Joe's Ancient Orange Mead Recipe
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead Recipe
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead Recipe (also known as JAO) is the mead recipe you'll find all over the internet. It was originally posted by Joe Mattioli on a website called Got Mead many years ago and went viral.
I hooked up with Steve Gibson at the Sussex Bee Festival this year. Steve (aka Steve The Mead Guy on Instagram) gave a demonstration on Mead Making for Beginners, and Joe's Ancient Orange Mead Recipe is the one he generally demonstrates with. It's quick, simple and it works so it's the perfect recipe if you haven't made Mead before.
We now sell Mead Starter Kits, and this is the recipe we include in the kit on Steve's recommendation.
We couldn't put a link to Joe's website here because we couldn't find one, but we did find an interview with Joe Mattioli here! The interview was with GotMead.com which is a fantastic resource for Mead makers everywhere, and the interview starts around 10 minutes into the programme.
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead Recipe
Ingredients
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- 3.5 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
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- 1 large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
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- 1 small handful raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
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- 1 stick cinnamon
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1 whole clove (or 2 if you like, these critters are potent!)
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1 whole clove (or 2 if you like, these critters are potent!)
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- 1 pinch nutmeg or allspice (very small)
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- 1 package 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) <Steve recommends Mangrove Jack's Mead Yeast M05 as he thinks it gets a better result>
- water to 1 gallon.
Instructions
- 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.
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When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast
Mead Yeast - see above>. (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.
Recipe Notes
Racking --- Don't you dare
additional feeding --- NO NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- You're 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).
And that's the mead recipe! With thanks to Joe Mattioli, the man who originally posted it on GotMead.com.
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I followed this recipe and my mead is about a month old now but it has stopped bubbling already. Have I done something wrong?
That’s great, thank you
Hi Dave, how exciting! Unfortunately it really does depend on the sugar content of your honey, how much you used etc, it’s a bit of a movable feast. What I can tell you is the opening gravity reading for mead is typically somewhere between 1.060 and 1.120. Hope this helps.
First time brewer, In my excitement to get this started I forgot to do my original gravity reading. I followed the instructions, would you know what the OG should approximately be? So I could estimate my % at the end .
Thanks
Hi Steve, you can do that, and if it doesn’t seem to get going then add a little more. Within reason you can’t add too much. The yeast won’t last long after you’ve opened the sealed packet, if you think you’ll use the rest at a later date then seal it up as well as possible and store it in the fridge. However don’t leave it too long because the yeast won’t last. Good luck!