SerifSansSerif
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- Nov 6, 2015
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So, I'm creating this topic mainly for my own enjoyment, but also in the hopes that some of the random things that strike me might inspire others to either attempt them, should I not be able to, or, perhaps gain some inspiration and branch off from them.
I welcome others to post their own 2am thoughts and ideas on new brews and techniques as well. The more the merrier!
To start off, I'm waiting for my honey to arrive, planning for a batch of blackberry melomel, which in and of itself may not be exciting or innovative, but it has me preoccupied with mead ideas.
Most recently, I've also started looking into bochets and acerglyns.
Although one thing I'd like to attempt would be to toy around a bit with bochets, and perhaps try to either mix honeys which have been burnt to varying degrees, or a mixture of burnt and raw honeys. (a tiny quantity of something really dark and carmelized with lots of dark flavors brought out through the maillard reaction might add a bit of a nuance to an otherwise "fresh" raw honey mead, without making it taste *quite* like one or the other).
This sort of train of thought also kinda made me think of acergyns. Maple syrup is essentially like the burnt honey in bochets. It's sugars (primarily sucrose in maple syrup, fructose and glucose in honey) that has been boiled down from its original form and caramelized to some degree.
This leads to two thoughts.
1. How about trying a birch syrup in place of maple? (would you call this a Betulglyn?) Birch syrup, unlike maple, is primarily glucose and fructose, which means the sugars are more in line with honey. Secondarily, the flavor profile might be an interesting one to capture, and might make a nice late addition to a mead, either in the secondary (or tertiary) fermentation, or to backsweeten.
2. Instead of water, what nuances might be added by adding the saps of these trees directly in place of water? Chances are the fermentation might just rip right through them and leave it a bit bare. Nevertheless an experiment worth trying. (Maple sap has a sugar content of around 2-3%) This also might be an interesting application for beer making as well. (also, since beer makers can be water mineral snobs, birch sap has a rather unique chemical profile in its own right. One might have to work via extracts rather than all grain from what I gather from the how to's I've seen (and beer making is just not my thing), but that's a thing worthy of its own toying around with). It may also be interesting to see what affect the nitrogen and phosphorus within some of these saps might have on the need for nutrition. (these saps, from what I understand in their non-boiled state need to be keep cool and used quickly as they are apt to go bad (ferment) )
3. From working with cider, there's jacking. Why not jack the sap (prior to fermentation) as well. With birch syrup, it's actually helpful to partially freeze and remove water prior to the boil down (as the fructose/glucose blend burns VERY easily...** ) What if this process was applied a number of times to ramp up the sugar levels in a sap to something more palatable to brewing? (I hear some people going "now wait a minute! Concentrating the sap isn'g going to give you syrup!" and you're right. BUT, what nuance might you be able to gain that might be lost in the boiling process? After all isn't that why you don't traditionally cook honey for meads? Secondarily, you're not aiming for a sugar content on par with honey or syrup. You're aiming for one that's significantly higher than sap, but equal to essentially honey or syrup might be diluted with water. This is a much lower sugar solution than the 80-90% sugar content of honey or syrups).
**(In fact, reading about the process for birch syrup, a very big FLAT pan is recommended over a deep one. Something to bear in mind for makers of bochets)
I guess this is where my thoughts for now will end. Nevertheless, I'm sure there will be more.
I welcome others to post their own 2am thoughts and ideas on new brews and techniques as well. The more the merrier!
To start off, I'm waiting for my honey to arrive, planning for a batch of blackberry melomel, which in and of itself may not be exciting or innovative, but it has me preoccupied with mead ideas.
Most recently, I've also started looking into bochets and acerglyns.
Although one thing I'd like to attempt would be to toy around a bit with bochets, and perhaps try to either mix honeys which have been burnt to varying degrees, or a mixture of burnt and raw honeys. (a tiny quantity of something really dark and carmelized with lots of dark flavors brought out through the maillard reaction might add a bit of a nuance to an otherwise "fresh" raw honey mead, without making it taste *quite* like one or the other).
This sort of train of thought also kinda made me think of acergyns. Maple syrup is essentially like the burnt honey in bochets. It's sugars (primarily sucrose in maple syrup, fructose and glucose in honey) that has been boiled down from its original form and caramelized to some degree.
This leads to two thoughts.
1. How about trying a birch syrup in place of maple? (would you call this a Betulglyn?) Birch syrup, unlike maple, is primarily glucose and fructose, which means the sugars are more in line with honey. Secondarily, the flavor profile might be an interesting one to capture, and might make a nice late addition to a mead, either in the secondary (or tertiary) fermentation, or to backsweeten.
2. Instead of water, what nuances might be added by adding the saps of these trees directly in place of water? Chances are the fermentation might just rip right through them and leave it a bit bare. Nevertheless an experiment worth trying. (Maple sap has a sugar content of around 2-3%) This also might be an interesting application for beer making as well. (also, since beer makers can be water mineral snobs, birch sap has a rather unique chemical profile in its own right. One might have to work via extracts rather than all grain from what I gather from the how to's I've seen (and beer making is just not my thing), but that's a thing worthy of its own toying around with). It may also be interesting to see what affect the nitrogen and phosphorus within some of these saps might have on the need for nutrition. (these saps, from what I understand in their non-boiled state need to be keep cool and used quickly as they are apt to go bad (ferment) )
3. From working with cider, there's jacking. Why not jack the sap (prior to fermentation) as well. With birch syrup, it's actually helpful to partially freeze and remove water prior to the boil down (as the fructose/glucose blend burns VERY easily...** ) What if this process was applied a number of times to ramp up the sugar levels in a sap to something more palatable to brewing? (I hear some people going "now wait a minute! Concentrating the sap isn'g going to give you syrup!" and you're right. BUT, what nuance might you be able to gain that might be lost in the boiling process? After all isn't that why you don't traditionally cook honey for meads? Secondarily, you're not aiming for a sugar content on par with honey or syrup. You're aiming for one that's significantly higher than sap, but equal to essentially honey or syrup might be diluted with water. This is a much lower sugar solution than the 80-90% sugar content of honey or syrups).
**(In fact, reading about the process for birch syrup, a very big FLAT pan is recommended over a deep one. Something to bear in mind for makers of bochets)
I guess this is where my thoughts for now will end. Nevertheless, I'm sure there will be more.
