New batch of mead, Bochet it is!

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Arpolis

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Tonight I thought I would make the plunge and try my first two planned out batches of mead. One is traditional Joam and the other I finally decided to do a Bochet. I got all the ingredients and found out that my second 2 gallon jug was recently destroys without my knowledge so I am going to do a 2 gallon batch of Bochet and get a new jug within the week to start the Joam. I wanted to take some picks but the battery on my camera is dead. I just can’t seem to get a break tonight. I hope it is not an omen. :confused:

Here is the Recipe and instruction on my Bochet:

6 pounds of Sam’s club clover honey
Brita filtered water up to the 2 gal
Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger Herbal Tea (20 bags)
Mystery Yeast from Think Geek kit.
Boiled bread yeast for nutrients

The Herbal Tea contains the following ingredients:
Hibiscus, Rosehips, Roasted Chicory, Orange Peel, Blackberry Leaves, Natural Raspberry flavor with other natural flavors, Raspberries and raspberry leaves.

I first started to re-hydrate my yeast with water, 1 tbsp. of sugar and some nutrients.

Then I started the honey on a gas stove top on medium heat until it started to boil. I then had to quickly put the stove on the lowest flame setting. I underestimated the amount it would expand and got close to over boiling a couple of times but did not spill any. After an hour of constant stirring I had to tend to my baby and put her to bed so I removed the heat. I then split the honey into two pots and tried to boil at a higher heat. After 10 min of that I still had to reduce to the lowest temp. After 1.25 hours of total time passed I added a cup and a half of hot water. (SLOWLY)! I heard of this and now seen the explosion of warm water to super-hot honey. It wasn't too bad but if not done carefully I could see scalding hot honey splashing on someone. I kept it at the lowest flame setting for an additional 30 min. I let it cool after that and once at a lower temp I added another 2 cups of cold water to get the must under 80*.

Finally I added the must to my 2gal jug, topped off with some water. I then proceeded to shake the **** out of it until I figured it was properly aerated. Topped off with the rest of the water and added tea packets. Once the Must was at room temp I pitched the yeast, boiled bread yeast and added air lock. It will be fun to see where this goes.
 
When I added water to mine, I dumped about a cup in after I turned the heat off and slammed the lid down on top until it stopped shaking and rumbling. Not advised anyone does the same... lol
 
Yea it is violent. One drop did hit my pinky. It boiled up the skin and the top layer is gone now. If it had hit a larger area there could have been serious damage. BE SAFE EVERY ONE!!! And more importantly still have fun! :)
 
Day two has almost fully past and I wanted to give a small update on the Bochet. Yesterday and today both I opened her up and took a well cleaned plastic spoon to aerate/stir the must a bit to keep the oxygen levels up while the yeast are multiplying. Today the aroma is amazing! Very sweet berry smell with a nice caramel after tone. Lots of CO2 coming out of the air lock. Have not taken a gravity reading but will in a couple of weeks to see progression. Anyone have any thoughts onto how long I should aerate before I stop and leave the must be? I was planning on 5 days.

Oh and yesterday I got a new container and the JOAM is well under fermentation now. I found I did not follow the recipe as well as I would have liked. It is a two gallon batch and I found I only had like 5.75lb of honey around & only one Orange instead of 7lb with two oranges as required if I just double the recipe from the Newbee guide. I would have went back out to get the stuff but it was getting late and I wanted to watch the Superbowel on the DVR and thought this wouldn’t hurt too bad. Everything else I was exact on. So this should be a bit less sweet but I hear that the JOAM is a sweet mead and I think I may like it a bit less sweet. It seems to be fermenting much faster than the Bochet. Can’t wait to try it in like 6+ months lol.
 
OK 1 month has past and I wanted to give an update on the Raspberry Zinger Bochet and show some pics. I did not have a hydrometer when I made this but I do now. The GotMead calc suggests this had a gravity of 1.108. When I checked it was at 1.028. So this is looking to be at about 10.7% ABV give or take a bit. I gave the hydrometer sample a small sip and I am pleasantly pleased! The first taste to hit the tip of the tongue is a distinct tart raspberry taste immediately followed by the alcohol hot and finishes with this funny but good caramel/honey flavor. It is a bit sweet for my taste so I hope the gravity drops a bit more too about 1.01 or so. I did rack this off the lees hoping it will clear a bit better without all that extra yeast and sediment in there. Enjoy the pics!

Rasberry Zinger day 31 - 1.JPG

Rasberry Zinger day 31 - 2.JPG
 
wow, nice colour!

Do you know what your yeast is? or what it's ABV limit is?
 
wow, nice colour!

Do you know what your yeast is? or what it's ABV limit is?

I have no clue lol. For X-mas I got this kit from a friend on thinkgeek.com and it had an airlock and 5 packets of "spike your juice yeast" this Bochet used the last of what I had of that. In another brew I have with the same yeast, is up to just over 14% ABV. That mead took about 3 weeks to ferment that low but it is a half gallon batch. So the alcohol tolerance is probably at least 14%. Now I checked the Bochet today and there is no visible fermentation at all. I just hope it is just trucking slowly and goes a bit farther.

Here is an interesting concept. Several people post that the Bochet in general finishes a bit sweet. The idea is that the caramelization proccess changes the makeup of some of the sugars and they can't be fermented now. That may be what I am at now. If in another month if the gravity does not drop. Anyone have suggestions on getting this puppy a bit less sweet?
 
you could make a 1 gallon batch of traditional with a champagne yeast, let it go real dry, it should ferment out pretty quick. then combine them in small increments to taste. that way you are keeping honey characteristics instead of mixing with its cousin with the grapes.

I've seriously considered recently making about a 3 gallon batch each of very dry (.99? dry) and a sweet (1.03ish) to have on hand not only for variety for myself and anyone trying but also to use if ever I want to "dilute" something that is sweeter than I want or sweeten up (backsweeten) something that I miss the mark and go dryer than I want. I could just bottle in 16 ozers and open a bottle or whatever amount is needed and do combinations.
 
The mead did not ferment any more. I actually decided to just bottle as is because my friend likes his drinks sweet and talked me into it. I posted pictures in the huge show us your mead thread. The raspberry taste is a bit more subdued at the moment but I hope it shows up a bit more after a year of aging. I have 5 750ml bottles and 6 11oz bottles all filled and will probably crack the first 11oz bottle at month 6. It did come out with this glorious red amber color when held to the light, very pretty.
 
Ok I wanted to give everyone an update. It is just shy of 4 months and I couldn't help to crack one 11oz bottle. One of the things I was hoping was that since I used a lot of yea. There would be enough tannins to offset the sweetnes of the drink. I must say when you drink this the first thing is NOT how sweet it is. The taste is unique. A very smooth and slightly herbal with a hint of fruity background. Not really like caramel or burnt marshmallow but just a "creamy" "candyish" taste. It is really hard to describe. The one thing I wish there was less of was the alcohol hot. That was really presant but that was to be expected with a young mead. I am very pleased with this. I hate sweet drinks but this one is very drinkable.
 
OK about a couple months later and thought I would crack open another 11oz bottle. Man does the flavor profile change so much with this. I truly am amazed. Now the first thing you taste is the caramel type flavor from the Bochet. All hint of reall raspberry is gone at this point. But now on the finish it almost tastes like a highly alcoholic beer. very interesting taste. The alcohol hot has not disipated much so a little hard to drink but the flavor keeps you coming.
 
OK about a couple months later and thought I would crack open another 11oz bottle. Man does the flavor profile change so much with this. I truly am amazed. Now the first thing you taste is the caramel type flavor from the Bochet. All hint of reall raspberry is gone at this point. But now on the finish it almost tastes like a highly alcoholic beer. very interesting taste. The alcohol hot has not disipated much so a little hard to drink but the flavor keeps you coming.
It's been years since your last update, did you already drink all those taster bottles?
 
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