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Your First Recipe

Barrel Char Wood Products

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
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This thread will contain Recipe suggestions for your first mead. Lack of inclusion doesn't reflect on validity of others opinions.

Several considerations will be used before recipes are included here.

1> Instructions are easy to follow
2> Ingredients are easy to obtain
3> Newbees have followed your instructions with good results.
4> Our randomly granted approval :)

John The Thirsty Viking
 

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
529
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Re: Your First Recipe ... Cyser

This recipe is easy, easily obtained, and provides very good results with very little aging required. Bucket primarry method is assumed in the directions. This Was My First recipe... All three gallons were consumed within 4 months of making it, i was very hasty. :-0

Equipment needed (Equipment explanations will be in a subsequent post)

-------------
Primary bucket at least 1 gallon larger than your batch size
Cover for primary bucket
Stirer (Stainless steel or plastic)
Large pasta pot or dutch oven suitable for cooking spaghetti
Carboy(s) with stopper(s) and airlock(s) (in a pinch Glass Apple juice Bottles work wine)
Siphon Tube


6 gallon Batch size
------------------
1 Gallon Honey
5 Gallons Apple Juice (No Sulfites in Juice .. make sure you check)
1 packet Lalvin K1V-1116


1 gallon+ batch size
------------------
2 - 2.5 pounds honey
1 gallon Apple juice (honey jars)
1 packet Lalvin K1V-1116

1> Sanitize equipment (to be addressed in another post)

2> Warm Honey (see below)

3> Combine honey and Apple juice in your fermentation bucket.

Hint: Honey will pour easier if warmed slightly. I simmer my honey on a stove by filling a pasta pot with 4 inches of water, then placing my glass jars of honey in the water. I handle my jars by hand, they are a little uncomfortably warm when i remove them, but do not burn me. Probably about 110-115 degrees.
Note: Take off metal lids before warming honey, also water level should be modified for your jar height, it should not over flow into honey during the warming process :)

I pour a 1/5 of my juice into the bucket, then I add the honey 1 jar at a time.
Hint: This method that works best for me.
Pour the warmed honey into the must,
fill the jar 3/4 full with Juice that hasn't been added yet
Reapply Lid tightly to jar
Shake vigorously to disolve remaining honey
Pour into your must bucket
Repeating this process a second time should remove all the honey if any remains. If honey wasn't warmed this process may take up to 3-4 repititions.

Obviously repeat the above process for each honey container.

Add Remaining Apple Juice and stir briskly, this adds oxygen needed for early yeast replication, Splash but not out of bucket, I get the must swirling in one direction then revers directions to agitate. Pouring from a small height while adding juice allso aids in this process, again keep it in the bucket.

4> Assuming Apple juice was Room temperature of 65-72 degrees F you can prepare and pitch your yeast according to instruction from manufacturer. If your juice was warmer, allow must to cool then add yeast.

5> Cover your bucket

6> place in a cool dark space where it will not be disturbed.

Congratualations you just made non-alchoholic mead.. :) Very sweet. You should see foam on the top anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days after adding the yeast. This means that your yeast is making alcohol for you. The foam should all but vanish in 10-14 days.

7a> If like me you use a clear disposable shower cap to cover your pail, This is the time to siphon it to your carboys. You are still in primary fermentation so we are NOT trying to remove the Lees at this time. Stir gently to mix any sediment back into must with as little splashing as possible. The must is super saturated with CO2 and covered with a layer of CO2 in the pail, but we want to add as little O2 as possible at this stage, so minimal splashing. Siphon Contents from Bucket into seril Carboy(s).
Note: this step may not be neccessary, but i feel better with my must under an airlock after the Kraussen (foam) dissapears. This is because there is no longer an obvious sign of active fermentation protecting your must with positive pressure of CO2 release... better safe than sorry.

7b> If on the other hand you have a fancy plastic lid with an airlock on your bucket, leave it alone till about day 28.

Day 28 - 35
8> Sterilize equipment to be used.

9> Time to rack off the Lees (solid stuff at bottom)
using a sterile siphoning tube siphon liquid from the primary bucket (or carboy) to your carboy(s). If you are already in carboy(s) and don't have a spare, you can siphon into a sterile bucket and then into a carboy without harming your mead.
Note Excess must and/or lees can be placed in the honey jars and refrigerated... this will cause lees to compact and provide you an opportunity to recover more must for topping off (or sampling :)

When in Carboys, there should be about 2 inches or less from the bottom of the stopper to the top of the must.

Note: some hasty mead makers have been know to drink at this stage, it is so tasty.

Sediment and dead yeast will slowly percipitate out of your must Rack at about day 10 weeks from pichting.
 

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
529
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I took this recipe for my second mead. I used only orangeblossom honey, and substituted grovestand OJ for 4 gallons, sqeezed the other gallon from zested oranges i got in florida.

Was my 2nd batch. almost gone. Recomendation. Zest 2-3 oranges/gallon for your first batch instead of 6.


P.S. Zesting is hard work only zested about 8 oranges. Got some orange oil extract and added some of it. in hind sight. zesting about 12 total might have been better. While very good, the zest/oil is quite noticeably present.

P.P.S. I know nothing about the chemical listed below on moroccan oranges. If his comments concern you, do your own research on it. And on the fruit you buy. Most of us know people who are very ... umm .. discriminating (yeah thats the word i want) about possible carcinogens. We also know what company sponsered research is likely to claim. Also I doubt extensive research has been done as to how soluable this chemical is when absobed in orange peel soaked in wine.
We also know that the modern legal envionment people will sue companies over such things as the fact that a driver in a mobile home wasn't warned in his owner manual not to leave his seat to use the bathroom while the vehicle was traveling highway speeds down an interstate. So a wise grower of oranges puts warning labels on his crates.
In theory comercial food grade extract should be clear of this... How much to use .... well that is what test batches and blending are for :) But that is more advanced.


------- Reposted from Mead lovers Digest ---------

Subject: Orange/lemon zest and mead
From: "Wout Klingens" <wkling@knoware.nl>
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 18:20:20 +0100

Meadlovers,

Adding zest to a mead is a rather common thing to do, if I read the
literature.
Well, I make a "mean" orange mel. With lots of zest. *Everybody* likes it.
The main reason I guess is, that I am blessed with the opportunity to get
Moroccan oranges.
The other day I asked my greengrocer when they are due. He told me to wait
until Januari for them to be at their best.
I casually told him, that I liked the zest especially. He looked at me
totally shocked and said that the zest is absolutely not to be consumed
because of pesticides and he showed me the crate with the warning on it. It
has Thiabendazole in it.
Not shocked at all I told him, that I read somewhere that those pesticides
are highly soluable in water and easy to rinse off with water and some soda
to remove the wax as well.
But he had me worried. The warning on the crates aren't there for
nothing....
So I did a search on the 'net on "thiabendazol" (without the "e") and came
up with some excellent German texts about this stuff.
It's a lot worse than I thought.
- - T. partially penetrates the peel. And therefore (my conclusion) impossible
to remove completely.
- - T. is always present in homepressed orange juice. Though not in dangerous
concentrations, it's there. The article states, that the benifits of
homepressed juice outweigh the disadvantages of the toxin relative to the
amount present. (Of course some of the peel oils will be in the juice, hence
the presence of the poison).
T. induces blatter cancer in animal testing.
T. is also used in worminfection of the skin. The remarks about this
application were, that though it is partially absorbed, no ill effects have
been proved to pregnant women and their baby. (Contradictory??)

While I was at it I also looked at the remarks about sorbate and sulfite.
Sulfite is toxological suspect. And to my extreme surprise, sorbate isn't!
At all!

Anyway, I dumped a perfectly good 6 gallon batch of OJ-mel :( I knew I am
not going to drink it so I did.

I'm not going to make another OJ-mel again. The oranges I need are too expensive and I'll never find any zest that is as perfect as the Moroccan.

For those who want a real good recipe: well, here's my secret:
For 25 liters:
The juice of 100 oranges (1 crate).
1 pound of heather honey.
Dark wildflower honey.
Zest of 30 oranges.
An attenuative yeast, whichever you prefer.

Use as much of the dark wildflower you like. Depending on personal taste. The more honey the more alcohol. Feed if you like, or don't. Add zest only,
when fermentation is done. The d-limonine in the zest will kill off the
yeast, which is a fine way of stopping fermentation prematurely thus leaving
some residual sugar.

Remarks.
I made my most successful one very strong indeed. Something like 18% or so. In this year's Mazers I entered it outside contention. McConnell scored 40, Schramm scored 39.5 and Thomas scored 40. My apologies to these reknowned
judges for trying to poison them :(
This mead will never fail. The only thing, that will make it better is using less zest, like 20 oranges, because this particualr mead had a definite acid burn, though the TA was only 7.0. I suppose that it will vary with the type of zest you use.

Disheartedly yours,

Wout.
 

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
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Jmattioli submitted a recipe i am granting probationary status to for the newbee First recipe sticky. After I have approved the results next year, we will look at a full blown posting of the recipe instead of just the link.

Thanks for your efforts Joe.

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 Fleismanns 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

Disclaimer: Several methods in this recipe are of concern in themselves to myself and some others, but that doesn't mean that as a whole they don't work fine for this recipe.

My plan is to make about 5 1 gallon batches. 1 following his process. and the others Varrying the yeast and process along liones I am more comfortable employing. My largest concern is that someone would have success with this little young mead, then go out using these techniques with other recipees and have a bad experience.
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
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The OC
ThirstyViking said:
Jmattioli submitted a recipe i am granting probationary status to for the newbee First recipe sticky. After I have approved the results next year, we will look at a full blown posting of the recipe instead of just the link.

Thanks for your efforts Joe.

Disclaimer: Several methods in this recipe are of concern in themselves to myself and some others, but that doesn't mean that as a whole they don't work fine for this recipe.

My plan is to make about 5 1 gallon batches. 1 following his process. and the others Varrying the yeast and process along liones I am more comfortable employing. My largest concern is that someone would have success with this little young mead, then go out using these techniques with other recipees and have a bad experience.

I'm overriding this probationary status (like anyone really paid attention to that in the first place) and stating officially that this is a tried and true, well tested recipe with consistant, reproduceable results. Further, it is the single most viewed subject on this website, and is by my estimation the most widely popular and reposted recipe for mead on the entire internet. Anyone with lots of time on their hands can take me up on that claim if they really want to.

Official recognition is long overdue, so in order to make it official I have purchased a year's subscription for the Ancient One!

Joe You Rock Out Loud!

Here is a direct link to the entire recipe done in Joe's inimitable fashion.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

Mynx

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 8, 2005
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/applause!
/cheering!
/drunken shenannigins!

Joe does, in fact, rock out loud... Mind you, so do alot of folk on this site ;)
 

dyesjamp

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 3, 2006
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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 Fleismanns 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

OMG! When I read this recipe i recognized this as my very first batch of mead ever. Joes Ancient orang rules.
 

JephSullivan

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Feb 22, 2006
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home.comcast.net
Hello Dyesjamp! Welcome to the GotMead forums! :cheers:

I just made my very first batch of mead (which was my very first homebrew ever) this year, and mine was Joe's Ancient Orange too. It's such a great recipe for a newbee, and it impresses the heck out of your family and friends! I think you'll find that it was the first recipe for a lot of us around here. ;D We even have a whole thread (7 pages long!) dedicated to the recipe with plenty of comments from Joe Mattioli himself. Just go to the "Recipes" forum, and it's the sticky thread at the top. Or click here:

Joe Mattioli's Foolproof Ancient Orange, Clove, and Cinnamon Mead
 

Justin

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 26, 2006
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I started this cyser recipe a couple of nights ago. Im noticing a slightly sour kind of smell coming from the airlock. Is it supposed to smell this way? I have a couple of batches going with just honey and water and they dont smell that way but I dont know if it has anything to do with the apple juice or if something horrible is going on inside my 6 gallon batch of mead.
 

JoeM

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Jan 9, 2004
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Cider has a tendency to smell sulfery or sour as it ferments. I would go so far as to say that it can even smell like rotting garbage. This usually goes away after a few days and has no effect on the taste of the final product.
 

kace069

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Mar 21, 2004
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My first was strawberry wine, screwed it all up and it tasted great! Haven't been able to make another one since. all have turned out nasty.
 

sandman

Premium Patron
Premium Patron
Feb 5, 2007
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Hartford, Huntingdon, United Kingdom
I'm planning a batch (or three) of JAO in the near future. June to be exact. If you bottle it after it's finished, what's the max shelf-life anyone has ever held it for? Not that I'll actually last that long, but since I'm planning on doing a few batches for long-term storage so I was wondering about how well this recipe would age.

Thanks for all the great info and for how much I've learned already from GM in general. Well worth the price of admission if you ask me. Heck it's worth the yearly subscription fee for the recipes alone. I signed up this past weekend. I simply could lurk no more and still hold my head high.

BTW, is there anwyay to change your user name without opening an entirely new account?
 

Johnnybladers

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Feb 13, 2006
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Good to have you with us. My JOA never lasted past about 6 months after bottling(I've only made it in 1 gallon carboys and bottled in screw top liquor bottles), it was better than immediately after clearing. Check the JOA thread, others may have been able to hold on to it longer before the cellar rats drank it all.
As far as account info, I'd PM Vicky (incredibly helpful as I began my adventures here)
 

sandman

Premium Patron
Premium Patron
Feb 5, 2007
804
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Good info. Thanks JohnnyB. Happy Birthday by the way...

I'm planning on using screw top bottles when I really get into this fullspeed, but for now, considering where I am cutrently located (in the big sandbox), I'm going to bet the farm that I'll end up re-using some plastic water bottles I snagged from the dfac... err.... dining facility.

Oh well, we use what we have available eh? I'll get it right when I get home this summer. :cheers:
 
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