, "The Compleat Meadmaker".

It's called The Complete Guide to Making Mead, by Steve Piatz.

I can't say whether it's worth getting, as I haven't got a copy yet, but on looking at Amazon, the 5 reviews at the time of checking, all give it 5 stars. So I'll be ordering myself a copy once I can get into bloody Amazon.........

More easily understood nutrient info

Grapestompers provide this guide/info about nutrients. It's quite a nice, straight forward, explaination.

I've included it in the links on the right too........

An interesting read......

Got this link from one of the Facebook groups I read. Some of it I knew, some not.

It mainly focuses on the US wine industry, and I generally don't enjoy American or other "New World" wines. Not to say I didn't enjoy the read........

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-winemakers-wont-tell-you-2014-07-31?pagenumber=1

A satisfying afternoon

Cabernet sauvignon pressed, juice racked etc. 1 x 11 litre carbohydrates and 1x 1 imperial gallon DJ.

The other 3 x 11 litre carboys are the Primitivo, Merlot and Shiraz. The 1 & half gallon DJ's are the excess from the racking of the P, M and S. I expect another drop of sediment from them, as the 3 x 11 litre carboys were carefully racked, whereas the blended bits are from closest to the lees.

I don't know if you can see from the picture that the sediment in the cab is dropping out already.

D21, a good yeast for meads, but it seems the search for "Maury" yeast goes on.........

Some years ago, the late Brother Adam (of Buckfast Abbey, bee breeding and mead making fame) wrote of using "Maury" yeast.

Somewhere along the lines, this fabled "Maury" yeast became unavailable to him for use in his mead making (should be noted, as far as I can find out, he never made meads for public sale, only for consumption by members of the Abbey), so he changed to using the "Montpellier strain". This was confirmed for me, after I'd emailed the Abbey, and they (well, the apiaries manager) responded that he'd looked through Brother Adams personal papers.

It seems that he was using Gervin varietal "E". As far as I can ascertain, that is the same strain as Lalvin K1-V1116.

Some further researching led me to Lalvin D21. Which seemed to, maybe, have been isolated by Lallemand a few years after the death of Brother Adam, but a few of my contacts had seen it mentioned, maybe even advertised, as a "Maury" yeast.

Ok, I was happy with what I could find out so far.

Now this morning, I'm digging around and it seems that Lallemand have now been a bit more specific, and I find this about D21..........

Lalvin ICV-D21 was isolated in 1999 from Pic Saint Loup Languedoc “terroir” during a special regional program run by the Institut Coopératif du Vin (ICV)’s Natural Micro-Flora Observatory and Conservatory. Lalvin ICV-D21 was selected for fermenting red wines with stable color, intense fore-mouth, mid-palate tannin structure, and fresh aftertaste. Unlike most wine yeasts, Lalvin ICV-D21 contributes both higher acidity perception and positive polyphenol reactive polysaccharides. Strong interactions of the polysaccharides with the floral and fruity volatile compounds (β-ionone, ethyl hexanoate) contribute to a more stable aromatic profile in the mouth. These attributes avoid the development of cooked jam and burning-alcohol sensations in highly mature and concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. During fermentation, Lalvin ICV-D21 produces very few sulfides and it is also noted for its good fermentation performance even under high temperature and low nutrient conditions. It allows for the expression of fruit from the grapes while reducing the potential for herbaceous characters in Cabernet sauvignon. When blended with wines fermented with Lalvin ICV-D254 and Lalvin ICV-D80, Lalvin ICV-D21 brings fresher, sustained intense fruit and lively sensations beginning in the fore-mouth and carrying through to the aftertaste. Lalvin ICV-D21 is also used in very ripe white grapes, barrel-fermented to develop fresh fruit aromas, volume and acidity which compliments wines fermented with Enoferm ICV-D47 in blends. Rosé wines fermented with Lalvin ICV-D21 have enhanced red fruit, fore-mouth volume and balance, making it the perfect blending complement to Rosé wines fermented with Lalvin ICV-GRE.

It appears that D21 isn't "Maury" after all. Pic Saint Loup is directly north of Montpellier, whereas Maury is west, closer to the Pyrennees, in the Perpignan area.

Seems that despite the plethora of information being available about the Maury AOC region and the published stuff about Brother Adams mead making, whether we'll truely ever find the yeast he originally used, is becoming less likely..........

D21 itself does make a good mead, and I now understand why it seems to share many of the characteristics of K1-V1116......

Not disappointed per se, just a little deflated that my earlier researching has proven erroneous.........

Frozen Grapes......

So, last weekend, Brian needed to crash so he could attend a one day course locally on the monday.

He was kind enough to deliver my frozen grapes, that I got from him last harvest (they're Italian grown, various nationality varieties).

We were having some building work done, so rather than get fresh grapes from Grapefest, I opted for frozen (which is better in a way, as he gets a wider range of varieties), and he kindly allowed me to leave them in his freezer.

Don't know whether you can make out from my scrawl on the bucket lids, but Merlot, Cabernet (can't remember which type), Shiraz and Primitivo (the small bucket is a Rhubarb and Apple honey must - melocyser ?).

I've inoculated the grapes with BDX, again, Brian got some for last years harvest (it's only available in commercial size packs unless I mail ordered from somewhere like Morewine).

I got the grapes defrosted and transferred to the fermenter buckets. I rehydrated the yeast using Go-Ferm and pitched once it looked good.

I then left them to do their thing and there was healthy signs of ferment within 24 hours.

After I'd pitched the yeast, I realised I didn't have enough airlocks, and I like to use a pectic enzyme in fruit based batches, so I did an "emergency supplies" run down to the home brew shop, for new airlocks, some rohapect and a few other bits.

The rohapect was added about 5 teaspoons per bucket.

Once the ferment was underway, I remembered the info from the Lalvin Yeast List and that apparently it's "medium" nutrient requirements. So I just mixed in 1 tablespoon of FermaidK the first time I'd "punched the cap down".

So at the moment, it's just a case of letting the ferment do it's thing, punching down the cap at least once daily and keeping an eye on it, just in case I need to add any more nutrient i.e. if there's any sign of problems like H2S (hydrogen sulphide/rotten egg stink) telling me that the yeast might be a bit stressed.

I recall stuff that others do/did for their fresh grapefest grapes, but I want to keep my meddling to a minimum. The 2012 fresh grapes, were made into a "fresh grape pyment", by me adding loads of honey, until the yeast pooped out. I haven't tasted it yet, but I should check it out, as the 18 or so gallons of it, has some mold in the open side of the airlock and while I've dropped a half campden tablet in each lock, caution might be necessary for me to clean it out etc.......

Yeast Nutrition.........

Not gonna go on about this, there's many ways you can actually provide nutrients etc for ferments, whether it's meads or wine batches.

I'm just gonna cheat a little and post a link to a post by Deezil, from the winemakingtalk forums.........

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f86/yeast-nutrients-39655/

It's easier than me trying to re-write it into my language......

Oh, and there's more about it in the top link to your right. Except that is a linked article by the excellent and very knowledgeable Ken Schramm (yes, the bloke who wrote "The Compleat Meadmaker" book).........

Flavour Combo's........

Just been reading (and posting) at a thread over at Gotmead about somebody trying to come up with a flavour of mead that reflects some of the local stuff.

Well that idea is laudable. Yet IMO, needs a lot of consideration from many angles.

For example, what is the base flavour idea taken from ? How does the idea translate from other products ? Can it be added to an acceptable level and at what stage in the making process ? Does the flavour have a track record for being used in other products of a similar type ? Is there the possibility of "cultural acceptance" or will it bring other stuff to mind ? Etc etc......

Is it from fruit ? spices ? herbs ?

If fruit, then what else is made using it ? Will possible consumers like it and/or think it a good idea ?

What sort of quantity will be needed ? Will you be able to get the flavour into the recipe easily or will it add a massive complexity to the making that is hard to control/manage ?

Will other products that use that flavour help it's acceptance to new consumers of your batch/recipe or is it likely you'll end up repeating the phrase "well, I like it" ?

It's very easy to focus on a flavour because you like it, but then the difficulty of how to incorporate it into a batch to provide a suitable level can be an entirely different matter......

Chocolate is a good example. Western society understands it if its presented in its usual sweetened form, often mixed in with some sort of cream/milk/dairy element, but other forms of it can be vvv hard to translate.

It's found in liqueurs often but they are usually of a creamy nature and equally often contain some sort of complimentary spirit/liquor type taste. Plus they're routinely quite sweet.

Whereas, beers say, that contain "chocolate notes" are a much harder sell.....

Some herbal flavours can present aroma that makes the consumer think of toilet or bathroom cleaning products - whether that's to do with the actual flavour or whether its because thats how its been marketed at us, I don't know.

I recently read of someone using Basil, was it like a tincture to make an extract type thing or in a mead as a methyglin ? Can't remember, but suffice to say, Basil conjures up thoughts of wonderful Italian inspired tomato sauce recipes etc...... so maybe needs more thought/consideration.......

Fruits are much easier generally, but they too, can have some difficulties. Do you want a fermented change in the taste similar to the comparison of grape juice to wine ? Just with the idea and/or aroma of the original fruit ? Or are you aiming at a more "fruit cordial" type taste ? say something like a blueberry or cranberry juice that has some hint of honey and an alcoholic kick to it ?

These are all very valid points for consideration. Without that level of thought you are, IMO, condemned to making batches of mediocre tasting brew of limited merit and nothing to recommend to others.........

TTFN.......

Another link......

I make no assumption as to the quality or age of the linked info......

http://collection1.libraries.psu.edu/utils/getfile/collection/honeyboard/id/221/filename/189.pdf

Another link from the same forum post........

http://collection1.libraries.psu.edu/utils/getfile/collection/honeyboard/id/187/filename/205.pdf

Links to various info......

Gonna try and start using this like a memo pad, so when I find any handy or what I think might be interesting info, I'll post it as a link here

Starting with this......

http://www.beesource.com/resources/usda/honey-composition-and-properties/

Some interesting info about using Oak, especially in meads but also other wines etc......

Oskaars Gotmead thread here. Medsen Fey's link in the original Gotmead thread, to the "Oak influence on Making and Maturing Wine" from Wine business monthly mag - it seems you have to be a registered member, but that seems to be a free registration - I'm just off to do that while I'm posting these links....... A barrel supplier in the US, that Medsen has posted a link to..... Another of Medsens links to the "Art of Oak" in "wines and vines" - it's a 2 part article, and the second part is found here..... Iowa State University site link about oak ageing red wine, but the info is also relevant to meads when it comes to some of the detail on oak/wood extraction. Again, linked originally in the Gotmead thread by Medsen. This one is about making barrels for Jim Beam - it's a youtube vid posted in the GM thread by afdoty. It's an overview of barrel making. Another article posted by Medsen about oak etc..... Another "supplier" type liink taken from the GM thread. This one is from "New World Wine Maker and deals with using oak chips etc, again, originally posted by Medsen...... This one is one that Medsen attached at Gotmead. It's in the original thread linked above, but I'm trying to get as many of the links here, as it's amazing that the benefits oak can bring to meads etc danr posted this, it seems it's from morewine, their oak information sheet. Ok, so that's about it for links from that thread (the first one linked at the top). I have viewed them all, and hopefully remembered to credit everyone necessary. I want to post the info as it's a good reminder for me to read up (again) about this. I'm not sure if it's ok to just cut and paste the info into a new page/document here, even with full credits etc. I've tried where possible to point the links toward the original locations etc. Either way, it's all pretty interesting stuff (it is to me anyway) and hopefully explains enough info so if you're thinking of using oak for a batch, you'll be able to decide what and how you want to use it, and in what form (dust, shavings, chips, cubes, staves, spirals, etc etc etc).

a link that was posted over at gotmead.....

a good link originally posted by Doug (I think), about paring meads with food.

Useful drums/containers......

Last week, I was looking around ebay as I needed something for water storage. The intention is to recycle rain water. I have a reverse osmosis filter, to be self sufficient in the "softest" water I can manage. I say soft water, in the sense that it will be low in calcium/magnesium salts as I can manage (our local water is medium/high in calcium as the area sits on a thick strata of chalk). The RO filter isn't strictly necessary but should keep other elements picked up in the rain i.e. the stuff that is atmospheric and makes "acid" rain, out of the supply - will not entirely but to low enough levels not to be an issue. We have a water meter on the mains supply into the house, so presuming that with the RO filter, only about 20 to 25% of water in, makes it through the membrane in the filter, it would be prohibitively expensive to use mains water, hence recycling rain. I don't need huge amounts, so the 30 gallons a day capacity of the filter should be fine. I want it for home brewing and "erindoors" will benefit as it's good for her orchids too - no residual chlorine build up in the plants, which is known to be an issue with utility water.

These drums are what I found. A very good price at £9 each, though the chap who was selling only does them as "collect in person". So yesterday was a 2 hour round trip to get them. They still work out cheaper than other options like that. They are food grade and were used for Olives in brine originally. The labels list olives, water, salt and tartaric acid as an acidifier, so should be easily washed out. about 220 to 225 litre capacity. Very good quality. All I've to do now is to get one of them set up to a down pipe from the shed guttering. I've bought a few pumps so that I can run the RO filter and then move the water round without the hassle of trying to move them when they're full (they'd be about a quarter tonne full). Ha! I could even likely use them as fermenters if I wanted too, but I don't routinely make batches that size as they'd be costly, and given that I don't have a commercial license, I'll give that a miss for now........

Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh !

What is it with "some" new makers, who seem to think that just reading instructions, posts, or other guidance, that that is all they have to do to answer questions etc ? I'm thinking of one particular, new contributor - at an unnamed forum. The forum is peopled with users who're brilliant. Some of them have encyclopaedic knowledge about making meads. Not only do they have mega-extensive knowledge of the making, they are some of the most helpful fountains of knowledge I've experienced. Yet this particular n00b, arrives, makes one batch and starts giving it the "know it all" shit. When all it confirms is that this particular prick knows how to read and how to use search ! You've been making meads for 10 fucking minutes ! WTF do you know, other than what you've gleaned from reading other peoples advice, guidance and/or suggestions ? Not a fucking lemon! When you've been making an average of 30 gallons per annum (that means "a year" you naive, whining prick), for 9 or 10 years, with all the added shit that goes with that i.e. sourcing certain ingredients, testing, tasting, measuring etc, then maybe I'll lay off, making corrections - to both your dumb comments, your shitty attitude and your lack of manners/netiquette, in respect of others....... Until then, shut the fuck up. Make some batches. Respect is earned and not yours by right - that's the kind of attitude of a naive, whining kid.......... If you do, per chance, have some hidden expertise, then that's great. Don't make such fatuous comments as is currently the case.... You know who you are..... you complete fuckwit.......