Making a Mead - Need Recipe

Ok, so I've made a few meads, 2 to be specific, as my first homebrewing projects. Both of which have come out pretty nicely, but both of which were not quite what I was wanting... So since I've actually found one of my recipes on here, which was one I thoroughly enjoyed making, I've decided to make my first post about this and get the recommendations on where/how I should start with my next batch.


Ok, so here is what I'm wanting to get... I want a dark, super clear, thick maple/caramel tasting, near dessert level sweetness, and high alcohol content mead.

Now let me explain fully.... I want something dark, so I will likely use nothing but Buckwheat Honey, or something on par with how dark/sweet that type of honey is. I'd be willing to use a different honey as well to bring out a stronger "Maple/Caramel" taste to it, but only if it is kept dark. However, what I don't want to do is burn or produce a Bochett styled mead. Simply because I want the highest Alcohol Content possible.

An Acerglyn would be acceptable, if the Maple taste from the syrup is sweet/strong enough.

Now with all that said, I guess the description of what I want is listed to the best of my ability...

Here's what I'm working with...

5 Gallon Primary Fermenting Bucket
5 Gallon Secondary Aging Carboy


What do I need to obtain the above described mead? Would it be best to apple cider instead of water? How many lbs of honey do I need to mix in with the water/cider? What OG should I be looking for? What is the best type of yeast to use? Any recommendations on Crystal Malts? Recommendations on Dry malts? What Gravity should I stop fermentation at? Should I back sweeten? If I back sweeten, how much honey/maple/caramel extract should I use?

I will be using Campden Tablets and Potassium Sorbate to stun the yeast if I back sweeten. As for clearing the mead, I am not sure if I want to use chemicals or attempt to just use a very fine filter. If I do go with chemicals, I'd prefer to stay away from any sulfides/sulfates and/or any selfish derivatives.

However, what I don't want to do is burn or produce a Bochett styled mead. Simply because I want the highest Alcohol Content possible.

Click to expand...

Making a Bochet has nothing to do with limiting the alcohol content of a mead. The idea of changing sugars into Un-fermentable sugars is true if you let it burn into carbon but often that is a small amount of sugars and you add like a single ounce extra honey compared to a non-bochet to get the same ABV. So not bad at all. So re-think the bochet idea. Bochet style screams what you are looking for.

Buckwheat is not a great honey to add for a dark color because most everyone is disappointed with the taste. It has a very grassy almost barnyard like taste. It can be good as an accent honey but not the main flavor.

I suggest going with an acerglyn bochet style make it 50/50 honey and maple syrup. The recipe I would use is

5 gallon
10 - 12.5 pounds Caramelized honey (target gravity 1.080)
5 tsp yeast nutrient
2.5 tsp yeast energizer
3.75 tsp potassium bicarbonate
Water to 5.5 gallons (half gallon saved and refrigerated to use for topping up carboy after racking)
Yeast (lalvin k1v-1116)

Mix the above up but only add 1/3rd total nutrients. Save the rest for adding in two additions on day 3 and day 5 of fermentation. When gravity drops down to 1.010 add maple syrup to raise gravity back up to 1.030. Repeat that processes until the gravity no longer drops. You should end with a 18% - 19% ABV mead. Then let the acerglyn settle out and collect lees and then transfer to carboy and top up as appropriate. Rack ever 30 days minimum until no sediment drops. May want some oak in secondary but that can be looked at after tasting.

When caramelizing the honey if you split the honey into a couple pots and add water at a 1 to 1 ratio to the honey and boil that, making sure to top up with some water at the 1 hour mark to make up for evaporation & continue for about 1.5 - 2 hours total boil time you will get more caramel tones rather than burnt marshmallow tones.

Pretty much what arpolis said, but as my 2 cents; I would just go all honey, ferment it dry, then backsweeten with Grade B syrup. grade B is a much better maple flavor IMO. This way you can make it as alcoholic as you want, then backsweeten and get as much sweet maple forwardness as you want.

I actually prefer the strait honey idea but since he mentioned wanting a strong maple flavor I figured fermenting some of the maple syrup and the back sweetening with the maple syrup would give a stronger kick rather than strait honey just back sweetened with syrup. Guess it depends on which flavor you want pulled forward.

Good advice has already been given. I just wanted to add another option in addition.

If you want to enhance the caramel aspect, steep Caramel malt at 150 F for 20 minutes and use the liquid from this. As the name implies, it has a caramel flavor and will improve the body for the thick flavor you want. A mixture of Caramel malts may be best for this purpose. If you use Caramel 120L, it will darken the mead as well.

After FG is reached, you can also add food grade glycerin for the thickness/body you are going for. If it needs it.


Better brewing through science!

Thank you all so much for the recommendations... I want to take my time with this, so I'm going to take all the recommendations, ask questions, and sit on the information for about a month or two before I decide to actually start the process. Until that time, I've definitely got all kinds of questions...

Arpolis, I'd like to start specifically with you on some of the questions I have. I'll definitely consider a Bochet if it truly is capable of achieving that level of ABV. Thanks for the information about that one. As for specific questions, I am wondering a few things pertaining to the caramelizing process.

1 - At what temperature should I hold the boil?
2 - Should I top the honey pots back off with water only once after the initial hour? Or once after -every- hour? (Saying I let them sit for a full 2 hours)
3 - Should I stir said caramelizing honey pots, while they are cooking? Or is it better to let them sit during this process?
4 - Is this Caramelizing process, and the evaporation of water during it, why I should have 5 gallons of water -and- 12.5 lbs of honey? Seems like 5 gallons of water, plus all that honey and syrup would make my carboy overflow with wonderful goodness, lol.

Also the final questions for you Arpolis pertain directly with the Maple Syrup. You noted that back sweetening with Maple Syrup and just going all honey up front could make a weaker maple taste instead of Both Fermenting -and- back sweetening with it. Which is understandable... I want a strong Maple Taste, but I don't want it to overcome the honey flavor.

Should I ferment both with the honey -and- the maple?
Should I ferment with both, -and- back sweeten with Maple?
Should I ferment with just Honey, and then back sweeten with Maple?
If I ferment with both, should I add in the Maple -after- I've Caramelized it? Or during that process? Since you didn't state, I would assume after the honey is Caramelized.
If I back sweeten at all, at what point should I do this, and should I add Campden Tabs + Potassium Sorbate to stun any yeast?

Sorry so many questions, but I'm sure you understand how meticulous a good home brewer can be, especially one that is still learning.

MarshmellowBlue, thanks for the input man, I will definitely take into consideration your recommendation on starting with pure honey up front, depending on the input I get from Arpolis. I will -definitely- take your recommendation for using Grade B Maple Syrup in any form.

Loveofrose, thanks for your input as well! I was actually still thinking about using a Caramel Malt 120L to help with the taste and color that I want to achieve, as well as possibly using 2 full Vanilla Beans to accent the flavor slightly.

As for Food Grade Glycerin, I'm not sure how I could do that, or what it would do... I'm guessing it would sweeten and thicken the mead? I still am not entirely sure about what the "Body" of a brew truly is... I kind of have a slight clue, but not quite.

Mmm... This is everything I can think of so far when it comes to questions, but I'm sure I will come up with some more in the future! Once I've made a decision, I will definitely keep everyone informed on the process as it happens, and then keep a 30 day monthly update.

1 - At what temperature should I hold the boil?
I have made a bunch of bochet over the years now and I'll be honest I have no clue lol. I have never measured the temp. What I do is I put my honey water in the pot and start the timer. Then put my gas stove on high flame. When the mix starts to boil I move the glam down to just over the lowest flame and hold it there the entire time.

2 - Should I top the honey pots back off with water only once after the initial hour? Or once after -every- hour? (Saying I let them sit for a full 2 hours)
I do mix in water after the boil is over but that is just to cool the honey and make it easier to poor into the carboy. Otherwise just try and keep the consistency of the honey about the same through the whole boil. You don't want it getting to thick and start to smoke up with black smoke.

3 - Should I stir said caramelizing honey pots, while they are cooking? Or is it better to let them sit during this process?
You almost have to stir constantly. Honey expands to at minimum 4X it's volume when boiling and stirring keeps it from expanding further. If you want more smoky marshmallow taste then use a really big pot for your volume and let it sit. If you want more caramel tones then constantly stir.

4 - Is this Caramelizing process, and the evaporation of water during it, why I should have 5 gallons of water -and- 12.5 lbs of honey? Seems like 5 gallons of water, plus all that honey and syrup would make my carboy overflow with wonderful goodness, lol.
I tried to word the recipe for adding water up to 5.5 gallons not 5.5 gallons plus the other ingredients because that would push you to just over 6 gallons if you did. So just top up to where you are comfortable and adjust your gravity with more honey or water as appropriate.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Thanks again a ton there Arpolis, you're being such an enormous help... I've got a few more questions, which I listed in the previous post, but I will go ahead and list them again in a numbered format here to make them easier to answer. I was also thinking earlier about something else too that I had some questions about, that weren't in the previous post, so I listed them as well (Numbers 6 and 8).

(Note for the first 4 questions, I am wanting a strong maple taste, but not one that will completely overpower the caramelized honey flavor of the bochet)
1 - Should I ferment both with the honey -and- the maple?
2 - Should I ferment with both, -and- back sweeten with Maple?
3 - Should I ferment with just Honey, and then back sweeten with Maple?
4 - If I ferment with both, should I add in the Maple -after- I've Caramelized it? Or during that process? (I would assume after the honey is Caramelized.)
5 - If I back sweeten at all, at what point should I do this, and should I add Campden Tabs + Potassium Sorbate to stun any yeast?
6 - Saying I don't want the marshmellow taste, and more of the caramel taste... I understand I will have to stir, but will it be ok to put it all in one large volume pot, or should I stick with multiple pots? 2? 3? More?
7 - What color should the caramelized honey look like when it is done the way you are talking? Brown? Dark Red? Reddish Black?
8 - If I intend to use a Caramel Malt 120L, should I steep the grain in a separate water batch to add in after the caramelizing has taken place? Or another process?
9 - Potassium Bicarbonate ... Will this Carbonate the mead, like a sparkling wine? Or is this just simply used to control the pH of the Mead?

It seems that Fructose will begin to caramelize at 230 Degrees, while the other sugars will begin to caramelize at 320 Degrees too btw... I'm going to do a bit more research on the subject, but it seems that I more want to pay attention to the color, and smell, more than the temperature. As long as I don't flat out burn the honey that is...

Sorry so many questions, but I'm sure you understand how meticulous a good home brewer can be, especially one that is still learning.

Haven't done a botchet yet. I remain silent when I don't know what I'm talking about.
I can answer 8 & 9 however.

8. Caramel malt needs to be steeped separately as I described. Remove grains and add the liquid to your must.

9. Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) is added to buffer the pH of your ferment. If the pH drops to 3, the ferment stalls. Especially critical when you are trying to max out ABV.

Glycerin is frequently added to big red wines to improve the velvety mouth feel. It also makes a beverage feel "thick". It doesn't add much sweetness. It would only be added after everything else is finished and you still feel the mead is too thin.

Better brewing through science!

1 - Should I ferment both with the honey -and- the maple?
I would personally ferment with the honey and maple through the whole process.

2 - Should I ferment with both, -and- back sweeten with Maple? If you want strong complimenting maple tones to the Carmel honey taste then ferment with maple and back sweeten with honey. If you want the maple tones to be more forward over the honey then back sweeten with maple.

3 - Should I ferment with just Honey, and then back sweeten with Maple? That's how I would do it but that is my preference. I would rather the bochet be the main flavor and the maple more of an aftertaste which this should accomplish.

4 - If I ferment with both, should I add in the Maple -after- I've Caramelized it? Or during that process? (I would assume after the honey is Caramelized.) The way I wrote the recipe is that you caramelize just the honey. And only add honey to the primary. Keep the gravity low ish at first to reduce osmotic pressure on the yeast and let them build a strong colony. Then you add additional sugars in the form of honey or maple syrup as you decide by 0.020 gravity points at a time until the yeast stop fermenting.

5 - If I back sweeten at all, at what point should I do this, and should I add Campden Tabs + Potassium Sorbate to stun any yeast? You said you wanted a high ABV. Lalvin K1v-1116 was chosen for its high ABV tolerance and good respect to mead character. If you step feed the honey as shown above after you last addition of honey or syrup you will probably have a gravity between 1.030 - 1.00 some where depending on when the yeast putters out. At that point you can back sweeten with whatever to the desired sweetness and not worry about fermentation because the yeast are at their ABV limits already.

6 - Saying I don't want the marshmellow taste, and more of the caramel taste... I understand I will have to stir, but will it be ok to put it all in one large volume pot, or should I stick with multiple pots? 2? 3? More? The reason I said to split up the honey is because 12lb of honey is about a gallon of liquid. If you cut that with water even at a 2:1 ratio you have a gallon and a half of liquid. Boiling honey expands at minimum 4X its volume. So you need at minimum a 6 gallon pot to have the honey boiling up at the rim. A 10 gallon pot is preferred for safety reasons. I don't have pots that big so I only do 1 - 2 gallon bochets to reduce the amount of honey I use at a time and not have to go buy new pots.

7 - What color should the caramelized honey look like when it is done the way you are talking? Brown? Dark Red? Reddish Black? Darker than you think. When mixed in water it should still be a dark redish/Carmel color and not able to be seen through without additional light. The whole fermentation process lightens it up a good bit.

8 - If I intend to use a Caramel Malt 120L, should I steep the grain in a separate water batch to add in after the caramelizing has taken place? Or another process? That I am less used to. My stent into braggot style bochets all used liquid malt extract and that went in with the boil. Those batches turned out great.

9 - Potassium Bicarbonate ... Will this Carbonate the mead, like a sparkling wine? Or is this just simply used to control the pH of the Mead? It is a PH buffer and adds potassium which seems to also help the yeast. I picked that practice up from Loveofrose.

My goodness, you guys have truly been such a huge help in this... I'm going to let the thread stick around a little bit longer, maybe with a few bumps to get more input, but as it looks right now, it seems I have all the information I need to proceed forward with the Mead! Once I actually start the process, I will write out a full recipe on these forums, and provide documentation, along with pictures, of the entire process from Cooking to the end of the Bulk Age, at which point I will bottle it all up!

No problem, glad to help.