Starting a simple Chocolate Mead

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nashiora

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I've read a handful of threads across this site's history about chocolate mead, and I wanted to join in and provide updates on my batch. I'm going to try a very simple recipe using a chocolate extract (this one says it also has a touch of vanilla, which still sounds good) and document how that goes for me here.

Today, I started a gallon of traditional mead with 3lb wildflower honey, whole packet of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast and a bit of Fermaid O nutrient. I was considering some other honey options, namely buckwheat because of its color and flavor profile reminding me of brown sugar, so I thought a slightly chocolate chip cookie themed chocolate mead would be interesting. Reading about buckwheat mead, though, I don't think I have the patience to treat the honey properly or wait long enough to get past the bad smells and flavors. I know chocolate may also take a long time, but I wanted to reduce my variables for my first experiment.

I'm hoping no more than 8oz of chocolate extract will be necessary, and that I'll still get a good chocolate taste despite not using cacao nibs or cocoa powder. Only time will tell, though. I'll add the extract after racking in a month or two and start monitoring its flavor every couple of weeks after that. I'm thinking 2oz at a time a few weeks apart so I can document the taste, even though I know it'll take a long time to really develop; I don't want to wait 6 months for ever 2oz, especially if it turns out to not be enough. If I keep to this schedule and don't rush it then I should have added all of the chocolate extract in my 8oz bottle by the end of the year or during December. By then, hopefully, I'll also know if I want more than 8oz for this recipe.

Wish me luck!
 
Welcome to HBT, @nashiora from a fellow Southerner over in Birmingham! I think your approach to this is very good. Adding chocolate after initial vigorous fermentation retains flavor and aroma.
Not sure how much mead you've made so this might be helpful for your nutrient additions:

https://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
The general consensus is that western buckwheat is what you want to use while eastern is horrid in mead.

The only buckwheat honey I've ever used is from a 5 gallon batch I purchased in Temecula CA. Incredible flavor but not a great honey for using stand alone. It does work well with other honey in smaller amounts to add different flavor.

I like to say that if honey was music, buckwheat would be bass and a little can go a long way to change the sound. It can add an slight earthy flavor depending on how much you use and in my experience ~6 months post fermentation it can bring a nice honey flavor.

I have done some 100% buckwheat mead and I mostly use that to blend with some other meads. Buckwheat has also worked very nice for me in bochet meads.

I'd guess that ~10% to20% of your honey content as buckwheat could add some nice flavor without moving you into an awkward flavor territory.
 
The general consensus is that western buckwheat is what you want to use while eastern is horrid in mead.

The only buckwheat honey I've ever used is from a 5 gallon batch I purchased in Temecula CA. Incredible flavor but not a great honey for using stand alone. It does work well with other honey in smaller amounts to add different flavor.

I like to say that if honey was music, buckwheat would be bass and a little can go a long way to change the sound. It can add an slight earthy flavor depending on how much you use and in my experience ~6 months post fermentation it can bring a nice honey flavor.

I have done some 100% buckwheat mead and I mostly use that to blend with some other meads. Buckwheat has also worked very nice for me in bochet meads.

I'd guess that ~10% to20% of your honey content as buckwheat could add some nice flavor without moving you into an awkward flavor territory.
I'm in the east, and I'm trying to buy my honey locally so I'm likely going to have the "bad east-coast buckwheat" issues haha. The people I bought from confirmed that's likely to happen. I'm only a few batches into the hobby so I'm not taking too many risks, but I might try using buckwheat more in a few months. I like the idea of small doses or a long-running mead I only use to back sweeten or fill batches with post-racking, to keep headspace low. For right now, I'll just keep my distance and build experience.
 
Update:

In my infinite wisdom I made this a bit more complicated, haha. After a bit of a mishap, the o-ring seal falling thru the lid and into the mead, I racked it to a new vessel after only a few days. Its gravity today was ~1.081. Since starting the batch, I had thought I should probably have done 4lbs (or more, unsure) of honey instead of 3 since I want this batch to ferment sweet and would rather not stabilize it super early. So I racked about 4/5 of it over and added another pound of honey, ~20% of which was buckwheat. Topped it off with the remaining mead from the first vessel, fishing out the seal in the process.

I forgot to grab a new gravity reading after adding the pound of honey. I'm incredibly tired, so I'll either grab it in the morning or when I inevitably wake up later tonight.

I'm still thinking about what final gravity I want to shoot for, so I'll be monitoring every few days anyway. I'm curious to stop it around 1.020 to 1.050 before moving on to the months-long chocolate extract process which will remain unchanged. I want it to end up on the sweet side without having to backsweeten if possible, moreso after adding more fermentables tonight (and being less sure about approx. ABV now).

I'll keep track of things and plan to update in a couple of weeks when I'm closer to the next rack into stabilizers.
 
A few days later, looks like everything is fine after my little accident. The gravity looks to still be ~1.081 or 1.082, which is confusing to me with how much it looks like it's been fermenting these past few days. I don't expect it to be significantly lower, but nearly the same is odd. Regardless, I degassed a bit by stirring and then added a little more nutrient, slowly stirring it again to incorporate. It's obviously still a *lot* of unfermented honey, but I was still surprised at how good it tastes right now. I think the addition of just a little buckwheat honey is going to be worth it in the end.
 
Another few days later, I realize I was confused in my last post. On September 1st, the day of my little accident, the SG was 1.096 after the additional pound of honey (according to my notebook I didn't reference when writing the last post). I'm still a little confused on my numbers, but I think I can figure out the correct ABV with a little brain power or help. Here's what I have written down:

August 28th: SG 1.106
September 1, before adding honey: SG 1.081
September 1, the morning after adding honey: SG 1.096
September 5: SG 1.081
September 9: SG 1.069

At the rate it's currently fermenting, I anticipate being ready to rack to secondary in a minimum of two to three weeks. If it looks to be slowing down between 1.040 and 1.050 gravity, I may wait even longer to try to let it clear some first as well. If it looks like it's going to ferment much further than 1.040 or 1.030 I'll consider racking into stabilizers, but I'd rather not.

When I do rack I have 9% ABV traditional wildflower mead to top off/back sweeten with, though I know I'll need to leave up to 8oz (likely 10 to 12 for light stirring to incorporate) headspace.

I'll plan to not update until October 1st or later at this rate, all of my early/oops check ins are looking fine.
 
Well into October, this is coming along pretty nicely. The single ounce of extract I added is probably going to be sufficient, though I could see adding another half ounce depending on how this ages. It tastes mostly good, but the chocolate extract still peeks through raw a little bit. Hopefully that fades with time, this will probably be fantastic chilled and/or mixed with fruit meads.
 
I've had cacao nibs that were not evident and then many weeks later seemed to show up strongly and then start to fade a bit after a few weeks.

A bit of a guessing/experience game unless you are tailoring for immediate consumption.
 
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