No rush. It seemed to only stop fermenting a couple weeks ago (meaning no mass of bubbles forming). I'll leave it for a couple weeks still. Better safe than sorry. At least the bloomin' raisins could fall!!
Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:
Calais_5sp
Member
- Joined
- 27/9/09
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 0
I just bottled mine exactly as per recipy yesterday after 3 months fermenting. Fruit diddnt drop but the cinimon stick did but was crystal clear.
Not exactly what i expected it to taste like, but i dont think its quite right.
Has a slight orange bitter taste and not very sweet at all. I used a IGA honey and Naval orange and but im guessing it was too bitter to start with.
Will be trying it again with a different honey and a nicer orange from a fruit shop and see how it goes.
Not exactly what i expected it to taste like, but i dont think its quite right.
Has a slight orange bitter taste and not very sweet at all. I used a IGA honey and Naval orange and but im guessing it was too bitter to start with.
Will be trying it again with a different honey and a nicer orange from a fruit shop and see how it goes.
I see.
Most of the flavour is in the zest... Perhaps with some experimentation, you could zest the orange, leaving that out, and only add some of the pith for biterness.
Maybe zest an eighth, remove the flesh, then put the flesh of the whole orange, and the one zested bit of pith in. This should dramatically reduce the orange flavour, whilst keeping the bittering and acid. This may be too much bottering, but I just don't know.
Most of the flavour is in the zest... Perhaps with some experimentation, you could zest the orange, leaving that out, and only add some of the pith for biterness.
Maybe zest an eighth, remove the flesh, then put the flesh of the whole orange, and the one zested bit of pith in. This should dramatically reduce the orange flavour, whilst keeping the bittering and acid. This may be too much bottering, but I just don't know.
I dont mind, i have way too much mead for myself so i dont think i will be making an more for a while
so envious right now :-(
I have heaps of mead, according to my wife, only 9/10 of it is not finished aging, and wont be for some time :-(
So I definitely don't have enough to take a bottle out with me, or even have a bottle a week. :-(
kaspa07
Active Member
- Joined
- 19/12/08
- Messages
- 38
- Reaction score
- 0
Im realy excited this is my first attempt at Mead I put it down about a week ago. It took a while for the fermentation to start but now its bubling away nicely
Below is the recepie I used I cant wait untill its ready :drinks:
12lt water
5lt Honey
5 Cloves
5 Oranges cut into 8ths
CY17 yeast
Malic Acid
I was originaly going to use 15lt of water but my new fermenter was a bit small I figured there would not be enough headspace in the fermenter.
Im still unsure how to read my new Hydrometer anyhow the level it showed was 15(thats the lowest number writen on the side)
Below is the recepie I used I cant wait untill its ready :drinks:
12lt water
5lt Honey
5 Cloves
5 Oranges cut into 8ths
CY17 yeast
Malic Acid
I was originaly going to use 15lt of water but my new fermenter was a bit small I figured there would not be enough headspace in the fermenter.
Im still unsure how to read my new Hydrometer anyhow the level it showed was 15(thats the lowest number writen on the side)
Im realy excited this is my first attempt at Mead I put it down about a week ago. It took a while for the fermentation to start but now its bubling away nicely
Below is the recepie I used I cant wait untill its ready :drinks:
12lt water
5lt Honey
5 Cloves
5 Oranges cut into 8ths
CY17 yeast
Malic Acid
I was originaly going to use 15lt of water but my new fermenter was a bit small I figured there would not be enough headspace in the fermenter.
Im still unsure how to read my new Hydrometer anyhow the level it showed was 15(thats the lowest number writen on the side)
Tom, it's better to use weight of honey as a measure, it takes some of the error out of guesstimations. Especially if you include total volume.
This may be a bit clovey, but luckily spice flavours will dissipate with time if you don't like it.
5lt honey = about 7.25kg
total volume = 17 litres, total weight = 19kg 19/17 = SG= 1.13
it's possible if you had a very low water content honey, that would could have an SG of 1.15, where many hydrometers drop the 1. from the front, which may be how you got 15. Take a photo of your hydrometer and upload it, it wont be hard for us to see how it works and help you out.
This is quite a heavy must, but CY17 will tolerate up to 15% so it will probably drop 115 points, leaving you with an FG around 1.035, which is very sweet, but not unpalatable if well balanced. I'm not sure how much acid you added, but you may need to add acid or tannin after.
It's generally a bad idea to add acid up front in meads, as honey is quite acidic already, and during fermentation the pH drops. This can cause your yeast stress and stuck ferments, so don't add any more until it's finished, and then I'd wait for it to age a bit. This is only an issue with mead. Many a wine maker will insist you add acid up front, ok with wine, not with mead.
Unfortunately I feel this will require some aging. The good thing is you made a fair whack, so you can take samplers along the way ;-)
Good luck, and keep us posted.
I have made many meads but have never tried this. I have a 1 gal version on it's way (started it on Wednesday last week). I used a more harsh honey than I normally would, but will backsweeten with a light honey like red ironbark/yellowbox. Smells pretty great, used one of my wine yeasts and have been adding nutrients and will be until the 1/3rd sugar break. All smooth sailing from here!
Margrethe
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1/2/09
- Messages
- 141
- Reaction score
- 0
Lets try that again.
As raisins are technically the same as sultanas- just different grapes- are sultanas suitable replacements for raisins? Just wondered coz the kidlet has sultanas in the cupboard for her lunches, and instead of buying a half kilo box of raisins to put down one batch of JAO, I was wondering if I could just use them instead.
What say you Jao'ing experts?
As raisins are technically the same as sultanas- just different grapes- are sultanas suitable replacements for raisins? Just wondered coz the kidlet has sultanas in the cupboard for her lunches, and instead of buying a half kilo box of raisins to put down one batch of JAO, I was wondering if I could just use them instead.
What say you Jao'ing experts?
there aren't really enough raisins to impart a flavour, so no, there's no difference.
I've made many a JAO with sultanas, because I was too lazy to drive to the shops for just that one item.
Go for it.
I think maybe it's because it's an American recipe. I don't think they really use sultanans over there... I certainly never see them cited in recipes. Always raisins, or sometimes craisins now... Maybe it's due to growing climate.
Raisins aren't used in this recipe for their flavour, they are used as a substitute for nutrient. I left them out because the only ones I can buy are the sunbeam ones, and they seem to leave a slick of oil on the top of my meads without a good rinse in warm water.
sorry I was unclear, yes you are correct.
I was trying to say the only difference between sultanas and raisins is taste, so as there are insufficient to make a flavour change tot he mead, the type of dried grape you use is irrelevant, because they are indeed used as yeast fodder.
Thanks for clarifying.
I am very likely incorrect here but I believe the raisins have a higher sugar content and thus more for the yeast. Adding a few more would likely provide a balance.
Golani, this is irrelevant.
As the raisins are used as yeast fodder, they are not supplying sugar (that's the honey's job) they are supplying free nitrogen for the yeast to metabolise to aid in multiplication and aerobic consumption of the sugar.
The sugar content of 25 raisins is negligable.
As the raisins are used as yeast fodder, they are not supplying sugar (that's the honey's job) they are supplying free nitrogen for the yeast to metabolise to aid in multiplication and aerobic consumption of the sugar.
The sugar content of 25 raisins is negligable.
brettprevans
HB so good, it will raise the dead
- Joined
- 14/4/07
- Messages
- 8,267
- Reaction score
- 136
I disagree and thinkraisins impart flavour. small background flavour. complexity etc. now yes they may provide nitrogen etc but raisins have extra flavour over sultanas. but do what you like. its not going to hurt.
Margrethe
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1/2/09
- Messages
- 141
- Reaction score
- 0
Wow- who knew sultanas vs raisins would cause such debate!
I ended up caving, had a little extra shopping money this week, so bought a kg of raisins. Thats a little overkill of course, but I plan to make a few brews- got some friends who're interested too- and we'll eat the rest..might see if any of the recipes in Merc's cookbook need some LOL!
Will post once I've got them going! Thanks for the help!
I ended up caving, had a little extra shopping money this week, so bought a kg of raisins. Thats a little overkill of course, but I plan to make a few brews- got some friends who're interested too- and we'll eat the rest..might see if any of the recipes in Merc's cookbook need some LOL!
Will post once I've got them going!
Thanks for the help!
