Bochet Mead (burnt mead)

[MarshmallowBlue]

I was taking the moonlight meadery tour and I asked Micheal if he'd ever thought about doing a Bochet and he said no because of delicate aroma off cooking. I brewed one two days after that. I can't wait to go again and bring him what I've done! Mine's a beautiful deep red and crystal clear under a light (otherwise its black), and tastes good too.

 

[WVMJ]

Its hard for some people to go outside their box and change the flavor of the honey so dramtically. We bottle our first batch made in a pressure canner Saturday morning, its got a deep mahogony color, tastes like caremal and almost tastes like a good burbon and very smooth. Putting some up in splits so we dont have to share an entire bottle everytime someone stops by WVMJ

 

[huesmann]

Can you explain what you did with the pressure canner, please?

 

[WVMJ]

Can you explain what you did with the pressure canner, please?

We put the honey in quart jars, sealed them with canning lids and added water and when it presurized cooked it for I think 90 minutes, let it cool on its own and pulled the cans out. I used some for the Bochet, saved a jar in reserve to backsweeten it when it was done. We just drank a little tonight, its very smooth, I am also planning on doing a big batch in a pot over a gas fire to see how that compares.

WVMJ

 

[allhailRITTER]

Its hard for some people to go outside their box and change the flavor of the honey so dramtically. We bottle our first batch made in a pressure canner Saturday morning, its got a deep mahogony color, tastes like caremal and almost tastes like a good burbon and very smooth. Putting some up in splits so we dont have to share an entire bottle everytime someone stops by WVMJ

Speaking of bourbon, I let me bochet cyser age on some bourbon soaked oak chips. This will be a year in September. Can't wait to bottle and drink some of this in the fall. I have a feeling this may be a regular recipe for me.

 

[WVMJ]

I just got a cider press this year, our bees have really done a good job on our apple trees so we should get enough apples to experiment with. A Bochet csyer is on our list. Do you still get the apple taste with the Bochet and even with the burbon chips? I keep thinking caramel apple mead with this, but the burbon oak chips sounds like it would put it in another category of good. WVMJ

Speaking of bourbon, I let me bochet cyser age on some bourbon soaked oak chips. This will be a year in September. Can't wait to bottle and drink some of this in the fall. I have a feeling this may be a regular recipe for me.

 

[Meadrol]

We put the honey in quart jars, sealed them with canning lids and added water and when it presurized cooked it for I think 90 minutes, let it cool on its own and pulled the cans out. I used some for the Bochet, saved a jar in reserve to backsweeten it when it was done. We just drank a little tonight, its very smooth, I am also planning on doing a big batch in a pot over a gas fire to see how that compares.

WVMJ

WVMJ, how long did you let yours age for?

 

[WVMJ]

It cleared pretty quick and we backsweetened it and it got cloudy again so I fined it at 6 months from innoculation and filtered it. THis was a test batch to see how the technique would work, some test batches you just wish were 10 gallons! We have a batch of Elders Blood Bochetomel going now made with dried elderberries, Its crazy good already, just waiting for more elderberries to grow and dry! WVMJ

 

[allhailRITTER]

I just got a cider press this year, our bees have really done a good job on our apple trees so we should get enough apples to experiment with. A Bochet csyer is on our list. Do you still get the apple taste with the Bochet and even with the burbon chips? I keep thinking caramel apple mead with this, but the burbon oak chips sounds like it would put it in another category of good. WVMJ

When I made my cyser I accidentally bought too little apple cider so I had to add some water. So even if I had not put in the oak chips I don't know how much my apple would have come through. So I can't say whether or not the oak takes away from the apple. Either way, I think oak chips (especially ones soaked in bourbon) are a perfect accent to any type of bochet. The complexity of the bochet flavor I think goes perfectly with oak and bourbon.

 

[huesmann]

We put the honey in quart jars, sealed them with canning lids and added water and when it presurized cooked it for I think 90 minutes, let it cool on its own and pulled the cans out. I used some for the Bochet, saved a jar in reserve to backsweeten it when it was done. We just drank a little tonight, its very smooth, I am also planning on doing a big batch in a pot over a gas fire to see how that compares.

WVMJ

So did the canning effectively caramelize the honey?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Its hard for some people to go outside their box and change the flavor of the honey so dramtically. We bottle our first batch made in a pressure canner Saturday morning, its got a deep mahogony color, tastes like caremal and almost tastes like a good burbon and very smooth. Putting some up in splits so we dont have to share an entire bottle everytime someone stops by WVMJ

I can also imagine making one on a commercial 200-1000 (yeah he's getting a 1000 gallon tank last I heard) Gallon scale would be a logistics issue with honey expansion during cooking.

 

[WVMJ]

Whoa, not cracking on any meadmakers! THere is one commercial meadmaker making what they call darkened mead, not sure how they do it but its commercially available, at least if you are close to them! WVMJ

I can also imagine making one on a commercial 200-1000 (yeah he's getting a 1000 gallon tank last I heard) Gallon scale would be a logistics issue with honey expansion during cooking.

 

[WVMJ]

Yes, we have previously caramelized sweetened condensed milk to make milk caramel in a pressure canner so I knew it should probably work with honey in theory. One nice thing is the water stays in the honey so you dont have to add it back to get it to flow. I doesnt of course produce the "burnt" marshmellow flavor or smokeyness. We plan on doing one of those batches over a hot flame in a big pot to compare the taste differences. I have a feeling the pressure cooked ones are a bit smother caramel flavor while the fire burnt method has more of the campfire marshmellow. Fortunately both would be great.. WVMJ

So did the canning effectively caramelize the honey?

 

[Calvus]

The pressure canner works well. 80 min at 15psi. About 12lbs fits in 5 quart jars. The taste is toffee/caramel, a little toasted marshmallow, with dark coffee notes.

Oh and WVMJ. I did a batch of bananas also but only did water bath because I envisioned exploding lids. Glad I did though because when compressed in the jars, the bananas expanded exponentially. Didnt quite get that bananas foster I was after but it really enhanced the taste I thought. Let me know how pressure canning the nanners go if you puree them.

 

[huesmann]

Could I use a regular pressure cooker? Do you need to use jars?

 

[WVMJ]

Calvus, why did you think the bannana jars would explode? You just cooked them in the water bath, if you put them in the pressure canner it might have caramelized them some, I dont know, havent tried it yet, but whatever you put in the jar isnt going to explode in the canner, same pressure inside and outside.

Nice color on your Bochet honey.

WVMJ

 

[WVMJ]

I used some pint jars in a pressure cooker and it worked fine, added a trivet on the bottom of the pot to keep the jars off of the bottom. I would guess that just adding honey into a cooker without it being in a jar would possibly somehow seal the vent by caking on it layer by layer and then BOOM. Send us a picture of your ceiling. WVMJ

Could I use a regular pressure cooker? Do you need to use jars?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I used some pint jars in a pressure cooker and it worked fine, added a trivet on the bottom of the pot to keep the jars off of the bottom. I would guess that just adding honey into a cooker without it being in a jar would possibly somehow seal the vent by caking on it layer by layer and then BOOM. Send us a picture of your ceiling. WVMJ

I'm not the master of pressure cookers by any means. but when I heat up water in the tea kettle it gains volume as it heats up (water level rises). I'd imagine that honey heating expansion + expansion from pressure would lead to what WVMJ says.

 

[WVMJ]

That is just a guess on my part, but when you cook honey the proteins coagulate and clump up, I think that the protiens binding up and making a plug could be a real issue? Use jars, if any leaks out its just a little bit, not like putting it all in the pot loose. WVMJ

I'm not the master of pressure cookers by any means. but when I heat up water in the tea kettle it gains volume as it heats up (water level rises). I'd imagine that honey heating expansion + expansion from pressure would lead to what WVMJ says.

 

[huesmann]

How much water would you put in a pressure cooker around the pint jars? Also, do you need to seal the jars?

 

[WVMJ]

Sorry but not an expert on canners, yours should have some instructions on how much water to add, and yes seal the jars, I would use real canning lids and rings, very cheap. WVMJ

How much water would you put in a pressure cooker around the pint jars? Also, do you need to seal the jars?

 

[putout]

Finished bottling the bochet. Tastes like girls kissing. Going to have to make more.

 

[NotALamer]

I made one of these on Sunday with goldenrod honey and the aroma was still very apparent after cooking. I cooked it to about 345 degrees, it had been lightly smoking for a few minutes when I turned off the heat. It smelled amazing, I can't wait to see what it tastes like in six months. OG 1.107, one packet of D47 into a gallon jug.

 

[Arpolis]

Recently I cracked open a 26month old bottle of sweet Bochet made with raspberry zinger tea from celestial seasonings. It was good but way too sweet. It had stalled out right at 1.030 when I fermented it so I bottled as is and man is it thick. But soooooo smooth for nearly 12% ABV. I cut it half and half with carbonated water and it is real nice. Very earthy with an interesting caramel like sweetness. I think it is a great desert wine paired well with cake.

 

[NotALamer]

Is a bochet expected to be pretty thin? I notice it barely has any head retention if I shake up the fermenter. I'm guessing because most of the proteins were denatured during the cooking process.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

mead in general will have a very quickly receding head. If anything a bochet would be thicker because of the caramelized sugars.

 

[NotALamer]

This has far worse head retention than any traditional mead I've made. I haven't taken a large enough sample to evaluate the body.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Are you referring to the co2 coming up from fermentation? Or head, like the foam in the glass when pouring carbed beverages.

If the former, yeah I've noticed this too, but don't really know why

 

[NotALamer]

Well I think I pitched the yeast too hot because I checked the gravity after three days and it had only moved from 1.107 to 1.103 or so. I just pitched a new packet of D47 so we'll see what it looks like in a day or two.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Uh? Head retention in the fermenter? That's a new one to be sure. Some have more, some have less, mostly dependent on what kind of yeast you're using, some are low foam, some high etc. Depends on the yeast fermentation characteristics. As for mead having head ever? Not gonna happen without SOMETHING added to it e.g. barley or wheat malt. If it is a sparkling mead, think Champagne, not beer, or in the case of the person who made a cocktail (which is not a terrible idea!) a spritzer. Meadmaking is not like beer, save for yeast and time are involved, no mention of proteins should even be touched upon unless you're getting crazy on fermentation nutrients or working out a strange haze problem involving backsweetening or fruit.

EDIT: Also, you checked gravity after 3 days? Try checking it after a month, maybe two, or not at all until you're ready to bottle. Patience is required with mead, much more than beer or anything else. If you're one of those "it it ready yet?" kind of people who checks every day, learn some ambivalence and save yourself stress and heartbreak. I've had nightmares about fermentations before and lost too much sleep in the early days, now that I don't worry, I'm much happier, and the mead is much better for it.