Bochet GROUP BREW - Solera Style

[MarshmallowBlue]

Current Participants
Marshmallow Blue
Arpolis
StefanK
Kyzaboy
DanielLukes

I need to check my gravity. I've been on vacation for a week and letting it ride.

 

[Arpolis]

I am very excited to see how yours is coming along.

 

[Arpolis]

I went ahead and did a racking for my batch. The new honey and original must topping up had created some sediment at the bottom. It did not restart any fermentation it seems so the Camden and sorbate worked well here. After racking I also rinsed off the oak and added that back to the must and topped up with the very last of my original must I saved in the fridge.

Gravity is reading at 1.012 ish so right at about where I wanted it. I took another taste off the gravity sample to compare to the dry taste test. OMG. The flavor is soooo much better. The yeast did exactly what I wanted and I taste honey dew Mellon type fruity flavors in the forefront. The vanilla is now well present and very complimenting. An overall sweet taste with silky good body. The tannic bitter I had noticed from the oak is not really there anymore. The sweet must have mingled with it well because it is no longer a separate flavor. And through the whole experience you can tell the carmel flavor is poking through all the flavors. The alcohol hot is almost non existent at this point.

4 days shy of 6 weeks in and I think it is awesome! I can't wait for 6 months down the line to bottle the first half of this batch. And then to compare with the blended batches 1 & 2 years down the line. This batch was such a good idea.

 

[DanielLukes]

I conveniently started a batch of vanilla bochet (without even knowing about this group brew) in mid July!
Woohoo, so I guess that means I'm in!

It's already tasting incredible, can't wait to taste it at bottling.


All you need is mead

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

1.5 Months on the Brett Bochet. I took a gravity reading and got 1.031. An acceptable FG for bochets in my opinion is 1.025 or lower. The brett should be able to finish this up. This large drop is attributed to an addition of regular wine yeast. I'll need to keep the gravity lower (around 1.060) for my next all brett mead.

I'm getting a lot of vanilla both from the oak and the amount of caramelization on the honey (didn't cook it black). Then on the back is a hint of brett dryness (but not really funk of anything yet).

 

[Arpolis]

Fun picture just for grins and giggles on my bochet!

 

[DanielLukes]

All you need is mead

 

[Arpolis]

Getting reading for batch number two in the Solera process. 10/14 makes month 3 on my first batch so next Monday or Tuesday I will start my next batch.

I think I want to try adding rootbeer extract rather than vanilla.

 

[WVMJ]

Rootbeer extract? Cheat! You have to dig up your own sasafras roots and add them to your Bochet, extracts belong in the soda forum. WVMJ

 

[Arpolis]

Lol I actually went around to 4 different stores in my area looking up the roots for rootbeer. Sadly I find nothing! So extract is what I got. I guess I could order stuff online... May need to look into that because I do prefer fresh ingredients.

I was actually thinking I could do more of a half and half recipe. Using some extract and the following in the bochet:

1/3 oz licorice root
1/4 oz anise seed
3 gram star anise
3 gram dried wintergreen

Anyone think that looks good?

 

[WVMJ]

THe wintergreen is out of place with the others, a drop of ginger root would complement them much better. WVMJ

Lol I actually went around to 4 different stores in my area looking up the roots for rootbeer. Sadly I find nothing! So extract is what I got. I guess I could order stuff online... May need to look into that because I do prefer fresh ingredients.

I was actually thinking I could do more of a half and half recipe. Using some extract and the following in the bochet:

1/3 oz licorice root
1/4 oz anise seed
3 gram star anise
3 gram dried wintergreen

Anyone think that looks good?

 

[Arpolis]

Hmmm some rootbeer people say wintergreen is a must and you don't have traditional rootbeer without it. I like ginger better myself. So I don't know just yet.

 

[foolsgold]

I was talking to my husband last night about starting up a bochet and then I run across this ttopic this morning.... Is it too late to join? I know we would be a few months behind everyone else.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

The more the merrier I'd say but I'm in charge. Good luck on the caramelization, watch it with the water.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

but I'm *not in charge.

 

[foolsgold]

Headed to the lhbs tomorrow to pick up a bung for my 1gal bottles and going to start the bochet up either tomorrow or Sunday... Monday at the latest as this is a busy weekend. First batch will be clover honey taken to an almost burnt caramel with vanilla beans added in secondary. going to go with 1118 for the first one I think as I used it with my cyser and am happy with it so far.

Any sugsuggestions on a good yeast to really bring out the caramel and honey taste for the next one? I am going to use the trader JoeJoe's Turkish honey for that as I love the flavor already and would love to see what it would do with a light to medium burn on it.
also thinking of doing a traditional mead with it to see how it would turn out.... Really love that honey lol

 

[Arpolis]

Any yeast with a high diacetyl production works well but you have to rack quickly to make sure the yeast do not clean up the diacetyl.

Good yeasts that I know of are:

Wyeast 1187 ringwood ale
Wyeast 1450 Danny's favorite 50
Wyeast 1968 London ESB
Lalvin 71b-1112

These yeast can help the Carmel flavors but bochets are pretty Carmel like regardless.

 

[foolsgold]

Thank you. I am going to use 71b on a 5gal batch of blueberry that I'm going to start up in the next month.

 

[foolsgold]

Well I started up my bochet Sunday.
Let me tell you the honey goes FAST once it starts to darken/burn. lol I have pics that I will post later. From the start of the honey boiling till I had it to VERY DARK was 12minutes. I could have pulled it at 10 and the slow process of adding the water would have let it cook to the 12 minute mark.
It is bubbling away like crazy, doing SNA and have a blow off tube on it... it really does look like a Guinness beer

 

[Arpolis]

12 minutes of boil time only? God I go for 1.5 - 2 hours on my boil to get it nice and dark. How hot do you run your stove lol?

Work is running me ragged right now and I have zero brew time right now. I will get into my second batch in this probably next week some time.

 

[Arpolis]

Ok last Thursday night I finally found some time to start by second bochet in the Solera style aging process. I took orange blossom honey and cooked it for just over 2 hours on a medium heat. Nice and toasty. Last time I added vanilla. This time I added rootbeer extract, I know I know I should have sourced the real ingredients. Well.... I didn't.... And this stuff already tastes awesome! I was a little low on the gravity and it is sitting at 1.058. I had warmed up the yeast slurry I racked off of from my first batch. I added a 1/2 cup of water and a pinch of sugar and nutrients. After just over 2 hours of warming up the slurry did not look real active but I pitched it anyway. Now 3 days later and I see very tiny bubbles but no real good activity like my first one was. Tonight I added a 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient and shook it up really nice. I will see where it goes from here. If after a week there is no appreciable fermentation I am picking up more yeast.

 

[Arpolis]

I checked on the mead today and it is bubbling away now. So now to watch the gravity and follow the rest of my staggard nutrient additions.

 

[Edless]

This is interesting. I'll try it, as long as my other half doesn't mind me decimating the stove again.

Just another month til' I crack a three year aged Bochet I made from that old youtube video... Viking drinking horn at the ready. I can't wait to taste it.

 

[Arpolis]

3 years very nice! I have 1/3 of a bottle left of a bochet I mad 2 years and 8 months ago in the fridge. I think the bochet ages well.

 

[stubshaft]

Well I gotta start somewhere, and Saturday the 15th looked like a good day. I cooked up a batch of clover honey for about 85 minutes (it was a dark mocha brown) and used K1-V1116. It was a little slow starting but I did also use a little DAP when I pitched the yeast. I degassed it after 12 hours and it is now chugging away. The OG was 1.112, and it should be ready for it's next feeding when I get home from work tonight.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Hey Guys. Ive gone for a while with life things. But im back now!

Checked the gravity on batch one and its an an acceptable 1.020 but i hope it continues to dry out. Flavors pretty good, very smooth. Much smoother than my 2 year old bochet even.

Ill be starting my second batch in January and blending in July!

 

[Arpolis]

My second batch has been racked stabilized and topped up with original must I saved in the fridge. It cleared pretty fully so I though I would give this rootbeer bochet a taste. At first I noticed the color lighter than the first batch. I thought I burned it the same but this is slightly under burned. The taste is very interesting. The orange blossom honey character is shining through a lot. A nice citrusy tangy with the wintergreen/rootbeer flavors in the background. Not sure that the flavors are complimenting. On the good side it is super smooth. Good mouthfeel and just no alcohol burn like with some meads. I think we need to use clover honey for the next batches.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Hopefully getting my second batch fermenting this weekend, work has been occupying more time than id like. Good news, everything on hand has been aging nicely (I believe) haven't checked a lot since summer.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I'm in the same boat Kyza, I need to make my second batch still. But the first one is going nicely.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Well last night I brewed up my 2nd Bochet and checking the dates it was 6 months to the day, lucky me. Let it cool over night and o.g. this morning was 1.110 pitched yeast before heading to work. Will post details and pictures later.