Jao The Ultimate Beginners Mead Recipe

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Woke up this morning and ran out to check my mead. I expected to see ka-blooping and bubbling like crazy. Got there and no ka-blooping and no bubbles. I guess this was due to the overnight temp here being about 10c. Thinking I had no chance and would have to ditch it, proclaiming woah ways me. Went back to read the first few pages of the thread again to see if anyone else had had a problem with temp. Then I suddenly remembered that I had an old heat pad that I used to use for growing plant cuttings. Revved that up, and now I am starting to see bubbles, still no ka-blooping, but it's looking ok. :)
 
I just use glad wrap on the opening with an elastic band over it. Airlocks are overrated. I probably wouldn't even use a heat mat (heating the yeast trub up could give off flavours especially as meads get quite thick on the bottom) just leave it alone and forget about it for 3 months [emoji2]
 
Kingy said:
I just use glad wrap on the opening with an elastic band over it. Airlocks are overrated. I probably wouldn't even use a heat mat (heating the yeast trub up could give off flavours especially as meads get quite thick on the bottom) just leave it alone and forget about it for 3 months [emoji2]
Took your advice and ended up not using the heat mat. Had some left over honey too, so got another one going, using gladwrap and a lacky band. Cant wait to see how they turn out.
 
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Bottling this bad boy today, 20 litres @13.8%

Unlike the recipe recommendations, I added nutrients, added oxygen, used Ruby Red Grapefruit instead of oranges and Red Muscatel Raisins. The result is a citrusy, dry mead, pretty happy with it. Added sulphites to 0.8 mg/L to ensure it lasts a long time in the bottle.

Cheers
 
Just put down my first JAO yesterday following the recipe to a T. I'm on the far north coast of NSW so we shouldnt be having too many troubles. It's on a dark bench away from sunlight and excess heat. I used a whole sachet of tandaco bread yeast, as did my best mate who was making it alongside me. His uses 2 cloves. Let's see how this turns out!
Update: Not too much bubbling, one bloop approx every two seconds. Now to hurry up and wait ^_^
 
Since this topic was reawakened I thought I may as well have a go as well. Looking forward to this one given the price for a commercial example of mead.
 
Well i just bottled a batch of this I made over a year ago. Dont remember exactly how long, might have been closer to two....

Was worried it might have had something go wrong after that long, but it has been at stable temps, and undisturbed the whole time.

Just finished a glass of it and it was liquid gold!

Very happy! It was a double batch as well!
 
I've had a taste of a batch I made about a month ago. It is clearing up and is around 12% ABV. It tastes very nice but it is far to sweet for me. Has anyone watered it down a touch to drop the sweetness? I know the recipe states that everything is balanced to perfection but obviously I am a bigger fan of drier meads.
 
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My first attempt at any home brewing.. Followed the recipe and sterilization how I should. Did what BP did in original post and added an extra clove in one but also an extra half a cinnamon stick. Not sure how it'll end up but I guess I'll have to wait and see...

Might have to start another brew on the weekend with a different recipe.
 
Now have one batch clearing nicely, the other not so much. Time will tell. I do have patience so I will wait...

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never had a proper mead before so gonna try this

excuse my mead ignorance but is there any particular way it should be bottled ? you don't carbonate it do you ?

and is the bread yeast just the dried stuff form coles or wollies ?
 
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never had a proper mead before so gonna try this

excuse my mead ignorance but is there any particular way it should be bottled ? you don't carbonate it do you ?

and is the bread yeast just the dried stuff form coles or wollies ?

I didn't carbonate mine. I bottled mine in a few stubbies, couple of corked bottles and a few swing top bottles.
 
I diluted mine with some carbonated water I have on tap down to about 5% ABV. It was quite nice at the lower strength and sweetness. The touch of carbonation didn't hurt either.
 
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So I've no made and tasted 2 batches based off JAO Mead.

The first batch was made just as the recipe says. I found it to be pretty good, but a little too bitter (I think maybe I cut the orange into smaller bits (thus more pith surface area contact) to get them past the demijohn's neck.

My second batch was a definite improvement. I did a side-by-side taste of batches 1 & 2 and much preferred the second batch despite the first batch being 8 months older.

The things I did differently for the second batch:

The second batch was a bigger batch (7.7L instead of 3.8L)
I did not scale up the other ingredient amounts (used the same 1 orange cut into 8 pieces, 25 raisins, 1 clove, 1 cinnamon stick).
I used 5 grams of D-47 yeast (plus Go-Ferm for rehydration) instead of supermarket Tandaco brand yeast,
Had higher starting and finishing gravities than the regular JOAM recipe (my Batch 2 was SG of 1.146, FG of 1.049).
I gave batch 2 some pure O2 when pitching yeast.
I added 2g Fermaid A and 3g DAP 3 days after pitching the yeast.
I stirred up the must every few days for the first couple of weeks before leaving it be.
First batch spent 9 weeks in demijohn, while second batch spent 11 weeks in demijohn.
 
Even just two months after bottling this goodness, it blows the socks off anyone who tastes it. I'm very happy with the clarity too; zero sediment in the bottle, which is especially surprising considering I had to mouth-siphon from the demijohn using just some sanitised silicone tube.

(ignore the ABV rating on that label.. it's not correct)

CcKaQhLXjO9NtUk_XMDWj4BKMspvHhgW0HEZ0UOA9u0cXzSTRkqCh6vDYAG_dQ7LFuXnrfKrSiWpluKKdhZY8ANJw_Rw85SRMltKtdb3zol7idd9-xUTTOj1esR6f6qyf7ojGU7yRE6eygs7QhRDYSW4gRG0ImFqwWay7pomrJC2pbMlJIX-9H8osQ6pc_BbHx6NS0M86YtxLRLGqMVwW_W9xq2ZlCfsfkodFwQdzhPvsn_1IBBtlWe23lOYZlCBTRcpvt1dVsnztu1xlZUtAm_BOZ4KONlK3twnCy3jym4kN_1L13qtiAfIIhy1G0aCWrZspoetvPp4kZdJ9eL8Y5QsbspalMviwWQCuE11JbcQUOmpnAY7rCf2nzQxmb_-e42YDFK-isrfOtgNN7stA0a4H0hvDBHqydDZEw-6FsNSw3bDxWBAnRNyXOj0dr9sKD8DXWFv8516VEtSNpSHyaMYCz9ccxEls6fw7eqdP999s_y5gNQXzuLuETpEtsGSFGTHM9bHBw9chl1vkUE5KRjQFDzs-99bYeYnrqQwci-GafcdmT_EzHbod_bLkdKBJ-nT44zHNYAsJazbEPXx9pppsiitaWqnu3WH6JvWlfxhkpkbgnAHsQ=w558-h743-no


Now got a 15L batch bubbling away, plus two 5L batches, one with cherry and another with sour cherry. Smells delish.
 
Ginger, cranberry and vanilla additions hey? Sounds bloody good mtb!!! I'll be doing another couple in the next few weeks. Might do a similar one to yours. Have you a recipe for this on here anywhere?
 
Thanks mate. It was the standard JAOM recipe, but with the addition of 80C pasteurised ginger paste, a short-boiled vanilla bean, and half of the sultanas were subbed for dried cranberries. The berries contributed some extra tannins I reckon, but I didn't do a non-cranberry batch for comparison.
 
How do you find the Ironbark and Yellow Box honeys? The ones I’ve got going at the moment have Grey Box and Round Leaf Box and I’m not entirely fond of them...

Not really sure if it’s the honey or the yeast or the things I’ve added to the different batches. It’s just not really nice.. My JAOs were great, my “bourbon oak” tastes like **** (well, more metho/alcohol than actual ****!!), same as the traditional. The others I haven’t tried yet.

Missus told me to do some “like the last lot”. So my next lot will be some more JAOM! With a hint of ginger and vanilla thanks to the idea from mtb!!
 

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