Mazer's Log - 1.0008
11/24/08:
Started batch number two, a very simple hard cider:
1 Gallon Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice (in a 1 gallon glass jug. Free carboy!)
1/4 tsp. Fermaid-K
1 packet Fermentis Safale US-05 Ale Yeast
basically just dumped the yeast in, shook the crap out of it, airlocked it, and let it go to work.
OG = 1.058
After a couple days fermentation slowed, but the SG was around 1.005 so I mixed in a touch more Fermaid, topped off with juice, and it kicked up again. Racked it a week or two later. Not really keeping strict tabs on this one, since it's just an off the cuff experiment. I think it fermented close to 1.000, maybe a touch higher, and it doesn't taste all that great or all that apple-like. I'll just let it sit for a while, then figure whether I want to prime and bottle carb it, or just bottle it still.
12/17/08:
Started a batch of Joe's Ancient Orange, after being inspired by discussion with cupofjode about short meads. For those interested in mead and getting started making mead, this one is designed to be rather foolproof for the beginniner, and to be made pretty much with ingredients you can get at the grocery store, so the startup cost is minimal. This seems to be the recipe that a lot of future mead making pros got started with. Here's the recipe reprinted for posterity. Credit to Joe Mattioli:
It is so simple to make and you can make it without much equipment and with a multitude of variations. This could be a first Mead for the novice as it is almost fool proof. It is a bit unorthodox but it has never failed me or the friends I have shared it with. Wikdwaze, you might like this one better than your Chaucer’s since it will be sweet, complex and tasty.
1 gallon batch
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
Process:
Use a clean 1 gallon carboy
Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy
Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts)
Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)
Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.
When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)
Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's)( Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.
Racking --- Don't you dare
additional feeding --- NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- Your not listening, don't touch
After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (Like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80). If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated.
If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make good ancient mead.
Enjoy, Joe
The only thing I did even slightly different was that I used orange blossom honey from the farmers market, and I used a blood orange instead of a standard navel orange. Time and 25 pages of posts on the forums have shown that if you change the recipe or procedure much more than that, results may vary wildly, and you're own your own as far as what to expect. :-)
Didn't take any readings, again, as this one is supposed to be an unorthodox, basic, give-it-a-try-and-see type mead.
It's chugging along nicely, and hopefully in a couple months I'll have a drinkable, inexpensive short mead to sip while I wait for my main batches to age.