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Ghirardelli dark chocolate powder. I guess I didn't answer what kind.

No, I would add it in the secondary (after racking off gross lees). I plan on using powder, many use beans or the wafers. My plan is to Carmelize meadowfoam honey for 1 hour (not completely carmelize), ferment till the yeast poops out, cold crash to compact lees, rack onto chocolate powder...

I also like the idea of people doing different meads so that we have a broader idea of how meads age over 4 years. Also makes it more interesting to compare if any of us want to swap meads.

+1 on the Bochet, I need to do that anyway. A chocolate bochet would take years to mature. Could also do a Bochet metheglin, but I'm not sure what kind of spices would compliment carmelized honey.

Probably just degassing, I wouldn't worry.

I'm game. I suggest either a strong traditional or a metheglin. Something that needs at least a couple years to mature well. I'd suggest avoiding fruit since many would be past prime in 4 years. I'd like to do a lavender mead since Schram speaks highly of it, but would understand if people...

I think the cheapest is www.flyingbeeranch.net. 10.50 shipping for 12 lbs. 14ish shipping for 18 lbs. $16 for several 6 lbs. varieties.

Do you have a pH meter? Traditional mead is notorious for pH drops. You could try some potassium carbonate to see if that helps.

I picked up a bag on a whim two days ago and think I will make this one as well. Except that I plan on using 1122 and forgoing the Dextrose (it won't be carbonated, don't want to age on 1122 anyway). Probably backsweeten with more honey and/or cold crash where I want it. I'm using...

Better Bottle is PET, not HDPE. PET has an insignificant O2 permeability. You will get more air exposure through your enclosure (bung) then the bottle. PET is also not degraded by alcohol. They sell hard alcohol in these PET and it holds up undamaged for years. Plastic is more easily...

I think she is referring to a honey version of Applejack, an apple brandy that is traditionally made by freeze "concentrating" cider. The popular commercial version "Laird's Applejack" is very good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applejack_(beverage)

I'm assuming you are freeze distilling. The problem with that is that the alcohol can be frozen within the water. I have considered trying this in the future. I think the best method would be to use an ice cream maker, or something that keeps the liquid moving as it freezes so that the...

People always describe Meadowfoam as marshmallow, but I don't get that impression until I cook it. To me it smells like earthy vanilla when raw. The aroma isn't really like honey at all. I don't know what it is about Meadowfoam that survives heat well. I haven't made any mead with it yet...

Meadowfoam is an exception to that rule. It is very unique and popular for bochet.

Meadowfoam is a possible exception to this rule. I've heard great things about it as a bochet, and have cooked with it with great results. It is probably my favorite honey; it is very unique, unlike other honeys. "One caveat: a lot of the flavor of raw honey is lost when it's heated...

Do you know if the honey was raw or processed? I'm going to be starting a raw meadowfoam brochet here soon; I'll be boiling the life out of that one.

It's difficult to learn anything from that experiment without knowing what honey they used. Mead is very heavily influenced by how the honey is processed from the hive. If you are using most commercial honey, it has already been heated and finely filtered. This drastically changes the...