3rd Racking of Undómiel (Jasmine Tea Mead)

Racked Undómiel for the third time today. I remember so clearly how good it tasted (sweet & full bodied) the first time I racked it. It doesn’t taste so good right now; it has a harsh almost bitter taste to it. Hopefully that will mellow with time.

Last time I added a little bit is honey to the jug. It’s got a very dry flavour and while I didn’t add any more honey this time I might sweeten it a little next time.

Hydrometer reading: 1.006

Topped up with strong Jasmine Green Tea.

4th Racking of Baggins Brew

Baggins Brew is coming along nicely. The taste has really improved. Mild with a hint of sweetness to it.

Hydrometer reading: 1.026

Topped up with spring water.

Ancient Orange Mead v2

My buddy Rex gave me about 6lbs of farm fresh wildflower honey. I’m making some more of Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead with it (because its the fastest mead I’ve learned how to make to date; 2.5 months) which we’ll share.

RECIPE
3.5 lbs of honey
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
1 orange cut into eighth pieces
Spring water to fill a gallon jug
1 teaspoon of bread yeast

I put everything into a jug, except the yeast, and shook it up like crazy for 5-6 min (sore arms). I left a good 4-5 inches of head space in the jug. Then I added the yeast and put an airlock on top.

The yeast action was quite intense for the first few days. As it settled down I topped up the water until it was a few centimeters from the stopper.

Now we wait. About three months.

The last picture below shows this mead side by side with the one I made about two months back. It’s almost done.

Undómiel 2nd Racking (Jasmine Tea Mead)

As you’ll see in the video below this mead has been fermenting pretty steadily for the last month which is interesting to me because it was a slow ferment initially.

I use a litre of spring water to make some more strong Jasmine tea. I used the tea to prime the siphon tube and to top up the mead after racking.

 

It didn‘t taste very sweet. I’m finding all my meads are finishing very dry. I suspect that’s because of the yeast I‘ve been using: Lalvin EC1118. It’s a champagne yeast with a very high alcohol tolerance; up to 18% ABV. I want this one to be a dessert mead so I added some more honey. I didn‘t really measure it out but it was probably about 3 or 4 tablespoons worth of crystallized honey.

In the picture gallery:

 

• The Jasmine Tea
• Hydrometer reading before racking: 1.014
• Siphoning/Racking Undómiel
• After Racking
• The crystallized honey I added sitting on the bottom of the jug. (I expect this will all dissolve into the mead over the course of the next month.)

Baggins Brew 3rd Racking

The Baggins Brew, my original traditional mead, is shaping up really well. It’s still fermenting and bubbling but fairly slowly.

 

When I racked it today I used some strong Earl Grey tea to prime the syphoning tube and topped it off with about 3 cups of tea as well. This is for the tannins in the tea which I’ve read helps improve the flavour.

 

I took another hydrometer reading: 1.032. The original reading was 1.120 so its got about a 12% ABV content now.

 

The pictures show:

 

• Syphoning Baggins Brew.

• The lees left behind.

• The hydrometer reading 1.032.

• An “after racking” shot. It’s very clear.you can see right through it. I could probably even read through it.

The Grey Wizard 2nd Racking

I racked the Grey Wizard (Eary Grey-Lemon Mead) off the lees today; I had added the juice & zest of a second lemon when I had racked it the first time to enhance the lemon flavour.

 

Last time it tasted awful. It’s still tastes awful but it has improved a little bit. It’s also very dry. I suspect this is because of the yeast I’ve been using; Lalvin EC-1118 which produces very dry and strong wines in general. I think I’ll switch to Lalvin D47 in the future. Also, I wanted this one at least semi-sweet so I added 1 lb of honey. You can see the honey sitting on the bottom of the jug in the pictures. I didn’t want to shake it because everything I’ve read says that’s a bad idea. I probably should have dissolved in hot water though … lesson learned.

 

I took a hydrometer reading (1.098) before racking but not after adding the honey because it wasn’t well distributed. I’ll have no idea what the ABV is of this when it’s finished. I just hope the taste improves dramatically with age.

 

I used strong Earl Grey tea to prime the syphoning tube and topped up the jug with some more of the tea.

 

The pictures show:

 

• The mead before racking.
• The hydrometer reading: 1.098.
• The lees left behind after racking.
• The racked mead just before adding the extra honey.
• The honey sitting on the bottom of the jug.
• An “after racking” shot.

JAOM @ 6 Days

Short video showing how the ancient orange mead is coming along and a brief explanation of how to make your own at home.

JAOM: Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead

This recipe is shared and talked about all over the mead making internet. It’s fondly referred to as JAOM.

 

Three things attracted me to trying it out:

 

• Everyone who has made it seems to love it.

• It’s dead simple to make with household ingredients.

• It’s ready to drink in two months. (Most meads need at least 6 months to finish.)

 

If you’re starting out making mead this recipe seems to be the one to start with.

 

I followed the recipe below which I found and copied from the GotMead website here.

 

FYI: I didn’t use any nutmeg; feh! (I’m surprised I used the clove!)

 

Hydrometer reading approx. 1.128; hard to be certain with all the foam in the jug.

Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)

1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)

1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)

1 stick of cinnamon

1 whole clove (or 2 if you like – these are potent critters)

optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice)(very small)

1 teaspoon of Fleishmanns bread yeast (now don’t get holy on me— after all this is an ancient mead and that’s all we had back then)

Balance water to one gallon

Methods/steps

This is one I have shared before but it may have got lost in the rebuild. It is so simple to make and you can make it without much equipment and with a multitude of variations. This could be a first Mead for the novice as it is almost fool proof. It is a bit unorthodox but it has never failed me or the friends I have shared it with.

Process:

Use a clean 1 gallon carboy

Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy

Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights –add orange (you can push em through opening big boy — rinds included — its ok for this mead — take my word for it — ignore the experts)

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water (need room for some foam — you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen. Put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. (No you don’t have to rehydrate it first– the ancients didn’t even have that word in their vocabulary– just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don’t use grandma’s bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90’s)(Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don’t shake it! Don’t mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.

Racking — Don’t you dare
additional feeding — NO NO
More stirring or shaking — Your not listening, don’t touch

After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don’t need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80).
If it didn’t work out… you screwed up and didn’t read my instructions (or used grandma’s bread yeast she bought years before she passed away). If it didn’t work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated.
If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make a different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey— This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don’t knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make a good ancient mead.

Enjoy, Joe
— submitted by Joe Mattioli

Undómiel 1st Racking (Jasmine Tea Mead)

You can’t really tell much by the rate fermenting mead bubbles; at least from this recipe.

 

I took a hydrometer reading: 1.092; the original reading was 1.130. That makes it about 5% ABV (alcohol by volume).

 

I also took a taste test: Wow! Really good. Sweet but not overly so with a very full bodied flavour. I decided to rack it anyway because I don’t want it to lose that sweetness. I deliberately wanted this to be a dessert mead.

 

I racked into a Canadian Gallon jug (4.55 L as opposed to 3.79 L in an American Gallon). I topped it off with about 1 litre of strong brewed loose leaf Jasmine Tea (see the pictures). A few leaves got syphoned into the new jug. I’ll probably just leave them there until I rack it again in a month. At the rate this is going — especially after tonights taste test — this mead is going to be awesome in 6 months!

 

In the pictures you can see:

 

• The hydrometer reading.

• Undómiel before racking with some jasmine blossoms and raisins floating in it.

• The Jasmine Tea leaves left behind after brewing.

• The new jug topped up with Jasmine tea.

Undómiel at 1 week: a very slow ferment

I took a hydrometer reading today: 1.124, it was 1.130 when this batch started. It’s bubbling at about 1 bubble/37 seconds. This is a very slow ferment.

 

 

I’ve noticed it’s been a very slow ferment; there’s been steady but very slow bubbling right from the start. I was concerned it might even be stuck so during the first three days I shook it up a number of times. Reading various forums online since then suggests that might have been a mistake; the aromatics in the honey are very sensitive early on and shaking it may have compromised the taste. Mind you, the hydrometer reading hasn’t changed much so there’s hopefully still enough honey in there to recapture what scents/tastes I may have shaken off.

 

I topped up the jug with some spring water to reduce the amount of airspace in the jug. That’s pushed the raisins, which have bloated up like little grapes, to the top of the jug. Some of them, as you can see in the picture, are sitting on top of each other. If they don’t sink again after a bit I may just start removing them. (I hate the taste of raisins.)

 

A couple of hypotheses as to why this is such a slow ferment:

 

• I didn’t use any chemical nutrients; I used lemon juice, raisins, and jasmine tea instead.

• The high sugar content given the amount of honey I put into one gallon; yeast doesn’t like an overabundance of sugars as that inhibits their growth.

 

I’d be curious to hear anyone else guess as to why this is such a slow ferment.