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
A simple traditional show mead made with raw, unheated orange blossom honey, staggered nutrient additions and Lalvin 71B-1122, finished with a short rest on oak cubes for a light vanilla note. Nutrient doses converted from 1 tsp per addition to grams; oak amount, sugar break timing and all durations not specified in source, estimated from the author's reported 7 to 8 week turnaround. Final gravity check added for safety, not in original source. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/kp3mb/comment/c2vv9p3/
Units
Day 0 (start)
15 lb of orange blossom honey
Add Honey: Pour the raw orange blossom honey straight into the fermenting bucket, there is no need to boil or pasteurize it.
1 tsp of wine tannin
Add Wine Tannin: Stir the wine tannin into the honey.
Top Up Water and Aerate: Add water until the must reaches your full target batch volume, then stir or shake vigorously until the honey is fully dissolved and the must is well aerated.
Check Original Gravity: Record the starting gravity, you will need it later to judge when about a third of the sugar has been consumed.
4 g of yeast nutrient and energizer
First Nutrient Addition: Add the first dose of yeast nutrient and energizer at pitch.
10 g of Lalvin 71B-1122
Pitch Yeast: Pitch the yeast into the must.
Day 1
4 g of yeast nutrient and energizer
Second Nutrient Addition: About 24 hours after pitching, gently stir in the second dose of yeast nutrient and energizer.
Day 3
Check Sugar Break: Take a gravity reading and compare it to your original gravity, the final nutrient goes in once roughly 30 to 40 percent of the sugar has been consumed.
4 g of yeast nutrient and energizer
Final Nutrient Addition: Once the sugar break is reached, stir in the last dose of yeast nutrient and energizer.
Day 35
Confirm Fermentation Done: Check that the gravity has stopped dropping before moving on to oaking.
1 oz of oak cubes
Add Oak Cubes: Rack the finished mead off the lees into a clean vessel and add the oak cubes.
Day 42
Taste and Remove Oak: Taste the mead, and once it has picked up a pleasant, light vanilla character, rack it off the oak cubes and let it settle and clear.
Day 49
Check Final Gravity: Confirm the gravity has stayed stable since the last reading before bottling, to avoid refermentation in the bottle.
Bottle: Bottle the clear mead, leaving the sediment behind.
Day 91
Ready to Enjoy: The mead is pleasantly drinkable at about 3 months from pitching, and it keeps improving noticeably with 6 months or more of bottle aging.
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)
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)
Fast-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/
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/
