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Joe's Ancient Orange Mead 1.0

For some time now, I've read about Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, but I've never taken the time to actually create a batch of it.  This year, I had the time and the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients

3.5 pounds of honey (mostly orange blossom, some clover)
1 large orange
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
A small pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
25 raisins
Enough water to make 1 gallon
1 package of Fleischmann's bread yeast

Making the must:

  • Wash the orange and remove the zest.  Peel the orange, throw away the pith, then thinly slice the orange across the segments,
  • Collect one gallon of reverse osmosis water
  • Add the honey and about half of the water to a sanitized fermenter
  • Shake to aerate the must and mix in the honey
  • Add the orange, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and raisins
  • Add water to the one gallon mark
  • Shake the fermenter again to mix in the yeast and aerate further
  • Add an airlock and allow it to ferment until the liquid is clear
  • Strain out the solid ingredients and bottle
Post-Brew Notes and Observations

12/25/2020:  Brewed the must and sealed up in the fermenter.

12/27/2020:  The airlock is showing steady signs of activity. The mead itself is cloudy, which I expected this early in the process.

12/29/2020:  The airlock continues to show signs of activity. The mead is still cloudy, and the fruit (and cinnamon stick) is still floating.

01/12/2021:  Fermentation seems to still be going on. The mead remains cloudy and the fruit is still floating.

02/19/2021:  Fermentation seems to be over, and the mead is clearing nicely.  Looks like it's time to strain and bottle.

02/27/2021:  The mead was bottled today in 9 bottles of 12-ounces each.  The aroma inside the fermenter after bottling was very impressive, and I'm looking forward to trying this.

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