JAOM - Failure to launch?

Hey Denise, first welcome to GotMead!

Sorry that this is the first time I've seen your post. Maybe it got lost in moderator land?

Anyways, I would imagine your mead has been fine, and at this point probably almost done fermenting. You should only be worried if you're not seeing activity after 48 hours. Completely normal to have to wait 12-24 hours to see activity.

And of course, even though its a JAOM, the best way to gauge your ferment is to measure with a hydrometer.

So in no way do I disagree with what was said above. Although I do feel like for the most part, if you have a lag time of over eight hours you're definitely not bitching enough yeast . I generally see proof that fermentation has started and is littler for five hours and not normally more than eight . Although I can't say that I know for sure how the bread yeast works. I only made one John a long time ago and don't really remember too much about it except it really wasn't that great of a mead. Welcome to the forum not sure why you're posting so long to show up we have been having some technical issues I do believe

Ehanuise! Welcome. Sorry it took so long to respond but as Squatch said, we seem to be having some gremlin action in the forum guts.

Anyway, I hope the JAOM eventually started bubbling away. If so, you should be entering the slowdown period now and can pretty much forget about it for a couple more months. Once the fruit drops (usually takes 100 days for me) you should have clear sweet JAOM.

Unlike Squatchy, I really like JAOM. I use Meyer lemons instead of oranges, but get at least two good batches under your belt before you make a variation.

As to why it didn't start, you should check your ingredients one more time. Either you overlooked something (maybe a wrong measure?) or either the honey or the yeast or something was bad.

Did you wash the oranges well to make sure you didn't have any pesticide residue on them? Spring water isn't critical. I use filtered tap water and it works fine. Did you filter your tap water? Chlorine will evaporate but chloramine will not.

If you followed the directions to a "t" then the only reason for a non-starter is an issue with an ingredient.




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Squatchy said:

So in no way do I disagree with what was said above. Although I do feel like for the most part, if you have a lag time of over eight hours you're definitely not bitching enough yeast . I generally see proof that fermentation has started and is littler for five hours and not normally more than eight . Although I can't say that I know for sure how the bread yeast works. I only made one John a long time ago and don't really remember too much about it except it really wasn't that great of a mead. Welcome to the forum not sure why you're posting so long to show up we have been having some technical issues I do believe

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Man alive. My voice recognition sucks on my phone. Sorry about that

mannye said:

If you followed the directions to a "t" then the only reason for a non-starter is an issue with an ingredient.

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Mannye, But, there can be another reason and that is that the fermentation was in fact working well but the CO2 was escaping through another path and not through the airlock. Poor seals between the fermenter and the bung or between the bung and the airlock will suggest that there is little activity going on... and some water seems to be too soft (I think) for any froth to collect on the top (there will be no proteins to speak of from the honey, so no true "krausen" as brewers like to call this foam and froth).

Also using tap water could be the issue. Even though you filtered it it might still contain chlorine or other chemicals. Or if your filter is a super filter then you could of also removed all the minerals or both hehe. Yeast need minerals for proper health.

I have never made JAO so I am not sure if he has you add a campden tablet to the must a day before you pitch the yeast, but you might try that next time. It's a good way to remove chlorine.

Absolutely. The fermentation might have happened perfectly!


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