Whats a good Bochet FG number?

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joyceman

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I boiled this in early August and pitched with Wyeast 4184. Fermentation stalled at 1060 in September. I pitched a starter of D47 in late September and let it sit another month. I checked my gravity last weekend and im at 1017.

Is that a good number for a Bochet? I know that boiling the honey makes alot of unfermentable sugars, but 1017 still seems pretty high. I was thinking around 1010 or so for a FG number. I dont want to rack if I can still get a couple of points out of this, any advice?
 
I've been looking into doing a bochet recently and all the stuff I've seen has it ending around 1.010-1.015. You aren't that far off. Best advice I can give is to taste some and if its good, just rack and sulphite. I'm excited to do mine, but other things keep jumping up that I have to make first so hopefully in about 3 weeks I'll get to it.
 
Thanks for the advice.

I did taste when I tested the gravity. I was surprised I liked the flavor after just 3 months. Based on some of the comments Ive read I expected ass flavor for a good 6-9 months. Im going to give it a week or two and rack, maybe around Thanksgiving.
 
I started a Bochet Cyser that started at 1.132. It's been going for about a month and last I checked it was at 1.026. There's still a lot of yeast activity, so it's not done yet. I used EC1118 yeast.

It's hard to guess what the FG will be. Cooking times on the honey might affect it, as would different yeasts, I suppose.
 
joyceman said:
I did taste when I tested the gravity. I was surprised I liked the flavor after just 3 months. Based on some of the comments Ive read I expected ass flavor for a good 6-9 months. Im going to give it a week or two and rack, maybe around Thanksgiving.
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a little sweetness can hide a lot of harshness that might be more evident with a lower FG. 1.017 is a little high for just unfermentables created during the boil, but it is what it is... You never indicated what your OG was...what ABV are you at currently? That strain has a rated tolerance of 11%...
 
My handwritten notes were destroyed in a flood, so I can only estimate. I used 15lbs for a 5 gal batch. I think it was around 1.100 or so after a 2 hour boil. If Im right I should be close to 10-11%, but I dont have any certainty.

Not having precise info is very frustating, I dont even remeber which day in Augist I boiled, had to be the first week sometime.
 
The single most frustrating thing about mead is the time needed to let it develop into something great.

I might suggest taking SG readings every two weeks and seeing if it changes. If the bochet is clear, and your SG is not changing across 3 or more readings, you're probably safe to bottle. (you could always stabilize it with sorbate and sulphite, too).

From all the posts I've read through on bochet, it appears that it ages really well. The longer you can resist drinking it, the better, they say. I don't know about you, but I'm dying to drink mine.
 
Zaffo said:
The single most frustrating thing about mead is the time needed to let it develop into something great.

I might suggest taking SG readings every two weeks and seeing if it changes. If the bochet is clear, and your SG is not changing across 3 or more readings, you're probably safe to bottle. (you could always stabilize it with sorbate and sulphite, too).

From all the posts I've read through on bochet, it appears that it ages really well. The longer you can resist drinking it, the better, they say. I don't know about you, but I'm dying to drink mine.
Click to expand...

I think I may make some next week, but still deciding, however when I bottle I found some nice 187ml bottles that I will use to hopefully stretch it out over time.
 
With 15 lbs in 5 gal volume you should be slightly over 1.100, but even assuming it was, you are correct to be at just over 11% with a drop to 1.017. I was actually re-reading your OP, and I missed the part about pitching D-47...hard to know what to expect in that situation, but what Zaffo recommends is sound... One last thing to consider is to rack it, and let it sit a while in secondary to be absolutely certain it's not going to try and start up again...
 
biochemedic said:
With 15 lbs in 5 gal volume you should be slightly over 1.100, but even assuming it was, you are correct to be at just over 11% with a drop to 1.017. I was actually re-reading your OP, and I missed the part about pitching D-47...hard to know what to expect in that situation, but what Zaffo recommends is sound... One last thing to consider is to rack it, and let it sit a while in secondary to be absolutely certain it's not going to try and start up again...
Click to expand...

Im definetely going to secondary, i was thinking Ill rack within the next 2 weeks and age it another 3 months before bottling.

Zaffo said:
From all the posts I've read through on bochet, it appears that it ages really well. The longer you can resist drinking it, the better, they say. I don't know about you, but I'm dying to drink mine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, its especially hard to wait after you've tasted it and liked it this early. When I decided to make this stuff I promised myself Id give it at least a year. Im going to try to hold myself to that. Ive got 3.5 months right now, another 3 months in secondary, maybe another rack to clear if necessary and bottle.
 

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