Black Mead?

[LudovicoManin]

Hey there. I know I should be slowing down on mead production, but I like being a Mead Baron and would like to have variety in my stock rather than 5 gallons of one thing. Searching around, I came across a link for Black Mead:

• 18 lbs caramelized honey
• 2.5 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 package of Lalvin EC-1118, aka Champagne yeast
• 1 oz cardamom
• 1 oz ginger root
• 1 oz black tellicherry “extra bold” peppercorns, whole

What do we think? Has anyone carmelized honey before? Risks and challenges? Is the taste worth it in the end? I would imagine it would have more body to it... but I am no expert. Kind of willing to give this a try and age it until next winter.

 

[lumpher]

There is a type of mead specifically made of caramelized honey called Bochet. I don't like mead, so can't help you with questions, but knowing what it's called will make it easier for you to research it.

 

[LudovicoManin]

Thanks for the heads up.... I did not know it had its own term.

 

[bernardsmith]

=But check the temperatures at which honey caramelizes. Many folk burn their honey and call that carbon caramelization. It ain't. Carbon (burnt sugar), like burnt toast ain't tasty. It tastes like crap. Bochet has complex flavors. None taste like burnt toast.

 

[D the Catastrophist]

One caution with carmelizing honey- be very careful with adding the water. Too hot honey+too cold water= explosion of scalding hot sticky sugar= bad burns

 

[D the Catastrophist]

Oh, the second part- boiling honey will quadruple in volume, so you need a much bigger pot than what you would think you need.

 

[Drewch]

I've done a couple of bochets.

When you go to caramelize the honey, make sure your pot is much larger than you think it needs to be. The honey will start to foam up like crazy when the water starts boiling out of it.

Also, let it cool to below 212°F before mixing with the water so that it doesn't explode all over the place.

 

[Excelsior]

I saw the video about this recipe and I find it fascinating. I'm going to try my hand at a bochet as soon as the weather cools (I understand that the cooking honey had a powerful scent and i want to be able to leave the windows open), but I'm thinking of finishing it with tart cherries rather than the ingredients in the recipe. I would love to hear how it turns out as written, though.

 

[MightyMosin]

Windows open...

Make sure you have screens over it or you may invite bees into the house coming to claim their honey.

 

[MightyMosin]

Oh, the second part- boiling honey will quadruple in volume, so you need a much bigger pot than what you would think you need.

If I remember correctly, If you keep it below 220-ish you can get whatever level of caramelization with longer times and you don't need to worry about expansion quite as much.

I think that is at about soft ball candy on a confectioner thermometer.

 

[Miraculix]

Why not just steeping roasted barley or midnight wheat or carafa spezial 2 in cold water over night? That way it will turn as dark as the night and you would not risk burning your honey. Or if you don't feel like messing around with malt, just buy yourself some sinamar which is also pretty much flavourless but does the same. And it is extracted from dark malt.

Thanks for the idea btw! Stout mead here we go!

 

[Drewch]

Why not just steeping roasted barley or midnight wheat or carafa spezial 2 in cold water over night? That way it will turn as dark as the night and you would not risk burning your honey. Or if you don't feel like messing around with malt, just buy yourself some sinamar which is also pretty much flavourless but does the same. And it is extracted from dark malt.

Thanks for the idea btw! Stout mead here we go!

Because then you don't get the caramelization flavors from the toasted honey. The flavor is as much a goal as the color in a bochet.

 

[Miraculix]

Because then you don't get the caramelization flavors from the toasted honey. The flavor is as much a goal as the color in a bochet.

OP never said that he wants to make a bochet. He said that he wants to make a black mead and that he found a recipe, which includes caramalised honey. He never specified that he needs caramelised honey in his mead so imo there are other valid options that turn a mead black.

 

[Excelsior]

1) No place near me has whole cardamom. I understand that using ground spices can be dicey. Should I order whole, or am I wrong about ground?

2) I presume all the spices would be added in secondary. Yay or nay?

 

[MightyMosin]

Spice is generally added in secondary.
A key exception is if you make a tea by steeping your spices. The spices themselves don't go into primary but the infused liquid does.

 

[Drewch]

OP never said that he wants to make a bochet. He said that he wants to make a black mead and that he found a recipe, which includes caramalised honey. He never specified that he needs caramelised honey in his mead so imo there are other valid options that turn a mead black.

Good point. If color alone is the goal, he could try adding Sinamar.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Not really.

OP came across a recipe for a bochet named as a Black Mead and then came here asking about bochet techniques not knowing the name 'bochet'.

Semantics. Meh.

 

[Excelsior]

So I started this recipe yesterday. Cooked the honey over a low flame for 70 minutes, got it good and dark. Mixed in the water while the honey was still warm, since I know from experience how fast bocheted honey hardens.

Fermentation has started but it's slow. I used 71B for the other bochet I did, and it came on like a house afire. The 1118 took a long time to start bubbling but it's going now. We'll see how it goes hopefully it comes out good.

 

[Excelsior]

I forgot I'd posted this here. Do gets an update.

My first attempt at this was a bust. I cooked the honey for too long, and when I tasted it after the primary fermentation it tasted soaked charcoal briquettes. So I trashed that batch and started over.

The second batch I might have been gunshy and didn't get the honey quite as dark as I'd have liked, but I ran with it. Added the spices in secondary, let them do their thing for a few weeks, and damned if this isn't absolutely delicious. I can only imagine what it'll taste like a year from now.

I'll definitely make this again.