# Lime Mead: JAO STYLE



## gaudet (Mar 19, 2009)

Little slide show of what I did today

10#'s clover honey
juice of 10 persian limes
zest of persian limes
hot water to 3.5 gallons

Just to get an idea of where the sg was on this I checked it and it was 1.108
pitched the fleishman dry active yeast at 15:00
Banished to wine closet @ 15:30.


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## vcasey (Mar 19, 2009)

I am jealous! I have 2 jars of honey that look very similar to those. They are waiting for me to turn them into a Sparkling Maple Mead. I really need to bottle!


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## gaudet (Mar 19, 2009)

Just the Sams Club specials. About $12 for 5 pounds, so I spent less than $30 for this batch. The wife graciously zested the limes and juiced them while I worked on other wine duties.


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## gaudet (Mar 19, 2009)

Its bubbling like mad now. Got to love the simple things. Something fermenting in the closet makes me happy............


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## Waldo (Mar 20, 2009)

Oh yeah....thats gonna be a good one


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## NEBama (Mar 22, 2009)

Gaudet what would it do to the flavor of this to ad 1 vanilla bean and how many limes / gallon? AL


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## gaudet (Mar 22, 2009)

NEBama said:


> Gaudet what would it do to the flavor of this to ad 1 vanilla bean and how many limes / gallon? AL



NEBama,

I used 10 limes for 3 gallons, they were smaller persian limes. So 2-3 limes per gallon for the juice is about right according to a recipe I borryed from Waldo. He has a good looking recipe that I riffled thru while making this one. As far as the vanilla bean, go for it. I can't say for sure what it would do. But I'd bet it would be good.


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## gaudet (Apr 12, 2009)

Well ladies and gents. I was waiting for a 3 gallon carboy to come in this week. It was planned to rack my lime mead from the 6 gallon carboy (primary) this weekend. My LHBS has decent prices on them and no shipping since its local. My carboy broke in transit.




So in my grief I ordered another one



to accompany the broken carboy. I will have two of them next Friday hopefully. 

In the meantime, I had to rack the mead and get it into 1 gallon jugs. I had prepped 3 one gallon jugs and a 1/2 gallon jug (better to have more than needed). I racked everything smoothly and placed them under airlock. I did not have enough to justify cleaning a 750 ml bottle after topping up the carbabies, I only had a double glass worth of mead left. I brought it out to SWMBO to taste and almost didn't get it back. Right now its cloudy as all get out but mighty delicious. I didn't take a specific gravity, but will when I recombine them.

I would highly recommend making this one if you enjoy a good mead.


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## vcasey (Apr 12, 2009)

Don't you love plan B! They sure look nice. I'll be starting mine (I know finally) at the end of this month. Provided of course if the wine in the car-babies will cooperate and finish so I can bottle. 
VPC


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## gaudet (Apr 19, 2009)

Ok I finally got my 3 gallon carboys yesterday. I set out to combine the three 1 gallon jugs to one supreme batch. After cleaning and sanitizing, I poured the mead via funnel into the carboy. I added 1 tbs Yeast nutrient as per directions of 1 per gallon. I stirred the carboy well and noted a lot of degassing of tiny CO2 bubbles. I extracted a sample and took a sg which was 1.036 

Doing a quick calculation I am at 9.78% ABV. I'm sure it will go up some now that I've added the nutrient. I would guess that I will see some more vigorous airlock activity having added the Yeast Nutrient. 

I have 2 glasses to sample. I will not be messing with this one until its clear and ready for racking again.


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## admiral (Apr 19, 2009)

This looks very good Gaudet! I just bottled my JAO which I started in January. I am waiting a month to try but I did take a small sample



at the end and I am waiting for the little bit of lees that came with it to settle out. Tasted itat room tempand it was sweet, with a rich mouth feel, a bit of the spice came through but the orange was very faint. Is this your experience and is this why you have "tweaked" your lime mead?


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## gaudet (Apr 19, 2009)

Admiral,

I have done two previous batches. One was with orange, one kumquat, and this one was with limes. I left out the spices and raisins on this one so I could try it without. And I have to say I prefer it without. 

Next time you make a batch, try it without the spices and you might be pleasantly surprised.


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## K&GB (Jun 16, 2009)

gaudet, I was looking at your recipe and noticed you started with 3.5 gal. Did you ferment this in a regular primary or in a carboy as the original JAO recipe suggests?


Ken


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## gaudet (Jun 16, 2009)

Ken,

I used an oversized carboy. I fermented in a 6 gallon for the first three weeks. I then racked it into 1 gallon carboys leaving behind some lees which I put into a wine bottle and let settle down. I eventually got it into a 3 gallon carboy (I finally bought 2 of em) where it currently resides. It looks like it finally stopped fermenting. I will check on it and probably rack it off the lees in a few more days. As of today its still fairly cloudy and I think I may either need to be more patient with it or superkleer it.


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## vcasey (Jun 17, 2009)

Gaudet, you made me curious and I went to see how mine are doing. The lime mead made with water is almost clear, the one with coconut water is clearing. Nothing has been done since I degassed &amp; racked on June 9 and I still plan on leaving them alone until Oct/Nov. Even the strawberry banana one is almost clear. Nice surprise, I would love not to use superkleer on these babies.
VC


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## gaudet (Jun 29, 2009)

Racked this one today. SG was 1.030, don't think its fermenting anymore, but I didn't stabilize it. I will let it run for a couple more months. It was a very good taste but needs more time to clear. If it hasn't cleared by the end of August, I will probably superkleer it.

Long day and winding down.


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## moto-girl (Aug 24, 2009)

Gaudet, any word on this one ? I started a lime mead today, and was curious on yours. How does it taste, did it ever clear on its own?


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## gaudet (Aug 24, 2009)

Nothing new to report on this one Moto-Girl. It tasted great last time
I racked it. Its still not clearing on its own and I've almost decided
to superkleer it. Next time I have the day off I will take a sg
reading to see if its still going or has it finished. I'll decide from
there if I am going to superkleer it. But I'll post what I find
here.......


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## moto-girl (Aug 24, 2009)

Thanks, I'm always curious about the end result.


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## uavwmn (Aug 25, 2009)

Looks good, Gaudet!!


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## gaudet (Aug 27, 2009)

ok this constitutes the end of August, I took another SG today and it was 1.030 so the yeast had stopped fermenting. almost 2 months with no change in SG I figure its done. I added superkleer and 1/8 tsp k-meta. I should probably add k-sorb as well, but I can do that right before bottling.....


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## DocWhitey (Jan 11, 2010)

Greetings everyone! I happened to see myold friend of Gaudet at Christmastime,and I cantell everyonethat his Lime Mead was extremely tasty! In fact, it gave me some hope that my meads will turn out as well (one day)


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## gaudet (Jan 11, 2010)

Hey there Doc.........................


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## admiral (Jan 11, 2010)

Welcome aboard, Doc. Enjoy the fun!


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## Goodfella (Jan 14, 2010)

Welcome Doc.


Gaudet... That mead looks and sounds incredible. This may be one I need to give a try.


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