Help me classify / name this mead

[roadymi]

Here is my process and recipe:

12# local wildflower honey boiled 1 1/2 hours to a deep butterscotch color.

Transferred to fermentation bucket with water added to make 5 gallons.

OG was 1.08

2 packets D47 rehydrated in 1 cup water added 1 cup of my must waited a few hours and pitched. added tsp enrgizer.

Used me degassing wand to aerate the heck out of it.

Next morning was frothing nicely. I aerated once a day for 5 days.

Day 3 added tsp energizer.

With the bucket on the concrete floor in my basement temp has been running about 67 deg.

Day 5 SG was down to 1.05 and still chugging along like a sailor. Added tsp sanitizer.

My yeast has 14% alcohol tolerance. With current ingredients I should get to
just under 11.5% to dry.

When I get down to around 1.03 I will rack to 5 gal carboy on top of 3 quarts of maple syrup. This will bring my OG up to a total of 1.14. This will give me a potential of 17.8% alcohol.

My goal is to finish at 1.025 which will be at 13.9%

I should have 3 qts left. I will rack this into 1 gallon jug with 2# honey and 4 ounces cocoa powder.

I will rack once or twice to get rid of most of the lees over a few months. Topping up with some plain mead if necessary.

I am figuring probably 1 year bulk aging than at least 1 more in the bottles.

Would you add more energizer with the maple syrup?

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

That'd be classified as a Bochet, search for the leap year 2012 and chocolate bochet threads if you've never worked with napalm, I mean boiled honey lol, a lot of great tips, it can be pretty dangerous so be real careful, boiling sugar of any type can be real mean when it comes into contact with skin.

 

[brewingmeister]

It seems to be a Bochet Acerglyn.

 

[roadymi]

That'd be classified as a Bochet, search for the leap year 2012 and chocolate bochet threads if you've never worked with napalm, I mean boiled honey lol, a lot of great tips, it can be pretty dangerous so be real careful, boiling sugar of any type can be real mean when it comes into contact with skin.

Yea I boiled the honey a few days ago. It was interesting. I didn't know if the honey and maple syrup combo would change the classification.

 

[YeastieBoys]

Why boil the honey? You're driving off the flavor.

 

[brewingmeister]

Acerglyn - Mead made with maple syrup
Bochet - refers to a mead that was made with the honey caramelized or burned before it is added to the water. Creates several different flavors including toffee, chocolate or marshamallow.

 

[roadymi]

Why boil the honey? You're driving off the flavor.

Somewhat of a myth I believe. I agree it is absolutely unnecessary to boil honey for sanitation reasons. I boiled it to caramelize the sugars and develop a different flavor profile. People caramelize honey to different degrees. I took mine to a deep butterscotch color, some go all the way to nearly black.

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

Why boil the honey? You're driving off the flavor.

It's a category all of it's own called "Bochet" it doesn't drive off the flavors/aromas completely so much as changes to something different like caramel, toasted marshmallow etc. It's a good use if you have an inexpensive mixed honey like unknown wildflowers or clover that can have all kinda of different things in it and still be considered clover honey.

If you have an uncommon, rare or just a really good single source varietal like mint or lavender or anything like that with subtle flavors and aromas that you want to preserve then you wouldn't want to use those as the boiling would vaporize what makes them so good.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

HHHHmmmmmm...
A brochet/pseudo-acerglyn; interesting. I'm going tom have to do some taste tests with marshmallows & maple msyrup to see if I think that's tasty or not; I'm having a hard time combining those 2 flavours in my head, but I THINK it'll work out well for you, IF you have a good balance between the two. I mean "Fluff" actually combines well with peanutbutter (Who'd a thunk it?!?!) to make a wonderdfully good tasting sandwich spread, so there's a good chance your blend will be at least as tasty.
Regards, GF.

 

[roadymi]

HHHHmmmmmm...
A brochet/pseudo-acerglyn; interesting. I'm going tom have to do some taste tests with marshmallows & maple msyrup to see if I think that's tasty or not; I'm having a hard time combining those 2 flavours in my head, but I THINK it'll work out well for you, IF you have a good balance between the two. I mean "Fluff" actually combines well with peanutbutter (Who'd a thunk it?!?!) to make a wonderdfully good tasting sandwich spread, so there's a good chance your blend will be at least as tasty.
Regards, GF.

I'll be anxious to hear the results of your taste test

 

[biochemedic]

I would say that adding the cocoa also gives this somewhat of a metheglin claim....How about this: a cocoacerbocheglin!

OR to be safe you could just say this is an "Open Category Mead"!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I'll be anxious to hear the results of your taste test

All I'm going to do is swirl a couple of marshmallows around in some maple syrup & eat 'em; maybe add a small piece of chocolate. It's a very rough taste test. Regards, GF.

 

[roadymi]

Almost sounds like a s'more with maple syrup....Sounds rich but delish.