Relax...

[DrewInToledo]

The mead is clarifying nicely. The cinnamon stick and the clove were unidentifiable a couple weeks back.

Since I fermented this on oranges for the first couple weeks, I'd like to reintroduce the orange flavor. I was thinking about a slice of orange in each bottle but I'm not sure about tannin issues. Maybe some orange flavor for baking, but then I came across a product from Monin which is titled a "gourmet syrup" used for drinks. Thoughts or suggestions welcome.

[matt walker]

I've found too much real citrus will create a bit of oil on the surface and can induce cloudiness, but I'm not real familiar with your application. Might have to mix up few glasses and do some intensive testing.

[mannytheseacow]

How much are you brewing there, Drew, a pint?

Even though I like to keep my flavors simple, I've done citrus a couple times. Back in 2007 I brewed a super high gravity barley wine and... whoops, in went a can of orange juice concentrate. It actually tasted pretty good when it was still green and then it got really stringent. About 2012 it started to mellow out again and is kind of a conversation beer, to split a 12 oz. bottle around 2-4 people. I've still got a dozen bottles or so around.

Otherwise, I would just stick with orange peel. It really gives you the sensation of orange in the aroma without the acid of the fruit. Just make sure you take the white pith out and get just the peel and grate it.

[DrewInToledo]

Thanks guys.

Ha! yeah, it's not much. Maybe 1.5 gallons. I used about 15# of honey.

Manny, would you suggest that I grate some orange peel and just add it to the secondary it's in now or add some orange peel to each bottle.

I'm starting to wonder if it's clarifying because I'm essentially cold crashing it. I started burning in my stove and this mead is at the other end of the house, which is now cooler. I think I'll bring it into the warmer environment and see if it's wakes up. Maybe it's not done...

[mannytheseacow]

Did you use 15# of honey for 1 1/2 gallons? 12-15# should make a 5 gallon batch.

Yep, I would grate the orange peel and add it to the current vessel. I'm not a fan of things floating in my beverage. You can control the flavor in the secondary and then stabilize it in the bottle. If you put the peel in the bottle it's going to just keep oxidizing and at some point, assuming you don't drink that little jug in one sitting ( ) it will start to get pretty harsh.

As for clarifying, man, honey is so hard. I find it never really clarifies, or at least is past that "fresh mead" taste by the time it ever will. And the temps... yeah, honey is just so hard to ferment. It's not supposed to, so you've got that against you straight from the get-go. Did you use a mead yeast? The best luck I've had with mead (and I've made less than 10 batches in my brewing experience) has been with Wy'east's mead yeast and once you start getting close to the 15# for 5 gallon ratio it's really a challenge for even mead yeast. I've tried Champaign yeast and ale yeast with less than pleasant results. Even with mead yeast, the temps like to be in the mid- to upper-70s, and it was pretty finicky about fluctuations. Even with everything optimized (my best one I injected O2 pre-fermentation), the primary fermentation lasted a month and I started drinking it after another month in the secondary, but it never really attenuated the way I'm used to seeing beer or wine must.

[DrewInToledo]

Yes sir. I used 15# for 1-1.5 Gallons. It's probably closer to 1.25 gallons.

I used a wine yeast. I don't remember which kind, but it was a dry Red Star brand. I think it was the Pasteur Red . The next batch I make will try the mead yeast you reference. Hopefully I will have some honey this spring.

But, I gotta tell you, after reading your post I got excited and decided to go soak a plastic straw in some sanitizer juice. I then pulled the airlock from the cap of the mead stuck the straw in and sucked up a mouthful of mead to sample.

Wow! It's pretty darn good!

It's dry, but I still taste the honey. The clove is amazingly promanent given it's small size. The cinnamon is there, but not as stong as I would have guessed and I taste a background of orange beneath it. It worked!
I didn't sense a strong mouth of alcohol, but it gave me a little *pow* a few minutes later. This could be dangerous.