Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead

Posted in Homebrewing | 3 comments

Well, I just made my own version of Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead, and I can’t wait for it to finish. This is my first mead, and I’m pretty excited. Before we get started, I realize some of you might not be familiar with meads. Below is an excerpt from a Wikipedia listing about Mead.

Mead, also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash; the mash is strained off immediately after fermentation. Depending on local traditions and specific recipes, it may be flavored with spices, fruit, or hops (which produce a bitter, beer-like flavor). The alcoholic content of mead may range from about 8% ABV to 18%. It may be still, carbonated, or sparkling, and it may be dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.

Now that we know what mead is, let’s get to making some!

Here’s the original recipe, which is for 1 gallon of mead:

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 Fleishmann’s 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

Here’s what I did:

I had 12 lbs of honey that a co-worker gave me. It was in a 1 gallon plastic milk jug, and just said “Honey” on the outside, so no clue what kind it is. I’m guessing maybe Orange Blossom, since the honey was from his father’s farm, and we’re in Florida? Who knows…

Anyway, I dissolved the honey in to enough water to bring the total volume to 5.5 gallons. I wanted a lower alcohol mead, and am hoping it might be drinkable a little quicker because of it. The OG, or Original Gravity, turned out to be 1.080. If it finishes around 1.020, it should end up at ~7.5% ABV.

I used blood oranges instead of regular oranges, mainly because they’re in season and I’ve been wanting to brew something using blood oranges. Hopefully they will add a cool pinkish color to the mead.

First, I peeled, zested, and split up the blood oranges, and used 4 total. I didn’t want to get that pithy taste from the rind that has been described on a few forums, so that’s why I decided to peel and zest them instead. Next, I added 3 handfuls of raisins, 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 whole cloves, a dash of allspice, a dash of nutmeg, and mixed it all together. Last, I aerated the mead for a few minutes by shaking my Ale Pail, and pitched my yeast.

I decided to use Safale S-33, since I had it sitting in my fridge. Another member on HomeBrewTalk described using this yeast on a few meads with success, so I figured I’d use it since I already had it. I’m still planning on leaving it in the primary fermenter for two months, and then bottling. I’m also planning on carbonating the mead, and really hope it will be ready over the summer. It should turn out to be a great, light summer beverage, great for drinking on the beach.

I’ll keep you guys posted!