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What was the purpose of leaving the vessel open for 1.5 hours before pitching yeast? If it was to let the must cool down, that amount of time might not have been adequate, depending on the temp before the rest. Your must may have been too warm for the yeast you pitched but would’ve been perfect...

My brain hurts... how do people reason out these crazy rules in their minds? Honey is so delicious. It’s an affront to nature to say that it can be replicated by apples, sugar, and some acidity. People will buy anything.

I’ve met good and bad vegans but I draw the line when they say they don’t eat honey... bees in some way are a part of making plant vegans eat. It’s a natural byproduct of nature’s life cycle. Bees aren’t forced to make honey OR ELSE! Plus honey is possibly one of the most healthy forms of sugar...

Planning on conducting the experiment for the traditional method tomorrow, if the weather holds up.

One big note on the experiment, YMMV. Agreed, no one will be able to replicate every aspect exactly. Because we all don’t have the same equipment, one can set the parameters of the experiment to suit their needs. To be honest, I added the water in the beginning only to slightly thin the honey...

Apologies, this will be a long post because it is based on data... writhing this up really reminded me of all the time I spent in the chem labs at college. Took me awhile to get around to the bochet honey baking experiment. I took notes on the aroma, honey temp and observations every 15 min...

Was going to bake my honey in the morning @ 250F for about an hour at least. Given that most people cook their honey for about 1-1.5 hours for bochets, 45 min just doesn’t seem like enough time to compare it to an average bochet. Was there any sensory change in the baked honey? Do you think a...

Sounds like there’s some small bochet experiments that need to happen. It’d be worth it to try doing 1 gal batches of this. It might be a good idea just to try cooking a 1 lb batch of honey in oven first, without stirring, going with “the nose knows” rule. Before dedicating larger amounts of...

Has anyone tried actually just sticking a metal deep frying thermometer in their caramelizing honey? Gonna try this on the next batch of mead, a s’mores bochet. It’s surprising to see how little scientific data there when it comes to heating honey in general. The only info I can find about the...

It looks like you’re all good to go. Assuming you used a hydrometer for the reading and not just a calculation, it should make a good mead! What kind of tea did you use? How did you make the tea? The cloudiness on the bottom could be a mix of yeast and the tannins/proteins from the tea...

Feeling fine

@Frankenfoot, your peach idea really sounds good! Super tempted to try a buckwheat mead or bochet with them, maybe some cinnoman. Make something like a peach cobbler mead.

Looks like you can get a breathalyzer for your keychain for about $30. I’ve thought about getting one.... I work in the brewery scene and let’s say it can be hard to pass up on all the free beer. There’s certainly a few nights I wish I had this to persuade myself (or others) not to drive.

This thread is awesome, super informative. Watch the documentary series Rotten on Netflix. The first episode of the series is on the global honey market and it’s pretty eye-opening, shocking honestly. It basically shows how much of the US honey market is imported, and how much tampering with...

Wow, this couldn’t have come out better! Tastes exactly like an apple pie - sweet apple filling, caramel, toasted marshmallow in the back, graham crust. Couldn’t taste more perfect. Just about had to fight the SWMBO for the sample taster back! For brewday, I went with the below recipe. I still...

The Zambian (African) wildflower honey caramelizing Start (no heat) 15 min 30 min 45 min 60 min - added ~1 pint fresh apple cider to hot honey, began cooking apples on the side burner. Used about 1+ qts of cider in cooking apples down. 75 min 90 min With the 4.5 gal of cider added

North Hills! Great to meet another brewer from the ‘Burgh! PS... Our LHBS has been having a lot of Zambian wildflower honey (from Africa), and holy cow is it amazing. Only $3 more than the usual 6 lb jug. It’s so much darker, complex, and flavorful than “normal” wildflower. Even having a small...

Worker bees

Thanks for the advise! Hmm, a pint of syrup for 2 gal... and I’m doing 5+ gal... Well it sounds like reducing the apple cider may not be a worthy venture then, unless it’s for back-sweetening. Primary fermentation would probably blow off all of the desired aromas I want to keep.

Used the apricot over the weekend. Turns out it’s all juice. No chucks whatsoever. This one has alright flavor, but it makes me think about VH’s other fruit bases. The apple fruit base, is that essentially just a glorified can of apple cider? Will have to see how the wine turns out. Ended up...