[vintner]

I copied and pasted this recipe for the newbie mead-maker on a wine making forum I frequent. I've made it several times. Even well-seasoned mead-makers enjoy making and drinking it. This will yield a melomel ready in eight weeks or so (although mine took 12). The recipe departs from all accepted wisdom, but follow the instructions exactly and I promise that you will have a delicious product at the end. Note that this quick recipe results in a sweet mead that will benefit from aging, but can be drank the day you bottle it. I've never done so (cause I never have enough on hand), but I'm sure you could add hemp to the recipe. I plan to one day.

Orange and Spice Mead

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. (snip)...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 -- 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 fresh bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not.

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. 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 it at all! Just leave it alone.

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) 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 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.

Hi Vintner, I've been makeing homemade wines for years now and just picked up my 4th 5 gal carboy. Your recipe sounds very interesting and definatly simple. I think I'll give er a go and get it started this weekend! I'll let you know how it turns out! One quick question...how sweet will it end up??? I'm not a very big fan of extra sweet wines so I might go a little lighter on the honey if it will be ok.

Thanks for the recipe!!! Don

[vintner]

Hey Don Cotyle: Thanks for checkin out my recipe. Actually, it's not my recipe. I copied and pasted it from a wine making forum I frequent. Yes, it turns out VERY sweet! You might want to tone down on the honey a lot. I've never tried to make any changes to the recipe. Only made a few small batches of it, and gave most of it away. I'm not big on sweets myself. Honey's too expensive, and mead takes too long to mature.
So what kinds of wine to you make? I currently make a lot of kit wines, but plan to get back to makin' scratch fruit wines after we move some time this summer. I'd like to eventually drop the kits, and make all my wines from scratch. Feel free to drop me a PM some time. I can yack about wine all day LOL. I've been asked by several here to do a kit wine making tutorial. Any thoughts/sugestions/intrest in that?

[Bacchus]

Nice thread Vinter. You can also make an orange spice mead by using orange spice tea packs. Just add 5-6 packs during or at the end of fermentation. Or for that matter there are many different varities of spice packs that can be used to flavor mead. Try adding 4 vanilla beans to a 5 gallon batch The skys the limit

[vintner]

Yeah, once we get into our new place, I plan to get into tea wines more. I've made a few, and had a few others. I'm always impressed w/how crisp it tates.

Hi Vintner, When I started out way back when I just went to the library and picked up a book on wine makeing, never used a kit or pre caned fruit etc,with a gallon carboy. Clean all my equipment with hot bleach water! The only addatives I've ever used were dry tannin, campdon tablets(spelling) at the end to stop fermentation...busted bottles...lol...and good packaged yeasts.

I've made mead, sach a sweet mead, and sach methaglon a sweet spiced mead
(cake spices) great around Thanksgiveing and Christmas served hot.Lets see mostly i've made cherry, pear,apple,blackberry,dandylio n,raisin,peach...mostly what is available locally. Basically I mix all my ingrediants together and bring to a boil, let it cool to 80-90* strain into a carboy, start my yeast and add and let her go!!! Rack till clear and bottle! I like things K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid...lol...less to go wrong!

The kit thread sounds interesting, I'll drop by and check it out and help where I can!

Thanks again for the recipe, Don!

[vintner]

Sounds great Don. A second opinion would be nice since it's mostly going to be teaching the skills and techniques involved in wine making. Probably going to be a month or so before I have time to get another kit started though. We've got a huge graduation party comming up, so keep checking back.

Sounds like a plan!!! If ya remember shoot me a PM with a link to the new thread

Congradulations on the graduation!!!...be it yours or a family member.

Heading out to gather some supplies to get a 5 gal batch going of that Orange Spiced Mead!!!!!!!Don

[vintner]

Will do Don. Sounds good. You gonna modify the recipe at all? Stay safe.

I belive I will a little. I'm gonna cut the honey to 2lbs per gallon, cook the alcohol off a teaspoon of vanilla extract(couldn't find vanilla beans localy) probably use an 1/8th teaspoon per of "cake spices" ginger,allspice,cinnamon,nutme g and 2 cloves. I'll probably zest the orange peels for their oils and add the meat of the fruit, the white under skin is very bitter so I'll leave it out. I'll probably dice the rasins to open them up(good source of natural tannin and yeast ) I had to order a few more s-airlocks so I went ahead and added 2 5gal carboy covers to keep the light out...I usually just keep a large piece of black velvet over em but they were $7 and are insulated so I figured what the hey!!!

They should be here anyday. I'll go ahead and post my 5 gal batch run here if you don't mind? We'll see how she goes!!! Don