Started my first bochet

[Brett_Bellmore]

12lbs bananas, ripened, frozen, thawed and peeled
1/2 cup molasses
7 lbs cheap honey, caramelized
5 teaspoons yeast nutrient
4 campden tablets
Water to make 4 gallons.

Caramelizing the honey was an interesting process. Per advice I'd seen, I used the large crock pot, and was glad I did: It foamed up to within a half inch of the top at times. Took almost 6 hours to reach the point I wanted.

Part of that's because halfway through my wife wanted me along for an errand, and I set the pot to low while we were gone just to be on the safe side.

It turned into a thick foam rather like merangue, rolling a bit at the edges. I think it never did get as hot as expected, maybe my crock pot is under powered, but the honey on the sides was definitely caramelizing.

Pitched it this morning, we'll see by the time I get home from work whether it takes off, or I didn't wait long enough.

 

[A-man]

You only need an orange peel addition to have a bananas foster mead

Love to see a pic of it.

Oh, why the Campden tabs? Bananas? And which yeast you go with?

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

You only need an orange peel addition to have a bananas foster mead

Love to see a pic of it.

Oh, why the Campden tabs? Bananas? And which yeast you go with?

I figured the orange peel could go in in secondary. I've noticed citrus tends to blow off in the primary.

Campden tabs because I always use them as insurance when adding unpasteurized fruit to the primary.

Bananas because this IS supposed to end up tasting like bananas Foster; Our local distillery just came out with a bananas Foster rum, and it tasted so good I had to try to duplicate it in a mead.

The yeast is DV 10 from Cellar Science. Just because I've got it on hand, and it's the latest yeast I'm trying out.

Right now the bucket isn't all that photogenic. I'll take a picture when I open it up to stir it, I hear banana ferments develop fruit caps.

 

[A-man]

Yes, orange peel in the secondary or even steep it as a tea and add it to taste prior to bottling. Another thought might be to sweeten, if desired, with lactose to stand in for the ice cream.

I like DV-10. Have a pyment going with it currently.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

That's an interesting idea, with the lactose; I hadn't been considering adding an ice cream element. But would lactose do that? I would think cream of tartar would be more to the point, that's what's used in "cream" sodas.

 

[A-man]

That's an interesting idea, with the lactose; I hadn't been considering adding an ice cream element. But would lactose do that? I would think cream of tartar would be more to the point, that's what's used in "cream" sodas.

Lactose would add some creamy sweetness and increased mouthfeel. I've not used cream of tartar but that is interesting and worth a search. Of course a touch of vanilla would augment the vanilla ice cream illusion too.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Well, racked it out of the bucket and into a 3 gallon glass carboy and 1 gallon jug. It was a bit weak, so I added 1 lb/gallon of honey while racking it, and the fermentation has restarted.

Not the best tasting stuff, but I hear banana wine takes at least a year to age. Could detect the banana and the caramel, though.

The 3 gallon carboy managed to be mostly just the liquid, but the 1 gallon jug picked up a lot of the lees and some banana mush, too. For a while, I was afraid that fruit cap was going to reach my airlock, but it did stop short.

 

[Blacksmith1]

The bechet needs 4-6 months itself if mine is any indication. It would have benefited for more time than that had it survived.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Well, it should survive; I've got about ten gallons ahead of it bottled in early December, Cranberry/orange, Blackberry, Ginger cyser, and another 4 gallons of key lime ginger, cranberry/pomagrante and cranberry/tart cherry in the fermenter. (I'm trying to build enough of a stock to actually let this stuff age!)

Gonna have to pick up more carboys before long, I have nothing to rack the bochet into.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I'm trying to build enough of a stock to actually let this stuff age!

I've been trying to get ahead of it for a year. Just now have about 22 1.5L bottles corked last week ( 1 is gone already) and another 7 gals to do early next week. Sadly none of that is mead. I have one bottle of my bechet hidden from the wife trying g to get it to the 1yr mark.