Medieval Burnt Mead!

[achnaw]

That's great, thank you. I'm trying to imagine accurately working out 70% of of half a teaspoon though

I'd only ever done beer before starting the recent meads, and added nutrients were an unknown. Given where I started* (JAOM, like so many people, I think) a small handful of raisins feels a bit like a nutrient safety net :^)


* and I'm not claiming I've moved on very far!

 

[Arpolis]

It works better in larger numbers dealing with higher amounts of nutrients. But close to what I do is mix it all together, the nutrient and energizer & add 1 tsp up front and a 1/4 tsp every 24 hours. That is 66.666% up front and and 16.666% for the other two additions. Feel free to throw another small pinch of nutrient in up front to bring it closer the the proposed 70%+ mark.

 

[DRonco]

There are many other things you could do like add oak to the secondary. You could use raisins or other fruits in the primary if you liked. I have heard of apples being used well for this style. But a standard no fuss bochet is like the above recipe.

Do you recall how long you caramelized your honey? I like your recipe. Short and sweet. I'm gonna give it a go tomorrow.

 

[Arpolis]

I caramelize on a slow heat on the lowest flame setting with my gas stove for about 2 hours. I also make sure to add some water and keep it from being devoid of it. Every 30 - 45 minutes you add about a half cup to full cup of water. That helps keep it from carbonizing and getting that smoky taste. Just pure caramel goodness.

 

[DRonco]

I caramelize on a slow heat on the lowest flame setting with my gas stove for about 2 hours. I also make sure to add some water and keep it from being devoid of it. Every 30 - 45 minutes you add about a half cup to full cup of water. That helps keep it from carbonizing and getting that smoky taste. Just pure caramel goodness.

 

[achnaw]

Cold and wet weekend, decided it was time to start this off.

I burnt it black, but not quite until the smoke was black -- the wife and children were already making enough protestations with the kitchen full of the smell and white smoke, despite the extractor fan. Took about an hour and twenty minutes. It's a beautiful colour.

http://imgur.com/a/cBlSa#0

One litre of honey can easily expand to 8 litres, but can be kept down lower with lower heat and more stirring.

Topped up with bottled water, added the yeast nutrients and a rehydrated wine yeast. Will do the SNA suggested by Arpolis.

How long is recommended in primary? Then should I transfer to secondary, or straight to bottles then let it age?

Edit: just noticed I have the date wrong (+1 day) on my camera.

 

[Arpolis]

Primary goes until there is noticeable sediment. Once you get a good 1/4" - 1/2" of sediment then rack off that into secondary. Let the fermentation finish and let it clear mostly. Rack again and then see if any more sediment drops. Repeat till no sediment drops any more. The primary is based on feel rather than time. It could be anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 months. It depends on the brew and how it feels.

 

[Paps]

How long is recommended in primary? Then should I transfer to secondary, or straight to bottles then let it age?.

I'm sitting on 5 gallons in primary right at about the 2 month mark and i STILL have airlock activity.

I would definately do a secondary for your bulk aging.

Hopefully this stuff mellows quikly, because i highly doubt i'll be able to wait a full year to drink this stuff.

 

[achnaw]

Lots of racking. I only have (imperial) gallon demijohns.

If racking to secondary before primary fermentation has finished then the headspace may be ok? Perhaps I'll need to raid the children's marble collection after that, though.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I made one back in February, and I'm down to one 12oz and one 750ml, definitely going to make a second one soon. Such a beautiful black/red when all said and done.

 

[JustinCider]

Bumping to be able to find this. It would be sweet if a mod would use their super powers to place the recipe on the front page and move this to the recipe section....just sayin....

A post with over 78,000 views would seem to demand it.....

 

[greyprice]

Hi all, I tried a burnt honey of my own. I Started with 5 lbs wildflower, simmered that down for 2 hours to a beautiful black. This dropped the weight to 3 lbs. Topped off to 1 gallon with water, and I let this sit for a few days until the yeast showed up. I used a sweet mead yeast and let her go for quite some time. Then it was off to secondary, and finally bottling. It's a beautifully deep color, in the pic you can see through the neck, but the remainder of the bottle remains quite opaque. I plan on giving a year to do it's thing. Early tasting though has revealed a toasty marshmeloowy-ness.

 

[formulaben]

Can't wait to try this one!

 

[Goofynewfie]

Mine has stalled at 1.050. Tried raising temp, stirred it, added nutrients and precipitated chalk for pH.......nothing. Ideas? Been about 4 months

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Arpolis]

Mine has stalled at 1.050. Tried raising temp, stirred it, added nutrients and precipitated chalk for pH.......nothing. Ideas? Been about 4 months

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Home Brew mobile app

What yeast did you use and how much honey in the batch initially.

 

[Goofynewfie]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=431662
Here is the thread from a few months back with the info

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Arpolis]

Yea it sounds like it is stuck hard then. Also looks like you followed all the direction in that thread. I am surprised that K1v-1116 became so stuck. At this point I suggest making a starter with lalvin ec-1118. Probably get 1cup of water with go-ferm or a 1/2tsp of yeast energizer, 1 tsp of honey and pitch the dry yeast on top. Let it go an hour then add 1/4 cup of your bochet to the starter. Wait another hour and if still active add another 1/4 cup of bochet. If not visibly active then whip it up and introduce a lot of O2 into the starter and wait another hour. Repeat all this till you have a couple cups of starter. Then pitch that into the bochet. It should ferment through.

 

[Goofynewfie]

I got fed up. I bought 13 lbs more honey dumped it and my wannabe bochet in a 5g carboy , added nutrient and topped up with tap water. Stirred the **** out of it and put airlock on.gonna give it s few days to see if it takes off.

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[Rambunctious]

I have been wanting to make this for over a year. I finally jumped on board burnt 5lbs of honey in a nesco cooker over 4hrs at 225deg F. Had a little boil over note to self less heat more time. Added 1-12oz frozen white grape juice concentrate. Topped off into ~2gal batch over all. Intended an approx 1.5 gal batch so after racking and bottling I would get a full 5 bottles. S.g. Was low around 1.060 so I added another pound of unburnt honey brought volume up to a full 10L s.g now at 1.120 added lavalin ec-1118 and shook the life out of me. Hope to have bottled product by end of November.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[Paps]

I've got mine sitting in a corny.
Roughly 6 month age on it as i write this.
The sample i had at racking to secondary months ago kinda reminded me of soda pop due to the caramel flavor.

 

[Revvy]

The podcast where I was interviewed about mine is finally up.

This was our second live recording at Cap N Cork Homebrew Supply a couple months ago. Two amazing topics are here:

1) Several years ago . . . on a podcast far far away (Brew Crazy with Johnny Max), the subject of an ancient brew called a “bochette” was discussed. Michael F. Copado and Bill Bellair actually followed the recipe and made this incredible beverage.

2) Mike and Bill also discuss something that is new and exciting to the homebrewing and mead-making community: Nitrogen Cavitation. What is it? Tune in and find out!

http://brewbubbas.com/Site/Brew_Bub...g_a_Bochette_&_Using_Nitrogen_Cavitation.html

 

[achnaw]

It's been something over eight months. I went low effort and haven't racked it, just topped up the airlock now and again.

It's still as black as black.

http://i.imgur.com/D0Jxz7p.jpg

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Put a flashlight up to it. I bet it's more deep ruby than black.

 

[achnaw]

Tried a flashlight, tried holding it up to the bright sunlight.

Blackness.

I've made Guinness mead

 

[WVMJ]

Go to your local brew your own shop and use their kettles to cook up your Bochet. These are 25 gallon kettles at Flying Barrel in Maryland, a 5 gallon bucket of honey tried to come out the top anyway but did a really good job. It does taste more roasted marshmellow then when we did it in a pressure cooker. WVMJ

The podcast where I was interviewed about mine is finally up.



http://brewbubbas.com/Site/Brew_Bubbas_Radio/Entries/2014/7/15_Episode_174_-_Making_a_Bochette_%26_Using_Nitrogen_Cavitation.html

 

[TeufelHundenM198]

Here's a glass from the bochet I posted about on post #258.

~15 months, not too shabby. I tried to get a shot in front of the sun, but the camera wasn't happy with me... no light penetrated it. I had a little wine tasting with 25 people attending, the bochet was one of 6 meads I had for everyone to try, and it came in a very close second behind a raspberry vanilla melomel. Most of the people who really like it didn't drink a whole lot, preferring to sip it and enjoy all the various flavors. 1-2 glasses each is all.

I'm going to do this one again, but I'm not going to use a blend of honey... just some of the wildflower honey from my own hives. I'm also going to take it off the heat and cool it the split second it turns black. Last time I let it boil for a while longer. I've got a gallon of the first batch left which I'll leave to age for another year or so. There's almost a bite to this before the sweetness and marshmallow and toffee come to you. I'd like to see if that calms down a bit, or if it's a matter of technique. If that's the case, I'll know in a year or so when my next batch is ready to drink.

Of all my wine tasting friends, exactly zero of them have even heard of Bochet before. I like that this tends to be kind of an oddball to folks outside of the mead world, and you just can't beat that jet black color in the glass. I'm going to keep some of this on hand at all times.

 

[Newsman]

So I have 5 lbs of some sort of honey I got last year as part of our local home brew club's group project. I didn't use it to brew beer and ever since I started reading this thread, I've been wondering if I should use it to make this stuff. My question is -- how much Bochet can I make from 5# of honey that's been cooked down????

 

[Arpolis]

Probably 2 - 3 gallons depending on the ABV you want. If you made an apple bochet and used 100% juice and even cooked down juice mixed with the honey you can probably stretch it to 5 gallons.

 

[StefanK]

Read through the whole 5 years of this thread. Im making this one TODAY. I hope no fire ensues, but if it does, i'll post the story. I laughed a lot with this one, and at the same time I was almost drooling.

 

[Arpolis]

Read through the whole 5 years of this thread. Im making this one TODAY. I hope no fire ensues, but if it does, i'll post the story. I laughed a lot with this one, and at the same time I was almost drooling.

Great! Hope you enjoy the process. You should join in on the following thread, it would fun.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/bochet-group-brew-solera-style-481763/