# Variation of Ancient Orange



## pkcook (Mar 16, 2007)

Has anyone tried an Ancient Lemon before? Or perhaps an Ancient Lemon/Lime combo? I made the AOM and I'm not fond of the extremely sweet finish of this mead, but thought the Lemon or Lemon/Lime would provide a bit more tartness.


What say you?


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## Randy1 (Mar 16, 2007)

I started an Ancient Orange 12 days ago (my first mead). The orange-peel taste is quite strong, hope it mellows out a little with age. The SG is1.050, but the fermentation is still going fairly well, so maybe it'll finish only semi-sweet.


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## sangwitch (Mar 16, 2007)

I recently made two batches of Ancient Orange...in one I used Fleishmann'sbread yeast andwith the other I used Lalvin 71b-1122. The batch with the bread yeast is a bit sweet. I may end up blending the two - not sure. 


Hmmm... maybe I'll do a little experiment right now. I'm kinda thirsty anyway and it's after noon on Friday.







I have not made a variation, but I know that smurfe did. I think he used kumquats (sp?) if I'm not mistaken. There's a higher acid content in lemons so you may have to make some adjustments.


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## pkcook (Mar 19, 2007)

Thanks,


I read on another forum where someone used 3 tangerines without the cloves and madeATM. This sounds pretty good.


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## smurfe (Mar 20, 2007)

Yeah, I did a batch with Kumquats. It turned out fantastic. I have seen posts where others have used the recipe with all kinds of fruit. I have seen lemon/lime, grapefruit, tangerines,raspberry, blackberry, blueberry,orange, mango, you name it. 


One work of advice on this recipe. If it is clear before the fruit sinks, rack it and degas it. The Kumquat batch I degassed by vacuum. TheMead was clear prior but I wanted to see the fruit drop. I hooked the vacuum up and the fruit immediately sank. I lost a lot of wine as I had about 6-8 inches of gunk in the bottom of the carboy with wine in it that was impossible to get out. I could of strained it through a pantie hose or something I guess but I didn't. I lost a gallon from a 5 gallon batch. If theMead is clear but the fruit is still floating, it is the CO2 keeping it floating. Rack it and then degas it and you will get all of yourMead easily.


















































edit: added photos*Edited by: smurfe *


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## summersolstice (Mar 20, 2007)

I've made many batches of Joe's Ancient in many variations and sizes ranging from one to three to five gallon batches. The original recipe was the bestand other variations met with varying degrees of success. The 1-gallon carboys below were all made over a year ago using the basic JAO recipe. Some have the spices left out but all use the same amount of honey and all use Fleishman's yeast. The recipes using berries and cherries took much longer to clear but all variations finished sweet.I currently have a 5-gallon batch of tangerine going.


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## pkcook (Mar 20, 2007)

Smurfe,


I remember reviewing your kumquat batch. Thanks for the advice. My oranges never did sink, but the mead cleared under the oranges and I racked it off. I also filtered it later after a couple of rackings. 


Rule G,


What would you recommend in way of spices with a lemon/lime mead? I don't think the cloves would be very good with this combo, and I really don't want to use the Cinnamon either, but I'm afraid if I go too far away from the original recipe, the mead will not be very drinkable at a young age. As I understand it, the spices mask most of the youthfulness of the mead to make it drinkable early. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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