Lactomel Group Brew Project - 19/20th March 2016

[Vex3521]

Official spot for recipes, notes and brew pics for our Lactomel Project Brew. Again, we'll be kicking off 3/19 - 3/20 but anyone can absolutely jump in after that if they like! And hopefully you'll have a great guide on recipes and things to watch for from this thread.

Why lactomel? It's something different and new for most of us and really does have some intrigue with it so here we are! And it bumps up our gallons for the year a little so no harm there either!

Looking forward to seeing recipe posts, brew notes and pictures on brew day!

 

[TandemTails]

Totally in for this one!

For those who are saying 'wtf?!?!', I had the same reaction but after reading more into it, the fats curdle and separate and supposedly what you're left with is an extremely smooth mead. This thread does a great job going over the process and it's essentially the recipe I'm going to follow: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=381045

My alterations will be:

* Doing a 2 gallon batch in a brew bucket for primary
* I'll use 2 gallons of regular skim milk instead of lactose free skim + water
* I'm planning on using Lalvin 71b yeast
* I'm not going to bother boiling the water/heating the honey
* Dividing it into separate one gallon carboys for secondary, one of which will have one sliced lemon and one sliced orange added to it.

 

[NyQuil]

Sounds intriguing but I'm not sure.

Maybe once I hear what milk people are using I will consider it. My strawberry wine and wedding mead will be bottled by then so I will have the space.

 

[Yeroc]

Cool. I'm very interested in following this thread. Still deciding whether or not to jump in with my own contribution. I followed the other thread in which this group projected was discussed for awhile, and for some reason the idea of making a lactomel flavored like horchata came to mind. I know the base for horchata is rice water and not milk, but that's where my mind went.... So maybe l will try a lactomel flavored with cinnamon and vanilla.

 

[Arpolis]

I will start this probably the weekend after my coming vacation. Right at the 19th-20th. I plan on a chocolate lactomel. I think the sweet creaminess will work well with a coca theme. The recipe I will use:

2 gallon fermenting bucket
1.5 gallon whole milk
1tsp yeast nutrient
Honey 2lb (I have some nice raw honey from my hives with comb floating in it for this)
Yeast: Lalvin k1v-1116

Rack to secondary after straining curd to make some cheddar and on top of 1oz coca nibs.

Probably back sweeten with dry lactose to 1.020ish once clear.

 

[bernardsmith]

If you have not made lactomel before I would start with a gallon or perhaps two but don't aim for 5 gallons.. You can always make another batch if this wine is to your taste. Just sayin'...

 

[Paps]

I bet this will become a very interesting read over time.
Sounds like a "chia-spice" mead.

 

[Vex3521]

Will be going with

3# honey (debating which presently)
Lalvin 71b
go-ferm & fermaid
Whey (fresh, am making mozzarella prior)

Debating additions but know it's going onto oak in secondary, depending on mouthfeel may use lactose as well. Coffee sounded intriguing but not sure how the oils could play here even if you cold brew or just rack in cracked beans so I'm hesitant since this is a 1gal batch. Hate ending up with a dump job!!! Unless I get a mass of whey and can do a 2gal then we'll see!

 

[Yeroc]

I've found some recipes that use lactose free milk. Can anyone explain why that might be desirable over regular milk? Or is it more desirable?

If I understand the difference between lactose free and regular milk correctly, The lactose free milk has sugars that a wine yeast can ferment. Wine yeast can't ferment lactose, but is that a bad thing for a lactomel?

Also I'm wondering if all lactose free milk is ultra pasteurized, and if UT or UHT milk is a problem in making a lactomel. I think it's a problem when making cheese. We don't buy lactose-free milk for the family, and I've never made cheese - although I wish I could. SWMBO has put a moratorium on any new hobbies (no cheese, no bees, no urban chicken coop).... Although if a lactomel creates cheese curds, that could be my backdoor into cheese making [insert sinister laugh here].

 

[TandemTails]

I've found some recipes that use lactose free milk. Can anyone explain why that might be desirable over regular milk? Or is it more desirable?

If I understand the difference between lactose free and regular milk correctly, The lactose free milk has sugars that a wine yeast can ferment. Wine yeast can't ferment lactose, but is that a bad thing for a lactomel?

Also I'm wondering if all lactose free milk is ultra pasteurized, and if UT or UHT milk is a problem in making a lactomel. I think it's a problem when making cheese. We don't buy lactose-free milk for the family, and I've never made cheese - although I wish I could. SWMBO has put a moratorium on any new hobbies (no cheese, no bees, no urban chicken coop).... Although if a lactomel creates cheese curds, that could be my backdoor into cheese making [insert sinister laugh here].

This is something i've been wondering too. Most of the recipes I've found also mention using the fat free lactose free milk. But at the same time, the point of this mead is to have the lactose from the milk to help provide some nice mouthfeel and sweetness.

I'm wondering if either using all skim milk or some kind of skim milk + lactose free skim milk combo would be good.

 

[Vex3521]

It might be worth experimenting on with varied milks and seeing what difference we get in results. If everyone can list their kind of milk with recipe that'd be great too for anyone jumping in later!

Did the lactose free recipes use any additions at secondary? Unless this is shooting for something drier. I feel like something is lost in translation because without the lactose you lose the mouthfeel especially (you'd think) but maybe it behaves differently than we're expecting. I'm wanting a smooth slightly sweeter mead for this one, so hopefully that's where it goes.

I'm actually using raw milk to make my cheese that I'll pull the whey off of for the mead so I know I've got a good solid base there. Gal I ride with owns dairy cows also and thought this was awesome when we were talking about it so I'm really looking forward to getting our notes out on what worked (or didn't) and how these meads come out.

 

[Yeroc]

Did the lactose free recipes use any additions at secondary?

I don't recall any additions being mentioned in secondary. I wonder if the lactose free milk is used so that there is something fermentable in the milk. Regular milk might leave behind too much unfermentable sugar and end up cloying. Just a thought.

 

[bernardsmith]

Not been my experience - I have fermented milk twice - once using fat free milk and once using lactose free milk and there was no problem with the wine being sweet ...

 

[Yeroc]

Not been my experience - I have fermented milk twice - once using fat free milk and once using lactose free milk and there was no problem with the wine being sweet ...

Interesting. Any thoughts on differences between the two or if one of the lactomels was better than the other in the end?

 

[bernardsmith]

I don't think that there was any advantage in using lactose free milk. Traditional koumis is made from mare's milk and mare's milk contains more lactose than cow's milk.
http://www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/airag.html

 

[TandemTails]

Based on bernardsmith's comment, I think I'll just stick with regular skim milk. It'll be cheaper anyway plus i'll get the lactose to remain through to the final product.

 

[tomashek]

Might be a dumb question but since I've never even heard of lactose til now.....
Do you have to refrigerate this while fermenting? Or does the fact that it's air locked make it not spoil/rot?
Any sort of precautions or extra steps needed vs any other meads?
Thanks. Might have to try this out

 

[Arpolis]

What makes milk spoil is the culture of lactobacillus bacteria in the milk. This is a very common bacteria that is often just found in air but grows very well in milk. It metabolizes lactos and other minerals and produces lactic acid along with a few other byproducts. The acid then causes the proteins in the milk to start to stick together. "It curdles"

What we are doing is a more controlled version of the same exact process. We are adding acid in the form of honey which will curdle the milk and yeast has a great property for fighting off small colony bacteria present in the milk.

So there should be no real need to refrigerate this mead as it goes.

 

[bernardsmith]

And my batches of koumis are more than a year old and show no need for refrigeration...

 

[tomashek]

Awesome! So what is the ratio of honey/milk/water?

 

[TandemTails]

Awesome! So what is the ratio of honey/milk/water?

The recipe I linked to in post 2 mentions a 50/50 mix but I think most of us are going to use 100% milk. I'm doing about 1lb of honey per gallon (might make it 1.5lb/gal)

 

[Arpolis]

I have 1lb 13.5oz of super thick raw honey with honey comb I am going to use. I will also use pure milk but thinking 1.5 gallon to make sure I have enough for a full gallon of lactomel after separating from the curd.

 

[Yeroc]

Is everyone planning to do the standard staggered nutrient additions? Won't the milk be pretty high in nutrients to start with?

 

[TandemTails]

Is everyone planning to do the standard staggered nutrient additions? Won't the milk be pretty high in nutrients to start with?

I'll probably do some sort of SNA (maybe half the amount of nutrients as usual and only at 24 and 48 hrs) before the curd starts to form.

 

[Yeroc]

I'll probably do some sort of SNA (maybe half the amount of nutrients as usual and only at 24 and 48 hrs) before the curd starts to form.

That sounds like a good plan. The curds... Curds will be an interesting thing to deal with. Do you suppose they basically form all at once or is that the sort of thing that builds up over a few days. I'm wondering if I should remove them as soon as I see them or wait for a quantity to accumulate.

 

[TandemTails]

That sounds like a good plan. The curds... Curds will be an interesting thing to deal with. Do you suppose they basically form all at once or is that the sort of thing that builds up over a few days. I'm wondering if I should remove them as soon as I see them or wait for a quantity to accumulate.

I'm not really sure. The recipes I've seen say to rack to secondary after a week so i'm guessing the curds will form pretty quick (starting around day 3 it looks like).

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

Sorry for the early start guys (Budget forced me to brew it today or not at all)
Here is what I came up with.

Strawberry Feilds
Ingredients:
1/2 Gallon fat free milk
2 Lbs frozen strawberries
2 Lbs clover honey
1 pkt K1-V116 wine yeast.

I mixed one pound of strawberries with 2 cups of water and a cup of honey. Pureed it in the blender, then brought it to a simmer for 15min on the stove.
(This recipe http://livesimply.me/2015/02/05/diy-homemade-strawberry-milk-syrup-no-dye/)
Once cooked i ran it through a strainer to remove the larger solids and added it to the fermenter along with the milk and honey. Added water to bring it up to just under a gallon then added my starter.
I didn't bother to take a hydrometer reading as I cant imagine it would be even remotely accurate. The smell is amazing and its already showing airlock activity.
I plan to add the second pound of frozen strawberries when i rack it to secondary.

 

[TandemTails]

Awesome idea with the strawberries! I'm planning on doing a citrus addition to my secondary but i keep tossing back and forth the idea of chocolate or something else.

Keep us posted on the progress. I'm curious to see if the curds retain any of the pink color when they separate. It could look like brains

 

[Vex3521]

Oh awesome addition with the berries! Can't wait to see the curds and how the color changes.

Been debating coffee or a spiced chai but gotta see where it goes out the gate before I finalize!

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

Blow off tubes are a must!

OK now that the mess is cleaned up. The curds have separated out within 6 hours of pitching the starter. When it happened it happened quick. I highly recommend using a blow-off tube or a massive amount of head space for this. Pics Attached.

 

[TandemTails]

Confirmed: looks like brains, haha.

Wow, that's a pretty violent fermentation though. Maybe i'll have to use my 6 gallon bucket for a 2 gallon batch

 

[Vex3521]

Wow now That's what I call a blow off! Hope the clean up wasn't too awful or stinky. I think I've changed my position and will run primary in my pail just to be safe.

Looking really good so far though.

 

[bernardsmith]

That picture is really valuable - It suggests that a bucket and not a carboy is what is needed as your primary.
And my question to Chris the Rogue... what was the reason for boiling the honey? You are using filtered honey so there is no wax to skim off.. and heat only blows off aromatics and flavors...

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

Only one cup of the honey was heated up. I was making the strawberry milk syrup from the recipe i linked.

 

[Yeroc]

Blow off tubes are a must!

OK now that the mess is cleaned up. The curds have separated out within 6 hours of pitching the starter. When it happened it happened quick. I highly recommend using a blow-off tube or a massive amount of head space for this.

That curd krausen is crazy looking. How much liquid volume do you think you've lost?

 

[Vex3521]

It does look like a lot. I think I'm probably going to play it safe and start with more volume by at least 1/4-1/2 over so topping off later won't be an issue. I'd rather have extra in this case.

Wondering if the whey variety I am doing will be as violent as regular milk was. I guess we'll see when it kicks off. Looking forward to posting pics of process and that my cheese skills aren't too rusty!!

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

That curd krausen is crazy looking. How much liquid volume do you think you've lost?

Id guess a little under 1/4? Maybe 1/5th? It gives me plenty of room at add the frozen strawberries for secondary.

 

[TandemTails]

What adjuncts (if any) are you guys planning on adding to secondary? I'm going to start with 2.5 gallons of milk so I can hopefully end up with two one gallon jugs full. I'm planning on leaving one gallon alone and then I want to add some flavorings to the second gallon.

My initial thought was citrus (orange and lemon slices) but the more I think about it I'm leaning toward cocoa nibs and a vanilla bean.

 

[Vex3521]

I had a bunch of ideas running. If I end up doing both brews, one is cold pressed coffee with cocoa trying to give it a latte angle for my whey brew and for the milk one I'm going masala chai. I was originally going to do both chai but decided to do 2 different ones to really push some limits.

 

[Arpolis]

Ok I am back from vacation. If I can peel away from the house to go to the LHBS tomorrow then I will start tomorrow evening or the next when my wife goes to work. Still planning on racking honey/whey must into cocoa nibs after sifting out the curd. I will take lots of pics.