Bochet Mead (burnt mead)

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BargainFittings

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I brewed this back on 5-16-09

The process is not very fun as you have to watch it the entire time and it is perpetually in boil over mode so you have to stir it constantly.

Basically I boiled 18 pounds of store bought (Sam's Club) honey down to a very thick not quite black color and added back water at the end and simmered it for another half hour to get it all dissolved into the water. Topped up and cooled to pitch temps and added yeast nutrient and blend of several wine yeast including Montrachet and EC 1118

Tastings on transfers were of toffee and sweet honey background. Very clear now at 6 months old. It is a dark ruby color. I will pull a sample at some point and post a picture.

I have high hopes for this mead. Todays sampling went very well. I took it to a buddies brew day and apparently later after I left a neighbor was asking where he could get more of it.

Nov0909.jpg
 
My question is, how much of a ***** is it to clean out your kettle after? I'm watching the video in the other thread and can just see my 100 year old perfectly seasoned cast iron dutch oven just going belly up after doing that.

 
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My question is, how much of a ***** is it to clean out your kettle after? I'm watching the video in the other thread and can just see my 100 year old perfectly seasoned cast iron dutch oven just going belly up after doing that.

All of the honey dissolved back into a thin form at the end so it cleans up easy.

The real trick is fighting off the bees. Do this inside if possible or be prepared with a tennis racket. :)
 
Wouldn't the EC 1118 kill off the Montrachet? Just wondering what the benefits are of pitching multiple yeasts when you use a killer yeast? Did you let the Montrachet run its course then pitch the EC 1118?

This process looks very interesting I have to say. After I do my show mead batches I might have to try this.:p
 
Wouldn't the EC 1118 kill off the Montrachet? Just wondering what the benefits are of pitching multiple yeasts when you use a killer yeast? Did you let the Montrachet run its course then pitch the EC 1118?

This process looks very interesting I have to say. After I do my show mead batches I might have to try this.:p

I just did not have enough grams of either so I pitched both. I don't think yeast kill each other. They might outperform one or the other is all.
 
I was just curious because I know of one beer brewery that uses different yeasts in sequence. But bargin's explination is the simplest and straight forward.

After viewing the video I think you did the right thing and didn't take it down to total blackness. Toffee/Carmel flavor>marshmellow mush IMO.
 
I have to admit that I just didn't think burning it was going to gain anything.

I keep pulling a sample (DO NOT LICK THE SPOON!) and letting it cool to taste it.

The final product has a lot of caramel notes. They honey comes through. It has some marsh-mellow like notes in there. Toffee. Very mellow. It is not very complex yet. I expect that with time it will oxidize and age and get some character. We will see.

Wayne
 
It was 5 gallon batch. I'm curious if fermcap would work.

Cool, I may have to give this a try. I don't have any free 5 gallon carboys so I will probably secondary it in a corny keg. Probably tertiary in a glass carboy once I bottle one of my big beers.

Would a couple packets of montrachet to do trick? Also what temp? My gut says lower 60's.
 
The official recipe from 2008 Nov/Dec Zymurgy page 46. Article starts on page 45 - "Mead: Party Like its 1949"

18.5 lb light honey
4.0 g yeast extract or yeast nutrient
0.1 g zinc fortified yeast as nutrient
3 Tablespoon yeast (40g) dried champagne or mead yeast (Prise de Mousse recommended)

Target original gravity 1.130 - 1.138
Approx Final Gravity 1.028-1.038
Alcohol 14 to 15% by volume

Add honey to pot. Do not add water. Gently boil the honey until dark and tastes caramelized.

Add 1 gallon of water, zinc fortified yeast and blend into the "scorched honey" Stir until dissolved well.

Blend hot honey and water mixture to 2 gallons of cold water and add to your primary.

Top up to 5 gallons total volume. Aerate extremely well and add dissolved yeast nutrient (yeast extract)

When temp is below 80 F add re hydrated yeast. Ferment between 70-75 F

It may take 3 weeks to 3 months to finish primary.

Rack and transfer to secondary. Store at cooler temperatures Rack off sediment after six months to a year. Bottle when clear and all fermentation ceased. Cork in wine bottles for long term aging.
 
Update.

I entered this Bochet mead in the open mead category and won a 2nd place ribbon at the Bluebonnet Brewoff

The judging sheets were all very positive. There was plenty of notes about how surprised they were with the depth of flavor in this mead. Several commented on the honey notes being strong. Overall the reaction has been super positive to all those I have had try it.
 
Update:

Just found out this mead won me a 1st in open category in the 1st round of NHC. Guess I have something to look forward to now in Minneapolis.

Off topic: I also place 2nd with Other Cider - A variation of Graff! Thank you homebrewtalk.com!

Even though its a pain to make I'll be doing another batch this year. I really did not want to enter this mead in either the Bluebonnet Brew Off or National Homebrew Competition because its so nice but now I'm glad I did.

If you are hesitant about trying this recipe... DON'T! It really is very nice.
 
Congrats!

I did a very similar recipe in December, also using EC-1118. I got about 1.030 FG. I was worried that it was permanently stalled. At one point, I racked it onto some fresh yeast, without result.

It's good to see yours finished high and still took first!

I think I cooked mine down farther than yours. Mine was like motor oil before I added water.

Anyway, it's bulk aging now, and I was thinking about blending it with a show mead. Maybe I won't bother.

How long did you age?
 
Congrats again! This gives me hope that mine will turn out eventually. I tasted it recently when we racked it over to tertiary and I was kinda bummed--but I also realize that it's still quite young.
 
I made a one gallon batch and my DH liked it so much, it's all gone!! :mug:
Every time I put something in primary he asks me the same question, when you gonna' make bochet again. And make 5 gallons this time, lol.
So hopefully next week, I'll have a good local source where I can get enough honey for the job!
 
I have been using Sam's Club too. My LBS gave me a flier for guy offering honey for sale and he brews mead, too. So I figured it would be neat to get enough honey to do the whole batch in a bucket. Plus, my kids keep snagging the honey in the Sams bottles!
I'm not sure how I'm going to boil that much honey at once, I may have to split it into two since I'm planning on splitting into two buckets for primary. I did that for my first 5 gal. caramel mead and came away with enough to top off when I rack that one off the vanilla beans.
 
I bought 5 gallons last year from a club member and still have a lot left. I need to make some more mead!

I used a 20 quart kettle to caramelize the honey for the 5 gallon batch.
 
A word about cost between Sam's club and Gorden food service- I go to both stores quite often(the fact that they are across the street from one another helps lol) and the Sam's club honey was $12 for 5 lbs and the Gorden Foods was $12 for 6 lbs so if you are in a big town and gonna check out Sam's and there is a GFS nearby, give them a peek-- you don't even have to have a membership to go there. it is just clover honey, but for brochet it would be fine.
When ya gotta brew, saving a few bucks here and there never hurts!;):D
 
Another update. The bochet mead did well at the Celtic Brew-off and got me first place and a Best of Show in meads.

Its a nice drink and is doing well in the circuit.
 
congrats... Going to try this for the summer...

I don't like my mead too sweet... how sweet is it? I remember making a prickly pear mead with 20lbs of honey.. and it was too sweet.... 14 lbs of honey I liked better...

so you boiled honey for about 2 hours... would u recommend 170 mins like another member did?

I never heard of zinc fortified yeast... is that dead yeast? .1 g? that's a very little, what kind of scale did u use? So that gets boiled right?

Something that always confused me about yeast nutrients (extract). I have some, looks like salt, it's white and crystalized. But isn't there bacteria in it that can contaminate the mead? Are we supposed to boil it? I remember I threw some in while boiling another mead... and it boiled over!!! DOH!!! are we supposed to boil it? If you boil it... is it bad? But if you don't you introduce contaminates... still confuses me...

thanks




The official recipe from 2008 Nov/Dec Zymurgy page 46. Article starts on page 45 - "Mead: Party Like its 1949"

18.5 lb light honey
4.0 g yeast extract or yeast nutrient
0.1 g zinc fortified yeast as nutrient
3 Tablespoon yeast (40g) dried champagne or mead yeast (Prise de Mousse recommended)

Target original gravity 1.130 - 1.138
Approx Final Gravity 1.028-1.038
Alcohol 14 to 15% by volume

Add honey to pot. Do not add water. Gently boil the honey until dark and tastes caramelized.

Add 1 gallon of water, zinc fortified yeast and blend into the "scorched honey" Stir until dissolved well.

Blend hot honey and water mixture to 2 gallons of cold water and add to your primary.

Top up to 5 gallons total volume. Aerate extremely well and add dissolved yeast nutrient (yeast extract)

When temp is below 80 F add re hydrated yeast. Ferment between 70-75 F

It may take 3 weeks to 3 months to finish primary.

Rack and transfer to secondary. Store at cooler temperatures Rack off sediment after six months to a year. Bottle when clear and all fermentation ceased. Cork in wine bottles for long term aging.
__________________
 
I made 1 gallon of this last week. It started fermenting ok, but the past couple of days it has completely stopped. I tried adding more yeast nutrient, and racked it to a secondary, but after a day it is still doing nothing. There was a layer of yeast on the bottom of the 1 gallon jar in the primary. There is no airlock activity, and nothing moving in the must. I used Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast, should I have used another type? I let it cool to room temperature before adding the yeast initially. Or is this a very slow fermentation, with no activity. The SG was 1.134, it is about 1.098 now, so plenty of sugar left to ferment (I hope)

After reading the forums a little more, I realize I didn't rehydrate the yeast. Could this have caused a premature end of the fermentation? I haven't used dry yeast in about 15 years so didn't think of rehydrating it. Should I buy more dry yeast and rehydrate then pitch it?
 
I made 1 gallon of this last week. It started fermenting ok, but the past couple of days it has completely stopped.

Check the pH. I have found that meads that have been boiled and skimmed tend to drop their pH even faster than traditionals that haven't been boiled.
 
Yeah looks like it is low. It's hard to tell the difference between the colors, but <=3.4. Should I add something to raise the pH, and more (rehydrated) yeast, or would the additive alone be enough? And how much would be needed for about 1 gallon of must to increase pH to the desired level?
 
If you use potassium bicarbonate, 1-2 grams will be a good start. You don't want to drive the pH way up - you just want to get the yeast moving. I will add that amount and then recheck the pH later to make sure it gets up to about 3.4. If not, I'd add it 1 gram at a time until I get there.

Usually, adjusting the pH will allow the yeast that are already there to become active again and pitching more typically isn't necessary. It does help to have an accurate pH reading - a pH of 3.4 will not stall yeast, but if it is lower than 3.1, it can be a problem.
 
I added 1.5 tsp, the pH is about 3.8 now. I wish I could give a more accurate reading, but the colors on the chart are impossible to tell the difference between 2.8, 3.2 and 3.4.
 
At 3.8 you should be good.

A pH meter is one of the best investments you can make for mead/wine making. (They can be handy for beer too :) )
 
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