Have I left my JAO too long ?

[Andyox]

Hi All,

A quick question regarding my first JAO - not found an answer to this in searching, but I may be blind

My first JAO was started in the middle of March, I have followed the recipe in the gotmead Newbee guide, and eagerly checked up on it every day, it is stored in a dark cupboard.

Early in July, the oranges and raisins all fell to the bottom of the demijohn. About a week later we had a hot weather spell, and the fruit raised back up to the top of the demijohn again.

I left it a while (busy at work, got mead amnesia!) and am concerned that I may have left the JAO too long in the demijohn now ?

The raisins are still at the top, the orange and cloves at the bottom, the mixture is clear and the airlock is intact and sealed. I have not added any sorbate etc, just JAO recipe and left it.

Thanks for any advice, dont want to poison myself

Andy

[Deacon Aegis]

Howdy Andyox,
I doubt that you've left your JAO too long, but you should probably go ahead and rack the mead off the lees and fruit at this point. I'm not super familiar with running batches of JAO, but from what I've seen from others, it is a fairly forgiving recipe. Perhaps Chevette Girl or a few others that really have a ton of personal knowledge with the JAO-type of mead making will sound off here in a bit. Good luck with it!

[Duracell]

Originally Posted by Deacon Aegis

Howdy Andyox,
I doubt that you've left your JAO too long, but you should probably go ahead and rack the mead off the lees and fruit at this point. I'm not super familiar with running batches of JAO, but from what I've seen from others, it is a fairly forgiving recipe. Perhaps Chevette Girl or a few others that really have a ton of personal knowledge with the JAO-type of mead making will sound off here in a bit. Good luck with it!

Do the above, rack it off and let it sit another 1-2 months to settle and then start tasting it every month until it's to your liking. After that, bottle when it's clear and you like how it taste. You probably don't need to sorbate if you don't want to but whatever makes you comfortable is fine.

[THawk]

Well, alcohol is a great preservative. So I doubt anything bad would have happened to it. It might taste more orangey but I don't think it went south.

[Chevette Girl]

Having left at least one JAO variation in its bucket for over 6 months, it's fine, anything that was going to be extracted in 6 months would already have been extracted in 2.

I'm still trying to think out why the fruit may have risen, but I suspect that if you give it a swirl once the temp's gone down again, it'll probably sink again in a few days. Racking it wouldn't be dumb, but do keep an eye on it, it's possible the warmer temp may have caused a brief hiccup of fermentation.

[fatbloke]

I only racked my last batch about 2 weeks ago Andy, and that would have been started about the same time that you got yours up and running - and that was in a bucket with a bit of airspace above the liquid.

It was fine, just needed to let it clear again as I managed (through impatience) to stir up a bit of the sediment.

Move the DJ to where it's got to sit for racking etc the day before you actually do rack it, as bread yeast is a bit of a bugger for coming back into suspension (it doesn't flocculate very well - and small amounts sit on any fruit that might move around).

When I'm fussed about the total yield (or just being a tightwad), I rack it from the clear part into bottles carefully, then the last bit right down to the sludge gets racked into a 2 litre pop bottle (one with the molded feet), that then goes into the fridge for a couple of days. Once the sediment has settled out and you've got as much cleared liquid as you're gonna get, I carefully cut the top off the bottle and cover it with clingfilm until the next day, just to make sure that any sediment I've disturbed settles back, then I just rack off the cleared mead to whatever container.

The result is minimal racking loses.