Dr_Floyd
Well-Known Member
So today I sat down to start my first attempt at a Bochet. For those of you who are unaware a Bochet is a Mead which make using boiled honey that has been caramelized. You do lose the natural honey fragrance but you gain a sort of toasted marshmallow and cherry flavor and smell, I'd even venture to say a little hint of chocolate. More details at the link below.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/making-bochets-burnt-honey-meads.html
Coffee Cinnamon Bochet - 1 Gallon:
-3lbs Raw Grade A Unfiltered Honey (don't use any special honey, clover will do)
-Roughly 1 Gallon Water
-Nutrient/Energizer
-1 packet Lalvin 1122 Yeast Rehydrated
Process:
I put all 3 lbs of honey in a large pot (expect it to expand 5-7 times it's original volume as it starts to boil) and set it to Med. High Heat. Stirring fairly often it started to boil (unfortunately I did not note how long it took to boil). Here's what that looked like:
Note, regular stirring will bring down the foam significantly. At boiling it smelled a little sweet and bitter, not certain how else to describe it. It went from a golden white foam to a caramel to a dark toffee/chocolate color and the honey was a deep amber.
After about 40 minutes of boiling it started to smell a little like toasted marshmallow, so I let it go for another 5 minutes at which point the toasted smell was strong and it reached the desired color. At this point I started to add in VERY HOT water 1 cup at a time slamming the lid closed each time because the honey starts to foam violently due to the temperature differential. After 3 cups it no longer started spitting molten honey and I could add cold water. I stirred the solution to dissolve any solid honey on the bottom of the pot and let it cool from there. Here is the cooled result:
From here on out is all the normal process one would do for Mead Making. Supposedly it will come out a deep amber red when finished. I'll be adding the cinnamon and coffee in Secondary. I'll post progress on here as it comes along.
OG: 1.110
Expected FG: ≈ 1.010 (should be a Medium Sweet Mead)
Let me know if you have any questions, it's an odd process and not the best information out there on it.
Cheers!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/making-bochets-burnt-honey-meads.html
Coffee Cinnamon Bochet - 1 Gallon:
-3lbs Raw Grade A Unfiltered Honey (don't use any special honey, clover will do)
-Roughly 1 Gallon Water
-Nutrient/Energizer
-1 packet Lalvin 1122 Yeast Rehydrated
Process:
I put all 3 lbs of honey in a large pot (expect it to expand 5-7 times it's original volume as it starts to boil) and set it to Med. High Heat. Stirring fairly often it started to boil (unfortunately I did not note how long it took to boil). Here's what that looked like:
Note, regular stirring will bring down the foam significantly. At boiling it smelled a little sweet and bitter, not certain how else to describe it. It went from a golden white foam to a caramel to a dark toffee/chocolate color and the honey was a deep amber.
After about 40 minutes of boiling it started to smell a little like toasted marshmallow, so I let it go for another 5 minutes at which point the toasted smell was strong and it reached the desired color. At this point I started to add in VERY HOT water 1 cup at a time slamming the lid closed each time because the honey starts to foam violently due to the temperature differential. After 3 cups it no longer started spitting molten honey and I could add cold water. I stirred the solution to dissolve any solid honey on the bottom of the pot and let it cool from there. Here is the cooled result:
From here on out is all the normal process one would do for Mead Making. Supposedly it will come out a deep amber red when finished. I'll be adding the cinnamon and coffee in Secondary. I'll post progress on here as it comes along.
OG: 1.110
Expected FG: ≈ 1.010 (should be a Medium Sweet Mead)
Let me know if you have any questions, it's an odd process and not the best information out there on it.
Cheers!
