DanielLukes
Active Member
London Bochet (Recipe help needed!)
I am relatively new to mead making. I’ve made JAOM (of course), I have a gallon of vanilla bochet bulk ageing and have produced several low-alcohol, (and rather thin… heather meads.
I’ve so far been very impressed by how nice mead is, but there seems to be something of an image problem in the UK, where it is either not known or known only through those horrible honey flavoured white wines that are marketed as mead.
There is a thriving (and I mean THRIVING) craft ale scene here in London full of adventurous young people willing to try whatever’s on tap this week. Surely to treat mead like an easy-drinking ale or cider rather than a fine wine is a better way to go?
So, my mission is to develop great, low alcohol mead that is ale-like enough to tap into the craft beer market, but still has the unique, honey taste which will help mead stand out as a separate category in the public mind. If it is the drinker’s first ever mead, I want it to be something that they will want to try again and not just a novelty drink.
I want it to be:
After a few little experiments, here is my proposed recipe for 1gal of my London Bochet to use as a starting point for further development:
1. Take the blossom honey and boil in a saucepan until a deep red colour.
2. Transfer half of the honey to another saucepan and slowly add a couple of pints of boiling water and dissolve. Simmer gently.
3. Continue boiling the rest of the honey until near-black.
4. Pour the honey/water mixture into the pan with the black honey and dissolve all of the honey. Pour in another two pints of boiling water.
5. Add two tea bags and simmer the mixture for 10 minutes.
6. Remove the tea bags and take off the heat.
7. When cool, pour into demijohn with the orange blossom honey and top up with cold tap water.
8. Shake vigorously and pitch with ale yeast.
9. Rack into new demijohn at 4 days using siphon with racking cane.
10. Ferment till clear & dry. (Approx. 2-3 weeks)
11. Add 1tsp of honey to the bottom of 8 500ml Grolsch bottles and siphon mead into bottles.
12. Leave to bottle condition for a few days.
13. Drink!
Can somebody please help me to figure out:
- A better way to achieve a full body at low alcohol levels without using tea (it just seems unprofessional doesn’t it… or maybe recommend a good tea to use if it’s really the best way. It would be nice to use as few ingredients as possible.
- How to modify the recipe for serving on draught at a larger scale, (hopefully unfiltered and still live, as in real ale). I know very little about how cask beers/ciders are made so any advice would be really great.
- What the best yeast is for this kind of mead. I am using ale yeast because it is fast and ferments well at room temperature. I have heard that lager yeast also works well (Gosnells Meadery in London uses it for their light, low alcohol mead) and might produce a crisper taste?
- Any other recipe tips please!
I am relatively new to mead making. I’ve made JAOM (of course), I have a gallon of vanilla bochet bulk ageing and have produced several low-alcohol, (and rather thin… heather meads.
I’ve so far been very impressed by how nice mead is, but there seems to be something of an image problem in the UK, where it is either not known or known only through those horrible honey flavoured white wines that are marketed as mead.
There is a thriving (and I mean THRIVING) craft ale scene here in London full of adventurous young people willing to try whatever’s on tap this week. Surely to treat mead like an easy-drinking ale or cider rather than a fine wine is a better way to go?
So, my mission is to develop great, low alcohol mead that is ale-like enough to tap into the craft beer market, but still has the unique, honey taste which will help mead stand out as a separate category in the public mind. If it is the drinker’s first ever mead, I want it to be something that they will want to try again and not just a novelty drink.
I want it to be:
- Dark in colour, hearty in flavour, like a good London ale.
- Eventually served out of casks like real ale.
- A true mead. (NOT a braggot/metheglyn/cyser etc…
- Low in alcohol. (3-7%)
After a few little experiments, here is my proposed recipe for 1gal of my London Bochet to use as a starting point for further development:
- 2/3rd of a pound - Paynes Blossom Honey
- 1/3rd of a pound - Paynes Orange Blossom Honey
- Tap water (the tap water is relatively good here in South London).
- 2 bags - English Breakfast Tea (for body, to make up for the low honey content.)
1. Take the blossom honey and boil in a saucepan until a deep red colour.
2. Transfer half of the honey to another saucepan and slowly add a couple of pints of boiling water and dissolve. Simmer gently.
3. Continue boiling the rest of the honey until near-black.
4. Pour the honey/water mixture into the pan with the black honey and dissolve all of the honey. Pour in another two pints of boiling water.
5. Add two tea bags and simmer the mixture for 10 minutes.
6. Remove the tea bags and take off the heat.
7. When cool, pour into demijohn with the orange blossom honey and top up with cold tap water.
8. Shake vigorously and pitch with ale yeast.
9. Rack into new demijohn at 4 days using siphon with racking cane.
10. Ferment till clear & dry. (Approx. 2-3 weeks)
11. Add 1tsp of honey to the bottom of 8 500ml Grolsch bottles and siphon mead into bottles.
12. Leave to bottle condition for a few days.
13. Drink!
Can somebody please help me to figure out:
- A better way to achieve a full body at low alcohol levels without using tea (it just seems unprofessional doesn’t it… or maybe recommend a good tea to use if it’s really the best way. It would be nice to use as few ingredients as possible.
- How to modify the recipe for serving on draught at a larger scale, (hopefully unfiltered and still live, as in real ale). I know very little about how cask beers/ciders are made so any advice would be really great.
- What the best yeast is for this kind of mead. I am using ale yeast because it is fast and ferments well at room temperature. I have heard that lager yeast also works well (Gosnells Meadery in London uses it for their light, low alcohol mead) and might produce a crisper taste?
- Any other recipe tips please!