I know orange cream mead probably doesn’t sound all that fantastic, but that’s exactly what this post is going to find out. I will be updating this particular post throughout the process of making this particular fizzy concoction. Work along with me or just wait and see whether or not I end up chucking five gallons of nastiness, either way, this should be fun.
I’m starting with the following ingredients:
- 5 gallons of Distilled water.
- 5 pounds of fireweed honey.
- 12 sweet oranges.
- 2 ounces of allspice.
- 4 vanilla bean pods.
- 1/4 ounce vanilla extract.
- 2 packets of wine yeast. This can be whatever yeast you feel appropriate.
- Yeast nutrients. Your homebrew supply should have what you need.
Before we get going, I recommend that you make note of all the specific gravity readings along the way. One when the wort is cool but before you pitch your yeast and then the several times during the fermentation. I will not be giving my readings in this blog. Mainly because I generally forget to take them. But feel free to share your numbers in the comments. Here we go.
Peel and macerate half of the oranges, leaving just the juice and the meat of the fruit in the pot. Next add all of the honey and set up the spice basket with the allspice and vanilla pods, making sure to empty the pods of as much of the seed as possible and adding the seed directly to the pot. Then add about 9/10 of a gallon of the water to the pot(you can use the rest for the nutrients and waking up your yeast) and bring to a boil with the spice basket hanging in the wort. While the boil is setting up, use this time to dissolve the needed yeast nutrition in a small cup of warm water. The total boil time is about 30 minutes. (make sure it’s a rolling boil) In the last 10 minutes of the boil, remove the spice basket and as much of the orange solids as possible, and add the yeast nutrition.
While the boil is cooling set up your yeast in a small cup of water. Pitch your yeast one you’ve added your cooled wort to the remaining four gallons of water in whatever fermenter you decide to use. I recommend a bucket style fermenter though, I plan on slicing the remaining oranges and putting them in the wort after the initial 3 days of fermenting. This is almost like dry hopping, except that this will add a much stronger orange flavor to the mead.
I will update you in a week or two when I get my first taste and start to bottle.
UPDATE #1:
I have added the final 6 oranges by slicing them thinly and floating them right on top of the mead. I have noticed that my yeast isn’t as active as I’m used to, so I have looked into the optimal temperature and found that I was in fact keeping the mead too warm. I have since moved it into a deep freezer and run it every few hours to keep the temp just about 35 to 45 degrees F. So keep this in mind.
I also took a small sample of the mead before adding the oranges and found that the orange flavor was definitely in need of a kick up. So adding those oranges will probably be a necessity.
UPDATE#2
Sorry for my absence. I have been in a bit of a morning state for this mead. I am currently in a tug-of-war with nature to keep it alive, but I have apparently reached a little beyond what I have the ability and knowhow to create. My flavors just aren’t there, and the alcohol content isn’t quite where I was aiming either. I have reached out to a couple of different sources for information on how to remedy this concoctive misstep, but in the meantime I would love to hear from any of you that may have tried their hand at this and found ways to make it work.
Sixtydgree 