Stark Raven Mead (burnt honey mead attempt)

Well done to Machinelf and Llysse.

That is what I call an excellent thread. Nicely explained, excellent pictures, etc.

I do hope that it turns out well, given all the effort you've both put in.

regards

fatbloke

p.s. and yes, a bochet is still on my "to do" list....

Do you all think there would be greater complexity if you removed some of the honey at the 90 and 120 minute mark and add them to the fermenter to have different levels of caramelization?

I wanted to add to this thread today as I've just finished wrapping up my first bochet mead! There's some things that I've discovered, which I think I've seen hinted at on other pages/sources, but I think they bear repeating (read: big safety issues!):

1) when honey boils, the apparent volume increases DRAMATICALLY! 18 lbs of honey is a couple inches in the bottom of my kettle...once boil hit, the level of "liquid" is at *least* 4 to 5 times higher! Bottom line: you need a MUCH bigger kettle than you might think...

2) the boil requires constant attention to fiddle with the heat level, and needs to be stirred almost constantly to prevent even further rises in the boil and subsequent boil over.

3) Boiling honey is damn f*&King hot! And it likes to splash up and out with the bigger bubbles...my ring and pinky fingers will tell you that you would be well served to wear some sort of protective glove, or probably even better, a *really* long spoon.

4) When you add the water at the end of the boiling, DO NOT add it quickly. I mean this...literally add it like an ounce or so at a time. When water hits hot honey, it boils instantly and sprays damn f*&King hot boiling honey everywhere.

5) Do this outside, but be prepared to battle the bees, wasps and other assorted insect fiends...it would help to have a partner just to shoo/swat them away.

All in all though, my brew was very successful, and I'm really excited at how this will turn out. It smells awesome, is a beautiful shade of mahogany brown, and the hydrometer sample tastes like drinking a perfectly roasted marshmallow....

Maybe you could rig some kind of electric mixer paddle to stir your kettle as you boil? Stirring does tend to keep the "boil" down, because you're breaking the bubbles that cause it to boil up.

Any taste notes on this now?

I am intrigued. I am thinking about doing some mead. I can get $12/ 5lbs. Now to read more recipes.

Hoping to wake this thread up, how does it taste now?

harveydent said:

Hoping to wake this thread up, how does it taste now?

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Mine already tastes awesome...it's a nice reddish chestnut brown, smells of caramel and roasted marshmallows. It's very smooth, and there's a slight residual sweetness that perfectly complements the caramel and roasted flavors. Overall, it's one of my most favorite meads ever! As you can see from my above post, my first bochet is less than a year old, and already is very, very drinkable (and actually has been for several months since bottling it in early November)...I've already got a 2nd batch going (cocoa bochet, as part of the Leap Day 2012 group brew), and can't wait to see how that one will turn out!

I need to make me one of these and stick it down the back of the closet and forget about it for a few years

BryanThompson said:

Do you all think there would be greater complexity if you removed some of the honey at the 90 and 120 minute mark and add them to the fermenter to have different levels of caramelization?

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Possibly. Sounds like something to try, for sure! Although it might be easier to have two boils going and combine them later than to try and pour out part of a volume of boiling honey and leave some to continue boiling, though. That stuff is HOT.

harveydent said:

Hoping to wake this thread up, how does it taste now?

Click to expand...

I guess we need to pull out a bottle and see! We'll do that over the next few days, or maybe this weekend, and then update with tasting notes. I have to say, however, that we aren't expecting much. I really think we messed this batch up with too much spice. But you never know, it might mellow into something interesting.

Thanks for the interest, everyone. Look for tasting notes in a few days.

well I did a simple caramel as well pics here, and man does honey foam when boiled wow!

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjznzXdZ

Well, it turned out a lot better than we expected, given our initial impressions of cough syprup or alcoholic Dr. Pepper!

It's actually pretty durn good. I liked the level of sweetness... slightly sweet without being cloying at all. I think we hit "semi sweet" right where we wanted to. There is a little honey and toasted marshmallow right now along with some plum or maybe prune. It's smooth; the alcohol hotness is gone. The spices are now in the background, rather than up front.

Here are a few pics from this weekend:








It's dark... but when the light shines through it, it's really an amazing... I don't know, liquid gold. Very pretty.

Machinelf's dad tasted it with us, and he asked for seconds (perhaps he would have asked for thirds, but he did have to drive home!). So, I think we're pretty relieved. It was so awful at first!

Looks a beautiful colour!

By all accounts, Bochets get better and better with age... possibly more so than normal meads!

Its amazing what time will do to a "bad" batch! I never dump until I give it some time! Made a key lime wheat once, got to much of the pith, was wayyyy to bitter at first, after a starter couple months it was yummy!

That has to be the most beautiful color liquid i've ever seen

We are opening another bottle of this tonight. It's been nearly three years. We'll update later as to how it's progressing.

Llysse said:

We are opening another bottle of this tonight. It's been nearly three years. We'll update later as to how it's progressing.

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Just learned about this recipe, and am eagerly awaiting word of how it aged! I'll definitely be trying it once I get some bulk honey.

Its been a while, looks like that 3 year old stuff is a killer WVMJ

Llysse said:

We are opening another bottle of this tonight. It's been nearly three years. We'll update later as to how it's progressing.

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I'll remind my wife that she left some folks hanging here, because she is better at relating flavors than I am.

I will say that it just keeps improving, although it's probably never going to be my favorite. If we ever made this again I think I would just ditch the spices altogether--I honestly think that's the only thing about the flavor I don't like.

Sorry it took me so long! To me, The Stark Raven Mead now tastes very much like a holiday beverage: warming, with vanilla and toasted marshmallow notes, and just slightly sweet. It's nice to sip in front of the fireplace of a winter evening. When it was very young, the spices were overwhelming, but after three years, they're significantly in the background. There's just enough there to sort of hint at a spiciness, and I think it will only get better.

This mead puts me in the mind of a dessert wine; it's not nearly that sweet, but something about it makes me think it would pair well with gingerbread cookies or pecan pie. There is definitely still an underlying honey flavor, too. Maybe it would go nicely with baklava. I love it.

Has anyone else tried a bochet recently? I'd love to hear other impressions.

I just started one this month as an experimental batch. After smelling it I had a strong desire to add a vanilla bean but the wife insists on experimental batches being pure to form for the first one so we know what the base tastes like in the end by itself. I want to backsweeten it later, thinking of making another quart of carmalized honey trying the crock pot method to decrease the water volume and use it at the end to boost the caramel flavor and add a little more sweetness as a dessert wine. Thanks for the post fellow Mountaineers, WVMJ

Subbbed... Nice post and looking forward to trying this out in the near future once I get my hands on some gallon jugs.

the three year review is definitely encouraging for the leap year bochet a bunch of us made last febuary, I liked it then but also wouldn't call it my favorite concoction ever, the flavorings were a bit simpler, just vanilla bean and cacao nibs, it has 3 more years in the cellar, it should be interesting when it's finally time to come out and play

Any updates from people that have brewed this? I'm interested in trying it as well.

Gosh, it's hard to believe it's been so long! We haven't opened another bottle since the last time I posted (end of 2012). Perhaps we should plan to open one when the weather gets cold again. Somehow the flavor seems like it's more of a winter beverage.

My bees turned out 12 gallons of honey this year (WHOOP!) so I decided to start making some mead again. The honey has such a strong flavor compared to the store bought honey I have used in the past I am really anxious to see what happens.

I have just put up a:

Thanks to this post I will know to plan letting the Bouchet sit for a few years.

*The peach cyser was actually an accident. I was canning peaches with medium syrup made with water and honey and had a 1/2 gallon left. Since I had just put up 30 bottles of apple sauce I have a ton of peels and cores. I juiced them all and got 1.5 gallons of cider. Mixed the cider and the syrup in an extra carboy and there you go. I don't know if I want it to be amazing or not since I could never replicate it...

Joining in as a reminder to myself to give this a try