Jao The Ultimate Beginners Mead Recipe

[pdilley]

Should be alright as JAO is not a huge krausen producer as my SNA meads are. Balloons work in a pinch if you find it difficult finding a bung the correct size.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Team_Beer]

Hi Pete,

thanks for the write up! just put one down today! only difference is i used Goji berries instead of raisins as i had these and they are similar.... picture below :icon_drool2:

 

[brettprevans]

Finally got around to tasting my JAO afyer pitching US05. Great stuff now. It's lost some guts/body but it's a milder softer maybe more delicate mead. I've bottled 6 and kegged the rest. Should be great. 23l of meady goodness.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Finally got around to tasting my JAO afyer pitching US05. Great stuff now. It's lost some guts/body but it's a milder softer maybe more delicate mead. I've bottled 6 and kegged the rest. Should be great. 23l of meady goodness.

Don't pour it in beer proportions. I have a lovely soft mead that's dry and easy to drink. But it packs a damn punch.

I did one as a sparkling, and it was fantastic, as was the still version.

Goomba

 

[Margrethe]

Is there proper instructions for this one? I really cbf trawling through 20 pages to find the working recipe.

I'd like a quickish mead- just found a new honey supplier- hanging to give his gear a go!

 

[brettprevans]

Is there proper instructions for this one? I really cbf trawling through 20 pages to find the working recipe.

I'd like a quickish mead- just found a new honey supplier- hanging to give his gear a go!

Dude that's fkn lazy. Seriously.

Look at the 1st page.

Goomba. It's no more potent than my RIS, Scottish heavies etc. It's all good.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Dude that's fkn lazy. Seriously.

Look at the 1st page.

Goomba. It's no more potent than my RIS, Scottish heavies etc. It's all good.

Mine might be higher - 14%ish.

It's not just the abv - it's something else. Some say fusels or something - I just know that it will kick if you overdo it and overdoing it is a far lower point, for my mead, than say a bottle of wine of similar abv.

Wish I had kegs, et al. To have it in there would be fantastic.

Goomba

 

[Golani51]

Finally got around to tasting my JAO afyer pitching US05. Great stuff now. It's lost some guts/body but it's a milder softer maybe more delicate mead. I've bottled 6 and kegged the rest. Should be great. 23l of meady goodness.

How long did it take you to ferment out before bottling?

 

[Margrethe]

My bad. Wrong forum. Thats what I get for running macro's and doing my forum posting after a bottle and a half of Maxwells.

My apologies lads! I was going to originally say in this post that I'd made a similar mead before, and its sitting in Perth in a storage unit- so I'm excited to get another one happening out here!

Now that I'm here I might as well use this recipe...it seems the recipe on the other forum I frequent is flawed- you all seem to be having success with this one!

It would appear that I posted my post here to my soaping forum!! Reason #1 to not drunk post.

 

[Spork]

Went and got an airlock, a bung and some sanitiser today, and picked up the ingredients. Got clover honey from local honey man. He also had busyh honey, and said both would make a good mead. I'll try the bush honey next time I guess. Just waiting for my batch to cool a little more before I chuck in the yeast.
Wish me luck on my first brew.

 

[Golani51]

I started the mead Sat evening and although there is only a little frothing going on, I can see loads of bubbles forming, especially from the sultanas. I only used 1500gm honey (everything else kept the same), but the SG came out to only 1085 at 22 or so degrees. I recall it should start higher. Did I screw up somewhere?
I thought I would do it a little less sweet and had 3 * 500gm containers of honey so added a little less.

Does this all sound normal?

Other issue is that I look and want to mix, shake, stir,...............I know not to touch it but am having difficulties. I have problems!

 

[pdilley]

1.125 is a good target to get a finish around 1.030 or so, as low as 1.020 is still ok, but a sweet port is what you are aiming for.

1.085 will go dry as for example if we had 1.036 from 1.125 the difference is close to 90 points which puts you around 0.995 ball park. Exact numbers will dependent on your must, yeast and environmental conditions.

Although the SG of honey can vary depending on variety, water content, and other factors, it is about 1.438 gravity points. I have seen some dodgy honeys sold at weekend markets that was almost liquid and not properly dried out so don't worry about variability.

If you want to bump your SG with simple sugars its ok as you have the majority of honey flavour contribution by percentage already. Some fine tuning won't hurt the end product's taste. Or just add more honey with gentle stir until gravity is close to what you want.

If you have your SG and you test your current gravity you can then make a correct judgement on how much to add.

Numbers:
1.125 -> 1.036 = 11.85% ABV, sweet port
1.085 -> 0.995 = 11.97% ABV, dry ferment

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Golani51]

To get a reasonably sweet product, should I add another 200gm honey? I think I may have added 3.8L water instead of making it all up to the 3.8L mark.

R

1.125 is a good target to get a finish around 1.030 or so, as low as 1.020 is still ok, but a sweet port is what you are aiming for.

1.085 will go dry as for example if we had 1.036 from 1.125 the difference is close to 90 points which puts you around 0.995 ball park. Exact numbers will dependent on your must, yeast and environmental conditions.

current gravity you can then make a correct judgement on how much to add.

Numbers:
1.125 -> 1.036 = 11.85% ABV, sweet port
1.085 -> 0.995 = 11.97% ABV, dry ferment

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Extra water would definitely do it.

Provided you have 3.8 litres of 1.085 gravity honey must, adding 200 grams of 1.425 gravity honey would net you 1.102 OG.

Adding 300 grams would be 1.110

Adding 400 grams would be 1.117

Adding 500 grams would be 1.125


So once again if you can measure you gravity before you add and during your additions you can dial it in perfectly.

If not, then guessing will kind of get you there provided you know exactly where and what the original error point was, otherwise you may over compensate and it is easier to add some sweetness in than take it out.

EDIT: Doing all this in my head so you want to always check the figures. 400 will still make a sweet finish if 90 points is converted you have 1.027 finish.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Kevman]

I put a JAO on to brew during the Easter break. I couldn't believe how easy it was. Practically had all the ingredients in the pantry. Just had to buy the demijohn and the honey.

Now its just blooping away quietly.

 

[Golani51]

Extra water would definitely do it.

Provided you have 3.8 litres of 1.085 gravity honey must, adding 200 grams of 1.425 gravity honey would net you 1.102 OG.

Adding 300 grams would be 1.110

Adding 400 grams would be 1.117

Adding 500 grams would be 1.125


So once again if you can measure you gravity before you add and during your additions you can dial it in perfectly.

If not, then guessing will kind of get you there provided you know exactly where and what the original error point was, otherwise you may over compensate and it is easier to add some sweetness in than take it out.

EDIT: Doing all this in my head so you want to always check the figures. 400 will still make a sweet finish if 90 points is converted you have 1.027 finish.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

I have added 400 last week, and upon returning from Tassie this evening, saw the JAO bubbling away like mad still. Delightful. Been 19 deg the whole time.

Had a bottle of mead in Tassie, a spiced mead, and it was nice enough but too cold. Nothing I could do as I was camping. $15/bottle. Not sure the brand though.

R

 

[Smashin]

Mine uses Leather-wood honey straight from the comb, the bee keeper brought it around the day he harvested and I put down the JAO that night. Not sure how well suited leather-wood honey is for mead's or the JOA in-particular but I'll find out soon. I put it down 18/2 so 3 months is nearly up, I'm out of the country at the moment and as it turns out i get home on the 18th, Very eager to get home and have a sip or two while racking.

Smashin :icon_cheers:

Thank you Brewer Pete for this thread, I printed the recipe (v15) and will get the ingredients soon. Also need to get a bubbler and a bung - or just a balloon. A few pages back someone said they were going to make this in an empty 4.5litre scotch whiskey bottle, thats my plan also. Adequate headroom? Lastly, a few mentioned it, but has anyone made this with leatherwood honey? I'm tempted to try that, or just go to the apiarist down the road and get some of his honey.

 

[pdilley]

Thats a very sexy piece of glass! :wub:

I do like demi's out of their plastic covers, looks much nicer imho.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Smashin]

Thanks Bpete, I bought it purely for making mead (JOA initially). Its a 15L demi with 10L of JAO. Its back in its plastic basket in the fermenting cupboard, photo for show just after mashing???/mixing/crafting in.

Just 43hrs and 4300km till we are back together...

Smashin.

Thats a very sexy piece of glass! :wub:

I do like demi's out of their plastic covers, looks much nicer imho.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[McFly]

I put two of these on ages ago. One with EC-1118 (which I had lying around) and one with baker's yeast.

The EC-1118 has cleared, and has been sitting on the lees for quite a while (a few weeks). I just haven't had time to look at it. Will this be an issue?

Also, as the baker's yeast doesn't seem to be clearing, is there anyway to give it a nudge?

I'll grab the brew log and find the dates to give you a better idea of timeframes. They've been going for a very long time.