Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1380, 12 July 2008 Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:30:33 -0600 (MDT) From: mead-request@talisman.com Mead Lover's Digest #1380 12 July 2008 Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Contents: Re: Joe's Ancient Orange (bill keiser) Sima? ("Joanna") Re: Joe's Ancient Orange (Mail Box) NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one. Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com. Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests. Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead A searchable archive is at http://www.gotmead.com/mldarchives.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Joe's Ancient Orange From: bill keiser Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:48:14 -0400 just multiply everything by 5 except the yeast. if you want, put in less cinnamon and clove. they are just for taste, although i don't even notice them. i also add craisins to counter the sweetness. joe's is a very sweet recipe. i've done 5 or 6 batches, but have replaced the oranges with blueberries. i don't bother measuring SG because i figure a lot of the sugar is locked inside the fruit so won't affect the density until the yeast goes into the fruit and eats it. bill keiser >> Subject: Joe's Ancient Orange >> From: MeadGuild@aol.com >> Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 21:03:40 EDT >> >> The recipes I have seen for Joe's Ancient Orange are for a 1-gal batch >> and call for a cinnamon stick. Just envisioning 5 cinnamon sticks in a >> 5-gallon batch makes my mouth pucker. Similar problem with cloves >> and a concern for tannins from too many raisins >> >> 3-1/2 lbs per gallon should have an OG of 1.128. >> What is the expected FG? >> >> Does anyone have a recipe for a 5 gallon batch of Joe's Ancient Orange >> they'd like to share while I can still afford the oranges? >> >> Dick >> - -- >> Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired) ------------------------------ Subject: Sima? From: "Joanna" Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 20:41:20 -0700 Has anyone here made sima? It's called the Finnish mead, and a Finnish friend of mine turned me on to it. There are a lots of different versions online, some using brown sugar instead of honey..... - -Joanna of Seven Trees ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Joe's Ancient Orange From: Mail Box Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:26:12 -0400 > Subject: Joe's Ancient Orange > From: MeadGuild@aol.com > Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 21:03:40 EDT > > The recipes I have seen for Joe's Ancient Orange are for a 1-gal batch > and call for a cinnamon stick. Just envisioning 5 cinnamon sticks in a > 5-gallon batch makes my mouth pucker. Similar problem with cloves > and a concern for tannins from too many raisins > > 3-1/2 lbs per gallon should have an OG of 1.128. > What is the expected FG? > > Does anyone have a recipe for a 5 gallon batch of Joe's Ancient Orange > they'd like to share while I can still afford the oranges? > > Dick Hi Dick, I haven't made Joe's Ancient Orange so I can't comment much on the complete recipe, but I did want to set your mind at ease regarding the raisins and your concern about excessive tannins. Joe's Ancient Orange calls for 25 raisins in a 1 gallon batch. That scales to 125 raisins in a 5 gallon batch. While I haven't done much counting of raisins by volume, I'd guess that 125 raisins is much less than a pound. One of the best meads I've made was a golden raisin melomel using 5 pounds of golden raisins in a 5 gallon batch. It was not at all too tannic, and having given away the last bottle I really need to get around to repeating that recipe, this time with a little oak as well. It was a sweet batch (OG 1.120, FG 1.020), which probably balanced the tannins, but keep in mind that many red wines are terrifically tannic and are also bone dry. One thing to watch for: Golden raisins are typically sulfited to prevent browning, which I did not know prior to making this batch. I had a terrifically hard time getting fermentation to start until I did some reading and realized that I had effectively sulfited my pitch. A second pitch and lot of aeration overcame this, but it was 7 days from first pitch (and both pitches were of an active starter) to airlock activity. Part of the reason for the long delay was that we went out of town for 3 days and I was unaware of any issue until our return. As fortune and good sanitation practices would have it, despite the long delay there was no spoilage and the batch turned out to be very tasty. Cheers, Ken Taborek ------------------------------ End of Mead Lover's Digest #1380 *******************************