Ancient Orange Mead
A traditional 1-gallon "kitchen sink" style orange spiced mead adapted from Joe Mattioli, fermented on Fleischmann's bread yeast with no racking until it fully clears. Fermentation and bottling durations not explicitly stated in source beyond "about two months to clear", estimated. https://homebrewtalk.com/threads/joes-ancient-orange-mead.49106/
Shared Recipe
by Fermo Kitchen
Traditional high gravity bochet (burnt) mead made by caramelizing the honey before fermentation, giving a deep copper color and a toffee-like, sherry-style character. Source: https://homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/castle-bochet-mead/ (primary, secondary and bottling durations are not given precisely in the source, estimated here from typical high gravity mead practice)
Units
Day 0 (start)
18.5 lb of honey
Add Honey: Add the honey to a large pot, without any water.
Make Bochet: Gently boil the honey uncovered until it turns dark and develops a caramelized, toffee-like taste and aroma.
Dilute Scorched Honey: Carefully blend a portion of water into the hot scorched honey to help it dissolve smoothly.
0.1 g of zinc-fortified yeast
Add Zinc Nutrient: Stir the zinc-fortified yeast nutrient into the diluted honey mixture.
Combine Honey and Water: Pour the hot honey mixture into a portion of cold water already in the primary fermenter, then top up with more cold water until you reach your full target batch volume.
Aerate Must: Aerate the honey must extremely well by shaking or stirring vigorously.
4 g of yeast extract
Add Yeast Nutrient: Add the dissolved yeast extract nutrient to the aerated must.
Check Original Gravity: Confirm the original gravity is in the expected range of about 1.130 to 1.138 sg (roughly 30 to 32 Brix).
Check Must Temperature: Wait until the must has cooled below 80F (26.5C) before pitching the yeast.
40 g of Champagne or mead yeast
Pitch Yeast: Rehydrate the Champagne or mead yeast per package directions, then pitch it into the cooled must.
Day 7
Check Fermentation Temperature: Keep the mead fermenting at around 70 to 75F (21 to 24C) for the healthiest primary fermentation.
Day 60
Monitor Fermentation: Continue fermenting until airlock activity slows dramatically; this can take anywhere from three weeks to three months depending on conditions.
Rack to Secondary: Rack the mead off the sediment into a secondary fermenter and store it at a cooler temperature for extended aging.
Day 330
Rack Off Sediment: Rack the mead off any remaining sediment once more before bottling.
Check Final Gravity: Confirm fermentation has fully finished and gravity has stabilized around 1.028 to 1.038 sg (roughly 7 to 10 Brix) before bottling.
Bottle and Cork: Bottle the mead once it is clear and fermentation has fully ceased, corking wine bottles for long term aging, or capping beer or Champagne style bottles and dipping the caps in melted paraffin to limit air exposure.
Day 695
Ready to Enjoy: The mead is genuinely drinkable at this point, though this bochet style keeps mellowing and deepening in flavor well beyond this milestone, with legendary examples aged half a century or more.
Quick, fast-clearing grape mead (pyment) made with Welch's grape juice and honey, backsweetened and stabilized after primary. Closest available type is Grape Wine (pyment itself is not one of the 8 listed types). Yeast dose not specified in source, standard 5g packet assumed. Buckwheat honey's exact role is disputed in the source discussion (nutrient boost vs flavor), kept here as a small flavor addition. Backsweetened to a sweet finish by default; for a lighter, semi-sweet result use 4oz honey instead of 6oz at the backsweetening step. Source reports the mead was ready to drink in about 5 weeks. Source: https://www.homebrewtalk.com (Joe's Grape Mead / Pyment / Melomel thread)
~35 days totalFast-fermenting dry traditional mead using Wyeast 1388 and a staggered DAP/Fermaid K nutrient protocol, drinkable in about a month. Original gravity about 1.099 sg (~23 brix), finishing dry near 1.000 sg (~0 brix). Primary/secondary/bottling day counts are not specified in source, estimated. Source: https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/brays-one-month-mead/
~35 days totalA traditional 1-gallon "kitchen sink" style orange spiced mead adapted from Joe Mattioli, fermented on Fleischmann's bread yeast with no racking until it fully clears. Fermentation and bottling durations not explicitly stated in source beyond "about two months to clear", estimated. https://homebrewtalk.com/threads/joes-ancient-orange-mead.49106/
~157 days totalA sweet, still blackberry and orange blossom honey melomel adapted from a public homebrew recipe. Target OG 1.128 sg (about 30 brix), target FG 1.010 to 1.020 sg (about 2.5 to 5 brix). Fermentation and bottling durations not specified in source, estimated. Source: https://wiki.meadtools.com/en/recipes/melomels/0002
~125 days total