Bottling

We bottled our JAO the other day it was nice and sweet, no aging needed. We got three and a half-ish bottles out of it. The partial bottle is already gone, since we passed it around to our friends for a taste!

Now, be amazed at my gorgeous pictures! Thank you new camera!

The original hydrometer reading was 1.129, final was 1.048, and came out to 10.75% ABV.

Next we racked the other two batches of JAO and Ginger Capsimel. 

JAO from 9-15-12, was very orangy because of the giant orange we used in it. The hydrometer read 1.009, currently at 13.4% ABV, it makes your head swim! We think it will finish out a bit dry.

JAO 9-17-12 with double spice was spicy, surprise surprise, we liked it though. It's hydrometer reading was 1.005, 13.6% ABV, not nearly as bitey as the 9-15 batch though.

Then the final batch of Ginger Capsimel was an awesome surprise. It was spicy, peppery, and sweet. There was a little heat right before you swallow but not so much that you couldn't share with the average person. The hydrometer said 1.025, 10.72% ABV. I think this baby will be our favorite brew ever!

Notes: Next time we sanitize fill one jug with water and sanitizer, shake and transfer the mix from bottle to bottle to help sanitize the racking cane and tubing thoroughly.

Gurgle gurgle

The brews are still gurgling away, our first is obviously ready to be bottled, it is so clear. The other three are still burping every few minutes at about 3 weeks old. I can't wait to try the Ginger Capsimel! I wonder if it will be lacking heat like Scout's originally did? I've been taking pics of one of them each day so we can watch its progression from cloudy to clear when it's all over. I'll post a gif when it's ready. (;

Tasting Loki

I tasted my Loki today, it is much more mellow at 2 months that the first one we made, it should be great in another couple months.

Explosion

We had a mini explosion in the second batch of JAO.

Ginger Capsimel

This morning I made a third batch of JAO with doubled spices and 2 cloves. I weighed the orange this time, which was 6.7oz./190g. I stole one eighth of the orange peel for the next mead. OG: 1.104 Temp: 99.4

Then I made Ginger Capsimel that Scout tried a while back. I don't know if she ever bottled hers, but the last time I tasted it, it was just amazing, a little heat, and little sweet, just right. I believe it took about 2.5-3 years to get that way, but I am willing to wait.

I am following her recipe almost exactly. I also googled the original recipe since the link in her post was dead.

Neither recipe says how much yeast, I used 1 teaspoon and hope that works.

Ginger Capsimel

2.5 pounds clover honey
3 serrano peppers, split and seeded (.95oz/26g)
2 jalapeno peppers, split and seeded (1.31oz/37g)
1 inch of fresh ginger (.49oz/14g)
4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 grams fresh orange peel (about 1/8th of a medium orange)
1 teaspoon Fleishmann's bread yeast

Set 1/2 Gallon water to boil, then chop the ginger. When the water is boiling add ginger. 

Then split seed and remove the ribs of the peppers.

(:10) After the ginger has boiled for 10 minutes add the peppers.

(:20)After 10 minutes of boiling remove the peppers, but leave the ginger.

(:30) After 10 more minutes remove the pot from the heat. Let cool to about 150*F and add orange peel.

(:45) After 15 more minutes, mix in the honey, and add 1/2 gallon more water and the lemon juice.

When cooled to room temp add yeast and swirl to combine.

OG: 1.105 Temp: 83.4*F

Racking, and 2nd batch of JAO

Today we made a second batch of JAO. A few notes for next time, we tried weighing our spices, but my scale wouldn't register the small amount of weight, so I guess we need the type of scale you get from High Times. We also learned that 4 cups of honey is 3.5 pounds. Brian wants to weigh the orange in the future so we get the most consistent flavor every time. The specific gravity was 1.110.

Next we racked our first JAO from July/12', which means we siphoned the mead from the bottle and left all the fermented fruit and junk. Then we checked the gravity, which came out to 1.049, the original gravity was 1.129, I used an app to figure out the alcohol by volume, and we are currently 10.62 % ABV. Then we had a little taste, it's a little bitey with alcohol, the cinnamon, orange, and honey are the most noticeable flavors. I can't wait for it to mellow out, but it is already delicious.

Loki

Copied from my other blog.

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My husband and our old roommates used to make mead, and I loved it, but we only messed with making it once while I lived there, so when we moved into our own home I really wanted to make my own, but we didn't have any of the supplies. One day we were helping a friend move and she had a flask filled with Loki, it tasted so good I Googled it and found the recipe on my favorite mixed drink site Webtender.com. It is not a mead, but made with Everclear, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, and water. We made our first batch November 2011 by cutting the recipe in half to make one gallon.

1/2 Gallon Water

2 pounds Sugar

1/2 Cup Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Pure Almond Extract

750 ml bottle of Everclear (also known as a fifth)

We opted for better ingredients, using raw cane sugar, and pure extracts instead of imitation, and filtered water for the best tasting end product.

You will not need the apple juice for this recipe, just the clean empty bottle, or you could possibly use a plastic container since there is enough alcohol in here to kill a man, but I chose to just use the glass jug and be on the safe side.

1. First mix your water and sugar together in a large pot over medium heat until all the sugar melts. The water will be a clear brown when you're done (EDIT: I used Sugar In the Raw brand this time and it's so dark can barely see the bottom of the pot. It was on the burner about 7 minutes before I gave up and pulled it off, the water was steaming and I didn't want to lose too much liquid.) If you used white sugar it will just be clear.

2. Let the sugar water cool completely.

3. Add vanilla & almond extracts and Everclear.

4. Bottle and store for at least 1-3 months.

We bottled ours November 2011, tasted it at the beginning of January and it was still like rocket fuel, tasty rocket fuel, but not really drinkable. I put it back and tried it again in late March 2012, it was much smoother but still needed to be served over ice. Later in May 2012 it was perfect, we pulled it out for a get together and all agreed it was awesome. Luckily our guest lived on our street so they could stumble home. Its been hit pretty hard lately and has been requested at future gatherings so we are making another batch this weekend. We bought two gallons of apple juice, and I am almost done with one for more Loki, and the second bottle is for next weekend when I finally get to make my first batch of mead! I'll post about that after it happens.

JAO - First Mead!

We started our first mead today, my husband Brian has already done this in the past, but this is my first time.

We used this recipe for Joe's Ancient Orange, found at gotmead.com. Here is the recipe in case the link disappears later.


Ingredients

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 Fleismanns 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


Directions

Use a clean 1 gallon carboy (We used an empty one gallon glass apple juice jug)

Dissolve honey in some warm water and add to jug (I warmed about 2 quarts of water for this.)

Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in small pieces,then add to jug, rinds included

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, and allspice, then fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water (need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the yeast activity dies down.)

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. You can give it a gentle swirl if you like.

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. 

After 2 months it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. Then you can rack it. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80).

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What we did:

We used an empty one gallon glass apple juice jug as our carboy. We sanitized all our equipment, bubblers, hydrometer, bottle, anything that was going to touch the ingredients.

Heated 1.5 quarts of water in the kettle then added about two cups of cool water making it about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, then put the honey and water in a large pot and stirred the honey around till it dissolved, then added it to the jug.

Next, I sliced the orange up into small pieces and put all that into the jug, along with 28 raisins, cinnamon stick, 1 clove, and the spices (we used about 1/16th of a teaspoon of each spice.)

Then we added water up to the one gallon line, shook it like crazy, added more water to 3 inches below the top and shook it up again.

After calibrating our hydrometer with reverse osmossis water to 1.000 our original gravity was 1.129.

Then it sat in the kitchen to cool to room temperature.

I planned to add my yeast around midnight at the latest, but my neighbor talked till nearly 4 AM, so I'm a little late. But the yeast is in! I filled the bubbler.

Now the waiting. See ya in a couple months.

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Notes: Next time we should use the scale to weigh the spices. Edit 09/15/12: We tried to weigh them this time around but my scale wouldn't register the weight, so I guess we need to get a scale from High Times. (;