Mead

During christmas time I discovered a new hobby, being a Mazer aka Mead Making.

I came across a recipe which someone on zilvia.net posted up. It is often referred to as JAO or JAOM which stands for Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. It was designed back in 2005 by a guy named Joe. It is supposed to be an entry level mead that anyone can make as it is mostly fool proof. It uses common household ingredients and can be had for under $30. It uses bread yeast purposely as they ferment quicker and poop out faster than traditional wine or mead yeast.

Here is my attempt.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet) 
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all) 
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok) 
1 stick of cinnamon 
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters) 
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small ) 
1 teaspoon of 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) 
Balance water to one gallon

Ignore the 2nd full gallon of water. That's for drinking as I don't have a brita filter yet.

Warming up the honey in a hot (not boiling) water bath really makes it easier to pour.

Next you need to cut up your oranges into 8ths. Put the entire orange in. 

This was after honey and oranges were in and I gave it a good shake.

This is the poorman's airlock. When I put this together I did not have proper bottles or airlocks. That has been remedied.......:)

This photo was taken about two days later. You can see how the foam is sitting on top and the balloon is at half mast. 

This photo was taken I think 3 weeks later. The stuff on the bottom is called the lees, it is basically the yeast that have pooped out and can no longer float. Soon the liquid will start to become clear and the fruit will settle to the bottom. When that happens it will be ready to bottle. 

[/QUOTE]