Medieval Burnt Mead!

haha the no foam is used during the boil of beer all the time. I would imagine it would go the whole time. It's just silicone that sits on the service and breaks surface tension.

WVMJ said:

800 posts on this wonderful mead and someone comes along and is like why dont you guys use that anti foamy stuff when you cook foamy honey! I didnt know you could use this in the boil, did it work all the way up to the black stage or did it eventually give out or did you have to keep adding it every so often? What a great idea. WVMJ

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I added in at the beginning. Relative to a prior experiment caramelizing honey, it knocked off about 1/4 of the expansion. Not perfect, but sufficient to keep it from boilover in my brewpot.

FWIW, I calculated that the maximum volume of 5# of honey reached about 500 cu. in. Calculate the volume of your boilpot (http://math.about.com/od/formulas/ss/surfaceareavol_3.htm) to determine if the honey will boil over your pot.

SagamoreAle said:

FWIW, I calculated that the maximum volume of 5# of honey reached about 500 cu. in. Calculate the volume of your boilpot (http://math.about.com/od/formulas/ss/surfaceareavol_3.htm) to determine if the honey will boil over your pot.

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Anyone else read this and thought "That post could double for You know you're a homebrewer when...." thread?

After reading this whole thread I'll have to make this. Has anyone tried using apple cider or juice instead of water?

Yes, several people have posted about making cysers with burnt honey. We have a crabapple one going now, acid is too high, should have just used a sweet cider but the caramel taste still comes thru nicely. WVMJ

BrewtalFermentalist said:

After reading this whole thread I'll have to make this. Has anyone tried using apple cider or juice instead of water?

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I've done a bochet cyser, and it's very tasty, if I do say so myself.

Click here

Not overly sweet, but not too dry either. Next time I might play with the spices for better balance, and maybe age it on some oak chips. Also, I'll try to use some fresh apple juice, instead of store bought.

Zaffo, your post got us started on thinking about making the Bochet Cyser. Now we have to think of a good name for this style! We have Bochetomel for burnt meads with fruit but cider deserves it own branding. WVMJ

Thank you both! I'm pretty new to mead and I love "different" approaches to brewing.

DRonco said:

Anyone else read this and thought "That post could double for You know you're a homebrewer when...." thread?

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6 weeks into primary with this stuff.
Airlock is bubbling roughly every 20 seconds still.
Fastest intervals i think were every 6-7 seconds in the first week of fermentation.I might have to buy another 6.5 gallon glass carboy because I shouldn't rack this yet and i'm running low on Cider.

How does it taste? Still waiting to find out....

I have 1 bottle left of a Bochet made with some celestial seasonings "raspberry zinger herbal tea" that has been sealed and waxed for just under 21 months now. I have been debating on trying it.... Hmmm to wait it out or to give into curiosity to see how the taste has developed.

But I can say that originally it was Caramelized honey taste with a little hot alcohol and kind of a ..... Different flavor. Hard to describe but not sure I fully liked it. Oh Oh i just remembered! When i was down in Belize a little while back i sampled some wines they make there because they don't use grapes at all in the country and commercially only use local fruits. one wine was Cashew wine and if you ever had it then my Bochet tasted a lot like that but mine was obviously young. few people I talk to have had cashew wine but if so then the taste is similar. So I am hoping this last bottle will prove the recipe just needs some age on it to have the flavors fully blossom.

I am going to try this recipe (not the carbonized honey part) after I finish my current batch of honey...

I wonder if they toasted the cashews first? THey sell cashew butter now, how many cans per gallon do you think? WVMJ

WVMJ said:

I wonder if they toasted the cashews first? THey sell cashew butter now, how many cans per gallon do you think? WVMJ

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PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN!!!!!!!



Cashews are attached to a fruit! The cashew hangs under the fruit! LOL I never know that until checking out this wine. I totally imagined the nuts being processed some how with sugar and mango or something. But traditional cashew wine from what I was told is made after the fruits are boiled for 3 hours and then a few of the husks/shells from the cashew nuts are thrown in to introduce the yeast and let it ferment.

More mind blowing cashew facts: they contain oils that can cause blindness and poisoning symptoms if not properly processed ie; boiled for hours.

Yup they are part of the deadly nightshade family. The "apple" or "fruit" or whatever above the cashew is fine to eat raw but there is a thin skin below the husk that does all that nasty stuff. As long as it is stripped away you have a great tasting seed left behind to eat.

I'm getting mead obsessed. I have a batch of JAOM and cinnamon apple cyser on the go, and I'll be having a go at this in a few weeks when the weather gets bad enough to keep the bees away.

Until then, though a question for the people who have done this: did you use staggered nutrients, or just everything up front? I'll go through the thread again (went through it all a week or two ago), but does anyone know if is there a post in here with the detailed recipe?

Thanks for all the wisdom.

When I did my bochet it was all up front. But I had many unknowns and it was kind if thrown together. In my opinion a really successful Bochet should be treated like a traditional mead would. If you are only using Caramelized honey, water, yeast, and nutrients then a staggered nutrient addition should be used for best results. When I do staggered nutrients I like to use 1tsp/gallon nutrient and .5tsp/gallon energizer and I add close to 70% at yeast pitch and split the remaining in half and add one part every 24 hours over the next two days.

The recipe is easy.

1 gallon

3lb honey
1tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
Water to one gallon
Yeast (lalvin 71b is a good go to yeast for me)

There are many other things you could do like add oak to the secondary. You could use raisins or other fruits in the primary if you liked. I have heard of apples being used well for this style. But a standard no fuss bochet is like the above recipe.

That's great, thank you. I'm trying to imagine accurately working out 70% of of half a teaspoon though

I'd only ever done beer before starting the recent meads, and added nutrients were an unknown. Given where I started* (JAOM, like so many people, I think) a small handful of raisins feels a bit like a nutrient safety net :^)


* and I'm not claiming I've moved on very far!

It works better in larger numbers dealing with higher amounts of nutrients. But close to what I do is mix it all together, the nutrient and energizer & add 1 tsp up front and a 1/4 tsp every 24 hours. That is 66.666% up front and and 16.666% for the other two additions. Feel free to throw another small pinch of nutrient in up front to bring it closer the the proposed 70%+ mark.

Arpolis said:

There are many other things you could do like add oak to the secondary. You could use raisins or other fruits in the primary if you liked. I have heard of apples being used well for this style. But a standard no fuss bochet is like the above recipe.

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Do you recall how long you caramelized your honey? I like your recipe. Short and sweet. I'm gonna give it a go tomorrow.

I caramelize on a slow heat on the lowest flame setting with my gas stove for about 2 hours. I also make sure to add some water and keep it from being devoid of it. Every 30 - 45 minutes you add about a half cup to full cup of water. That helps keep it from carbonizing and getting that smoky taste. Just pure caramel goodness.

Arpolis said:

I caramelize on a slow heat on the lowest flame setting with my gas stove for about 2 hours. I also make sure to add some water and keep it from being devoid of it. Every 30 - 45 minutes you add about a half cup to full cup of water. That helps keep it from carbonizing and getting that smoky taste. Just pure caramel goodness.

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Cold and wet weekend, decided it was time to start this off.

I burnt it black, but not quite until the smoke was black -- the wife and children were already making enough protestations with the kitchen full of the smell and white smoke, despite the extractor fan. Took about an hour and twenty minutes. It's a beautiful colour.

http://imgur.com/a/cBlSa#0

One litre of honey can easily expand to 8 litres, but can be kept down lower with lower heat and more stirring.

Topped up with bottled water, added the yeast nutrients and a rehydrated wine yeast. Will do the SNA suggested by Arpolis.

How long is recommended in primary? Then should I transfer to secondary, or straight to bottles then let it age?

Edit: just noticed I have the date wrong (+1 day) on my camera.

Primary goes until there is noticeable sediment. Once you get a good 1/4" - 1/2" of sediment then rack off that into secondary. Let the fermentation finish and let it clear mostly. Rack again and then see if any more sediment drops. Repeat till no sediment drops any more. The primary is based on feel rather than time. It could be anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 months. It depends on the brew and how it feels.

achnaw said:

How long is recommended in primary? Then should I transfer to secondary, or straight to bottles then let it age?.

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I'm sitting on 5 gallons in primary right at about the 2 month mark and i STILL have airlock activity.

I would definately do a secondary for your bulk aging.

Hopefully this stuff mellows quikly, because i highly doubt i'll be able to wait a full year to drink this stuff.

Lots of racking. I only have (imperial) gallon demijohns.

If racking to secondary before primary fermentation has finished then the headspace may be ok? Perhaps I'll need to raid the children's marble collection after that, though.

I made one back in February, and I'm down to one 12oz and one 750ml, definitely going to make a second one soon. Such a beautiful black/red when all said and done.

Bumping to be able to find this. It would be sweet if a mod would use their super powers to place the recipe on the front page and move this to the recipe section....just sayin....

A post with over 78,000 views would seem to demand it.....

Hi all, I tried a burnt honey of my own. I Started with 5 lbs wildflower, simmered that down for 2 hours to a beautiful black. This dropped the weight to 3 lbs. Topped off to 1 gallon with water, and I let this sit for a few days until the yeast showed up. I used a sweet mead yeast and let her go for quite some time. Then it was off to secondary, and finally bottling. It's a beautifully deep color, in the pic you can see through the neck, but the remainder of the bottle remains quite opaque. I plan on giving a year to do it's thing. Early tasting though has revealed a toasty marshmeloowy-ness.

Can't wait to try this one!

Mine has stalled at 1.050. Tried raising temp, stirred it, added nutrients and precipitated chalk for pH.......nothing. Ideas? Been about 4 months

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Goofynewfie said:

Mine has stalled at 1.050. Tried raising temp, stirred it, added nutrients and precipitated chalk for pH.......nothing. Ideas? Been about 4 months

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What yeast did you use and how much honey in the batch initially.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=431662
Here is the thread from a few months back with the info

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Yea it sounds like it is stuck hard then. Also looks like you followed all the direction in that thread. I am surprised that K1v-1116 became so stuck. At this point I suggest making a starter with lalvin ec-1118. Probably get 1cup of water with go-ferm or a 1/2tsp of yeast energizer, 1 tsp of honey and pitch the dry yeast on top. Let it go an hour then add 1/4 cup of your bochet to the starter. Wait another hour and if still active add another 1/4 cup of bochet. If not visibly active then whip it up and introduce a lot of O2 into the starter and wait another hour. Repeat all this till you have a couple cups of starter. Then pitch that into the bochet. It should ferment through.

I got fed up. I bought 13 lbs more honey dumped it and my wannabe bochet in a 5g carboy , added nutrient and topped up with tap water. Stirred the **** out of it and put airlock on.gonna give it s few days to see if it takes off.

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I have been wanting to make this for over a year. I finally jumped on board burnt 5lbs of honey in a nesco cooker over 4hrs at 225deg F. Had a little boil over note to self less heat more time. Added 1-12oz frozen white grape juice concentrate. Topped off into ~2gal batch over all. Intended an approx 1.5 gal batch so after racking and bottling I would get a full 5 bottles. S.g. Was low around 1.060 so I added another pound of unburnt honey brought volume up to a full 10L s.g now at 1.120 added lavalin ec-1118 and shook the life out of me. Hope to have bottled product by end of November.


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I've got mine sitting in a corny.
Roughly 6 month age on it as i write this.
The sample i had at racking to secondary months ago kinda reminded me of soda pop due to the caramel flavor.