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This might be a stupid question....

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rh8807

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Ok, im planning on starting my first batch of JAO this weekend, I drive truck over the road and am only home for a couple days. So I am reviewing the equipment and supplies I need and looking at the recipie when I realize, I have no idea how much honey to use. With the site down, I can not easily find this info, so someone please help. How much honey per gallon batch of JAO?

Also, when it says "balance water to one gallon" what exactly does that mean?

And finally, I think I know what I need as far as equipment, but, the brew shop is 100 + miles from home (however, its real close to where I switch from my big rig into my personal vehicle), I want to be sure I have everything I need before I go home.

For Jao is there anything I am missing

The Must haves
Carboy
Airlock and stopper
Siphon hose and filter


For later use....
Bottle filler
bottles
Corker
Corks
Vin meter

Anything else a must have for JAO..besides the ingredients?
Any help is always appreiated.
Thanks
Rick
:cheers:
 
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Leonora

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 16, 2006
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Loveland, CO
www.ildanachstudios.com
You won't need the siphon for two months. JAO is left on the fruit until it is done (completely cleared).

I like to have a hydrometer to test the specific gravity before and after.

I use StarSan and really like it. There is a non-foaming no rinse sanitizer that I plan to get next once I run out of StarSan. I know the bubbles are trivial but they bug me sometimes!

Balance to a gallon means - put the honey (3.5 lbs) in a gallon jug and add water until the jug holds a gallon. It is middle of the shoulder of the jug generally. Make sure to leave some room at the top for the fermentation foam.

Leonora
 
Oskaar

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
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The OC
Leonora said:
...snip
I use StarSan and really like it. There is a non-foaming no rinse sanitizer that I plan to get next once I run out of StarSan. I know the bubbles are trivial but they bug me sometimes!...snip
Click to expand...

Hey Leonora, just remember that non-foaming sanitizers take longer to work. That's the benefit of the foam. I'm patient with my meads, but impatient during sanitization so I use the foamy guys like Star-San and Iodophor. They work like a champ and I'm especially happy about the short contact time.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
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rh8807

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Thank you very much....I'll keep you updated on the progress.

;D
 
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Rhianni

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 13, 2006
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Definately get a sanitizer of some sort.

I suggest to get a hydrometer and also record every step and notes that you do. Day you start, day you pitch the yeast, hydrometer readings, temperature that the yeast is at. When I first started I was following recipes and not taking notes. I realized I did something 'wrong' in my first couple batches that turned out very good. When I followed the recipes again they turned out so so. I wish I had my notes to duplicate my successes.
 
Z

Zem

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Sep 14, 2005
1,396
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Hey dude,

Welcome to brewing! I'd recomend taking a look at some of the online stores such as Morebeer.com, morewine.com, or our own gotmeader Jaysbrew has a 10% discount to gotmead folks (enter the code "gotmead")
http://jaysbrewing.com/catalog/

All of these places have good choices of about all you'd need and it gets sent to your door so you dont have to cruise across state to get truckin'.

Over the road driving sounds like a good way to keep your hands off your brews while it's finishing!
 
L

Leonora

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 16, 2006
324
0
0
Loveland, CO
www.ildanachstudios.com
Oskaar said:
Leonora said:
...snip
I use StarSan and really like it. There is a non-foaming no rinse sanitizer that I plan to get next once I run out of StarSan. I know the bubbles are trivial but they bug me sometimes!...snip
Click to expand...

Hey Leonora, just remember that non-foaming sanitizers take longer to work. That's the benefit of the foam. I'm patient with my meads, but impatient during sanitization so I use the foamy guys like Star-San and Iodophor. They work like a champ and I'm especially happy about the short contact time.

Cheers,

Oskaar
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up! I didn't know that.

I bottled 4 cases last night and tried to just ignore the foam. sigh. I do like the short time but that foam. hmm, maybe have both! The quick foamy kind for almost everything and the non-foam kind for bottles I am about to fill!

Leonora
 
R

rh8807

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 25, 2006
9
0
0
54
Ok, well, the site was down the day I started, and I have just been busy also with driving and all, but I got the first batch started...with some improvising...LOL I like that comment about not keeping notes and it turned out good, that might be me. LOL

Ok, first, I didnt make it to the brew shop I was going to go to, but I found the local store "Swains General Store" in port angeles, wa had an aisle labeled wine making...sweet, they had alot of stuff.

They didnt have carboys, but they had a 5 gallon fermeting bucket that was supose to include the lid, but people had taken the lids for other buckets..LOL so I had to go to another store and buy a regular bucket lid with a gasket and drill the hole for the stopper using hole bits. Ok, wasnt too hard, just inconvenient.

So Sanitizer, the guy at swains knew what people used, just didnt know how they used it...YIKES, he said Campden tablets were a no rinse sanitizer but wasnt sure how to use them, but he knew of a guy that used them when bottling. Hmmm, not much help, so I wound up disolving a couple in some water and swishing it around in the bucket, I did however rinse it cause I wasnt really sure they were really a sanatizer.

So ok, all that out of the way, it was time to get brewing, I bought a 5 lb jug of clover honey, wasnt really sure how to measure out 3.5 pounds so I kinded winged it..LOL And even though someone explained what balance water to one gallon meant IO didnt get it til after I was done, so I used a gallon of spring water and probably 4 lbs of honey, so I will probably have a 1.5 galloon batch...which I guess is ok if I used enough yeast.

Speaking of yeast, the Fleishmans came in like a 6 lb sack, which I figured I would never use, so I read the label it was fleishmans dry active, and they had a smaller quantity of Red Star Dry active so I went with that, and used a teaspoon of that.

What else, how, bought a nice triple scale hydrometer, however, usuing the 5 gallon bucket, the fluid level wasnt high enough to actually float the hydrometer so im sure that reading is off, I tried to fill a 32oz plastic cup but even that way, it would stand straight up as if it were about to float, but I never actually got it to float...Uhggg what do you use for that? I was thinking maybe getting something from the plastic aisle at walmart, maybe those things that hold whole spaghetti would be deep enough..LOL I dont know.

So anyway, hopefully its doing what it should I started it on Nov 6th and have been on the road since the 7th, will be back home around thanksgiving to check on it....Hopefully I will get lucky and end up with a decent bacth of mead I will probably never be able to duplicate. LOL What an adventure

Comments welcome... :) Rick
 
U

ucflumberjack

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 4, 2006
839
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i made my first batch or JAO in an empty gallon jug of water. to balance it is to aff all the ingredients and then fill it the rest of the way up with water. so you will have one gallon total... no big deal since you used a little xtra honey.

now you just wait a few months til you can see through it, until its "clear"
 
D

David Baldwin

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 29, 2004
860
1
0
Grand Rapids, MI
The hydrometer:

The triple scale hydrometer works best if you also purchase a test jar. That is a narrow tube (glass or plastic)about twice the diameter of your hydrometer with a base. With that you put a sample into the test jar and set the hydrometer into that.

I prefer the glass test jar, but they are more fragile, and a bit more expensive than the plastic.


You've made a good start. Good luck.

David
 
L

Leonora

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 16, 2006
324
0
0
Loveland, CO
www.ildanachstudios.com
I have an extra hydrometer tube. PM me and I will send it to you. I got it in a box of junk that I bought from a retired winemaker. It's just taking up room now, so it will be good to have it go to a good home.

Leonora
 
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