Jao The Ultimate Beginners Mead Recipe

[shonks69]

shonks69,

I see no issues if you like chillies to want to modify the recipe BUT you have to follow the cardinal rule.

You must make the recipe exactly as formulated first or concurrently at the same time as any modified recipe so you have a proper baseline to compare your modifications of the recipe to and also to give the original recipe a chance to impress you with its balance of all ingredients as an example of how to take your mead making to a craftbrewing level.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

Thanks Pete

I just put the modified chilli recipe down tonight (as per recipe with pinch of nutmeg & allspice, 1 clove & 4 Thai hot chillies). I will put down your original recipe this weekend to create a benchmark.
with respect to bottling, can the bottle be resealed after opening or does it hat to be consumed once open.

I will keep you posted on the Chilli recipe

Cheers
Shonks :icon_cheers:

 

[pdilley]

Shawn,

I don't drink Rum, or I should say, never straight and have not for about 20 years it was always mixed into something else when I did. I'm not sure what a Rum bitter flavour tastes like as there was lots of things in it that I didn't agree with taste wise when I did have a sip straight from the bottle :lol:

As you say in SE Qld, your temperatures in the cupboard is not controlled so you may have gotten some fusel bite added at the end. Its hard to describe in words I know so without being able to taste first hand we just rely on general words like bitter

Sounds like getting an old fridge free from the paper or work mates and wiring up a TempMate temperature controller and plugging the fridge power cord into it will take anyone in SE Qld to a massive increase in quality of brewing anything be it beer or mead as you can brew at the same temperatures that someone in say Melbourne could and still enjoy a sub-tropical weather life.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

I will keep you posted on the Chilli recipe

Cheers
Shonks :icon_cheers:

Cheers for that, with all things chillies in recipes you are after the flavour the particular variety of chilli can impart and not after any heat that they could add. A gentle warming is usually plenty enough.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[shonks69]

Hi Pete

I have just realised raisins and sultanas are diffrent, I used 25 sultanas in the recipe. Should I add 12 raisins to the recipe?

The mead is 3 days into the fermentation, about a 5-10mm layer of foam on the surface of the brew but no airlock activity. is this normal?

Cheers
Shonks :icon_cheers:

 

[lokgnar]

thanks pete

i am at the moment keepin an eye out for a fridge so i can have control on the temps. I usally dont drink rum straight from the bottle not 2 well in the night when i have run out of coke and my taste buds have died for the night to notice how bad rum is straight . i have a feelin it maybe just the oranges could have been a bit sour from not enough water etc. because the taste is not over powering that i can not enjoy it that and the last few weeks i have been buying my mead so am more then likely used to that taste, were ours are made from oranges an honey. Well im though half a 700ml bottle at the moment and i dont mind the taste it is growing on me i could be just being a baby and should man up. thanks again for your input and once i find that fridge and cimate controll i shall be makin a new batch ill kepp you all posted.

thanks again
Shawn

 

[shonks69]

Hi All

6 days into fermentation still no airlock activity & minimal amount of foam in surface of brew. There are a small amount miniature bubbles rising to surface in different areas of the brew.
Should I be worried about this or is this normal as I am used to a vigorous fermentation when brewing beers?

Cheers
Shonks :unsure:

 

[pdilley]

Nothing to worry about mate. It is nutritionally devoid compared to beer wort. You will get vigorous fermentation and high krausen when you start to do more advanced Meads where you add nutritrients (SNA) to make it resemble beer wort to the yeast.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[shonks69]

Cheers Pete :icon_cheers:

 

[BjornJ]

I put one of these in the cupboard in a 5 litre water jug a couple of months ago.

Had another look yesterday, it is clear and the fruit has fallen to the bottom.
The exception are the raisins who have blown out to be greenish colored balloons, floating on the top with a little bit of foam.
Everything else is covered in a thick layer of ...silt..? on the bottom.

Chucked it in the fridge last night, will try to get it bottled over the next couple of days.
Didn't smell all that nice, to be honest but will not judge before having a proper taste!

As there is no carbonation happening during bottling, I assume the finished product will taste like the sip I will have during bottling?

Is there any maturation involved here?

thanks again BrewerPeter for nurturing yet another novice mead brewer through the first try

thanks
Bjorn

 

[pdilley]

Bjorn,

Actually it should smell nice. I use my nose as a guide so a non nice smell is an indicator. Also sun dried raisins are those little black shrivelled fruit without sulphur or any colour preservatives. When they are spent they should be swollen so that is fine.

With JAO the smell should be sweet and alluring hinting of oranges and spices to entice the drinker to have a sip where the flavour come in and just amplify the initial hints of flavoirs from the smelling ten fold and just bring on a nice mead smile.

Bad smelling just is not something I would associate with a successful JAO.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[BjornJ]

Bjorn,

Actually it should smell nice. I use my nose as a guide so a non nice smell is an indicator. Also sun dried raisins are those little black shrivelled fruit without sulphur or any colour preservatives. When they are spent they should be swollen so that is fine.

With JAO the smell should be sweet and alluring hinting of oranges and spices to entice the drinker to have a sip where the flavour come in and just amplify the initial hints of flavoirs from the smelling ten fold and just bring on a nice mead smile.

Bad smelling just is not something I would associate with a successful JAO.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

Brewer Pete,
this is my first ever try at mead, so not sure about how this smells and tastes compared to what it should taste and smell, sorry

I ended up with 8 x 330 ml glass bottles plus half a bottle I had a taste from.
Then put it back in the fridge for a couple of hours and tried it again now.
Still that strong, warm ..fortified wine (?) taste.
A clear hint of oranges and honey.

No idea what mead is supposed to smell, this smells like a sour(?) honey wine or something similar.

Then again I don't like any wine, found them sour so mead might not be my strongpoint!

Was fun making it though, will keep them in the cupboard and bring out when the discussion somehow end up on mead

 

[barls]

bring a bottle along to the next isb meeting for tasting bjorn and ill swap you a bottle of one of my meads a replacement.

 

[BjornJ]

bring a bottle along to the next isb meeting for tasting bjorn and ill swap you a bottle of one of my meads a replacement.

great, I'll take you up on that one!

Bjorn

 

[barls]

not a problem, which one do you want?
a plain mead
rasperry cyser (honey apple wine)
blackberry cyser
blueberry mead

 

[BjornJ]

plain mead, please.
To see how it is supposed to taste, and if I like it then

Any ISB meetings before christmas?

Thanks
Bjorn

 

[barls]

not that i know of at this stage but should be one in jan??

 

[Synthetase]

Hey Brewer Pete, I found this thread the other week and thought JAO looks like a tasty recipe so I put one down. It smells great and my only regret is that I didn't find it a few months ago so I'd have some ready for new years!



The one on the right is a blueberry/apple melomel and the one behind that is nectarine.

 

[Verbyla]

Hey Brewer Pete, I found this thread the other week and thought JAO looks like a tasty recipe so I put one down. It smells great and my only regret is that I didn't find it a few months ago so I'd have some ready for new years!

View attachment 33913

The one on the right is a blueberry/apple melomel and the one behind that is nectarine.

What were the recipies that you used?

 

[pdilley]

Hey Brewer Pete, I found this thread the other week and thought JAO looks like a tasty recipe so I put one down. It smells great and my only regret is that I didn't find it a few months ago so I'd have some ready for new years!

All good Meads come to those who wait

Nectarine is hidden deep in the shadows but would be interested in sharing recipes in the forum. The more Mead the merrier I say!


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Not a JAO, but I just bottled 2 x 5L batches of my very high gravity sweet mead. Both batches were started in November 08, both with OGs of around 1.220, one fermented with wyeast sweet mead yeast, the other with champagne yeast.

I've totally neglected these two batches for ages, and have left them on rapidly autolysising yeast for literally years, but I'm still fairly happy with the results. The batch using the wyeast is in particular very nice, but I definitely can detect a background band-aid/rubberband undertone, due probably to the autolysis, or to the massive stress the yeast must have been under when trying to ferment such massively high gravity mead.

I'll stash these away for a few years, and see how they continue to develop.....

Anyone else attempted a mead like this? With more honey than water? results?