Strawberry Chocolate Mead (experiment)

BoxMan said:

Actually yes, that was pretty helpful.
So First, the questions.
QUOTE]

Ok to answer your questions:
Any idea how much (many) cacao nibs I'd need per gallon?
Many of the recipies I have seen usually do 1 pound of roasted nibs for a 5 gal, one recipie that I saw that was called Chocolate Overlord (pun inteded from overload) used 5 pounds for a 5 gal batch. On my two batches that I have in the carboy have 2 pounds in them and I am getting a strong chocolate scent. Not sure how much it will come out. The thing to keep in mind is that something like a Hershy bar is only about 30% Cacao bean. The dark Chocolates usually have a % on them, up to like 70%. An the darker it is the more bitter the chocolate. So mostly it's about finding the balance between bitter and sweet. The other thing to keep in mind that this is with whole ground Cacao Bean, not extracted flavor. Extracted flavor via the alcohol wont be very strong. Looking at some Chocolate Beer recipies I see also that they use Chocolate Malt Grains as well as no more than 1/2 pound per 5 gal batch, so Personally I estimated in the middle and went with the Mead recipies that I saw, most used 1 pound, I doubled it up and am making it extra sweet.

Another consideration is that If you look at any candy bar that is chocolate only you see in the ingredients Vanillin. That is Vanilla, so I think that your desicion to include a vanilla bean was a wise one. Helps balance out the chocolate and bring out the chocolatyness.

I would also recomend back sweetening it with Maltodextrin and or Lactose. Both are not very sweet but will add a creamyness mouth feel to your mead.


About how long would you suggest between rackings?


Well that's a bit of a judgement call. Personally I wanted good infusion of the Cacao so I did a month on that, Many people report that only 2 weeks is neccessary with strawberries, I personally would go 3 weeks. For the Primary fermentation it is to be racked when it slows down to about 1 bubble a minute or when the lees get to be about 1/4 inch or more. Lees is the sediment. As far as Oaking, depends on the type of oak. Oak Cubes I have heard take longer than oak chips and Oak Spirals take longer than Cubes. Personally I would use medium toasted oak chips for a period of about 2-3 weeks or up to a month but no longer, depending on the oakeyness you wish. The last few rackings depends on it's clearing. It can be months between rackings as it settles. Keep in mind that with each racking you are racking above the sediment and you are going to loose some volume each time. That is why I don't mind back sweetening with a mix of about 1/2 honey 1/2 water. The extra volume is needed. But these are not hard numbers. I recomend that you use your judgement on this. It doesn't hurt mead to just sit in the caroby as it's clearing. Mead is the lazy person's Brewing, it is forgiving if you forget about it for a while.

Do you think it'd be safe if I use other measurements I find to calculate my OG?

Sure, I personally wouldn't worry about OG. Unless you are really curious about what ABV% you end up with or are doing step nutrients. The initial ABV% really depends on your yeast tolerance anyway. Most wine yeasts are from 12-22% ABV tolerant the higher being champaign yeasts, the lower being closer to a more common yeast. And you will be thining down the ABV% with flavor anyway.


I'm using frozen strawberries that have been in my neighbor's freezer since they were picked this year - but she doesn't remember if she added any sugar to them or not. I can't taste any on them, but there still could be some. I know this will make my abv hard to predict, but is this necessarily a bad thing?

Not at all, most people don't care what the ABV% is on what they drink. I just remember to warn people new to mead that it is about 2-3 times as potent as Beer and that the body loves honey so it will assimilate quicker. Some of the un-initiated in Mead over indulge and end up with wicked hangovers but reportedly the hangover is shorter lived than other beverages. I personally have never had a hangover on it. The body metabolizes Honey quicker is all.

Frozen Strawberries are a great way to go. Even If I get fresh, I freeze them so that I can get the berries to yeild their juice better. A breaking up of the cel walls. That and some Pectic Enzyme you end up rendering out a good amount of flavors.

That said, the mesh bag is a great idea, but I doubt I could even find a place that sells them. Same about the cacao nibs, actually - it's just weird how the stores in town just don't carry certain things.

I can understand. I recomend doing the ordering online via this thing we call the internet. There are many online stores. Find one closer to you. Compile your list and order. As far as Mesh bag, Nylon is best but I have heard some people sanitizing a clean pillowcase. Or going to their local hardware store and sewing some sanitized plastic screening material together with fishing line. I recomend the pillowcase method over this. Though sanitize it well. I personally have a local restaurant supply store that has a bottle of the blue pills for sanitization, like a bottle for $7 and the bottle has about 100 pills in it, each does a gallon. So filling up a brew bucket with sanitizing solution and soaking all my tools in it isn't a big deal. Then after soaking for a few minutes, take the items out and let air dry. Then you are ready to go.

As far as Nibs, best place I have had is Chocolatealchemy.com. The owner is a home brewer and chocolatier. Be sure to look for the ROASTED nib prices, as he sells them both ways but he does sell as little as a pound. If you are feeling brave he does have the whole chocolate making process on his website, even roasting part, So you can buy raw and roast it yourself. And then winnow it yourself. Personally, I bought the roasted and then put that through a coffee grinder on rough grind prior to putting in. It made more sediment but to me the extra area for flavor extraction was worth it.

I hear you on the many test batches and THEN doing a large batch. I read once that small batches are not neccessarily exactly like the large ones but hey, it's also a honey afordability too. But then again, I have many friends that love my mead and I have 8 vessels in the 5-6.5 range, 3 of which are buckets. I try to have them full all the time and bottle regualarly. So that amounts to about 3-4 batches a year or so. When the aging catches up I am already on the next 1-2 cycles. I plan on doing that as long as finances permit. And keep 1 6-pack form each batch. Then when I am old and grey, I wont have to buy my alchohol. If it goes bad, then I will still have a tasty marinade or jerky solution. Never throw away a bad mead, you can always use it for cooking. One person I know uses his stawberry pulp in smooties. I keep thinking that this would be icky with the yeast lees mixed in. But to each his own.

Happy Brewing.

Matrix

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