Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1455, 18 January 2010 Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:40:22 -0700 (MST) From: mead-request@talisman.com Mead Lover's Digest #1455 18 January 2010 Mead Discussion Forum Contents: re: caramelizing honey (Chazzone) Re: carmelizing honey ("Louis LeBlanc") Re: caramelizing honey (stencil) Re: caramelizing honey (meadguild@aol.com) RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1454, 10 January 2010 ("Matt Falenski") Cyzer (Joe Kuhl) Meadllenium? (dan@geer.org) possibility of using molasses in mead (hansvater@comcast.net) NOTE: Digest appears whenever there is enough material to send one. Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com. Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe and admin requests. Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead#Archives A searchable archive is at http://www.gotmead.com/mldarchives.html Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: re: caramelizing honey From: Chazzone Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:20:30 -0500 You might try caramelizing just some honey in a nonstick pan or kettle. It'd be faster and use a lot less energy. Please keep us posted on your experimentation, I'm very interested to see what you come up with. - -zz ------------------------------ Subject: Re: carmelizing honey From: "Louis LeBlanc" Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 10:01:39 -0500 > Subject: caramelizing honey > From: Matt Maples > Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:43:49 -0800 > > Has anyone tried caramelizing honey? In brewing caramelizing is done to > increase the sweetness and body of a beer as the caramelized maltose can > not be metabolized by the yeast. Aside from caramelizing during the > malting process, it is also achieved by long extended boils of the wort. > I know that boiling the honey for that long would kill most of the aroma > and much of the subtle flavor but I was thinking of just boiling a small > amount of must and adding it to an already fermenting batch. My goal is > to add sweetness that can not be fermented by only honey, and any extra > body would just be a bonus. > > Just FYI..... I have been making mead for over 17 years; I made plenty > of sweet meads. I've used stabilizers, lower alcohol yeast strains, and > the feed it till it dies method. I just thought this might be an > interesting project and if anyone has tried it please let me know. > > Matt Maples Hey Matt, You've been making mead since well before I was even introduced to it, so I doubt I can tell you much you don't already know ... Except that you might be thinking of "bochet" mead. This is made by "burning" the honey, which I think only actually burns a small amount of it, but caramelizes the rest. The resulting mead has distinct roasted marshmallow aroma and flavor. The difference is that a bochet "burns" the whole quantity of honey and doesn't produce any unfermentable sugars as far as I know. Google those two words and you'll get plenty of hits. Include "Charlie Papazian" and you should get a link to an article Charlie wrote in the last couple years about a tasting he was invited to that included some 60 year old meads, one of which was a Bochet. I haven't actually tried this yet, but it sounds like it would make a nice desert beer too. All these ideas, so little time ... If you do try this, regardless of the ratio of carmelized/raw honey you use, please post your results to the list. I'm sure I'm not the only one that would love to hear it. Cheers! Lou ------------------------------ Subject: Re: caramelizing honey From: stencil Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:06:42 -0500 On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:54:53 -0700 (MST),=20 in Mead Lover's Digest #1454, 10 January 2010 Matt Maples wrote: > [ ... ] >I know that boiling the honey for that long would kill most of the aroma >and much of the subtle flavor but I was thinking of just boiling a small >amount of must and adding it to an already fermenting batch. My goal is >to add sweetness that can not be fermented by only honey, and any extra >body would just be a bonus. > This, AFAIK, is the goal and procedure that led to the development of Porter. Of course, if you could relax the rigor of the all-honey limitation, ordinary cane or beet sugar would serve as a base for the caramel. And maltodextrin would probably give a lighter-colored product. gds, stencil ------------------------------ Subject: Re: caramelizing honey From: meadguild@aol.com Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:35:06 EST Matt Maples _matt_maples@liquidsolutions.biz_ (mailto:matt_maples@liquidsolutions.biz) > Has anyone tried caramelizing honey? In brewing caramelizing is done to > increase the sweetness and body of a beer as the caramelized maltose can > not be metabolized by the yeast. Aside from caramelizing during the > malting process, it is also achieved by long extended boils of the wort. > I know that boiling the honey for that long would kill most of the aroma > and much of the subtle flavor but I was thinking of just boiling a small > amount of must and adding it to an already fermenting batch. My goal is > to add sweetness that can not be fermented by only honey, and any extra > body would just be a bonus. Great idea, Matt. One of my many fears is burning honey. So a double boiler may be appropriate. I'm thinking 1.5 lbs in a quart. Dick - --- Richard D. Adams, CPA ------------------------------ Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1454, 10 January 2010 From: "Matt Falenski" Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:06:33 -0500 >Subject: caramelizing honey >From: Matt Maples >Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:43:49 -0800 > >Has anyone tried caramelizing honey? In brewing caramelizing is done to >increase the sweetness and body of a beer as the caramelized maltose can >not be metabolized by the yeast. Aside from caramelizing during the >malting process, it is also achieved by long extended boils of the wort. >I know that boiling the honey for that long would kill most of the aroma >and much of the subtle flavor but I was thinking of just boiling a small >amount of must and adding it to an already fermenting batch. My goal is >to add sweetness that can not be fermented by only honey, and any extra >body would just be a bonus. > >Just FYI..... I have been making mead for over 17 years; I made plenty >of sweet meads. I've used stabilizers, lower alcohol yeast strains, and >the feed it till it dies method. I just thought this might be an >interesting project and if anyone has tried it please let me know. > >Matt Maples > >Maples.matt(at)gmail(Ddot)com > Hi Matt, I just recently made a 1G "burnt" mead. I took a few pounds of honey and boiled it in a stock pot on the stove for about 15 minutes. It had kind of a nasty acrid smell, but the taste of the honey was good, kind of like marshmallows. It hasn't been too long since I did this, so I haven't tasted it yet, but I have been putting updates on my blog (www.letsmakemead.com) and have some more info on there. I have racked once, and probably will be tasting very soon. I wanted to try a small amount before I did a larger batch. The honey flavor isn't so subtle, but it is very interesting now. Give it a shot with a smaller batch & see what you think! Matt ------------------------------ Subject: Cyzer From: Joe Kuhl Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:09:09 -0700 I am thinking of trying to make a cyzer, well maybe and apple cider with honey. I have a recipe, but at this time of year the only apple juice I can get is bottled that has had sulfites added to it,as a preservative. It is from a local apple orchard and they put out good stuff. I was just wondering about the sufited juice, if it would affect the fermentation process adversely. I know that most of the recipes I have found call for sulfiting the fresh apple juice. I have never used sulfite before and was wondering if having it in a stored juice would be any different that putting it in fresh juice? In the fresh juice it says you have to wait 24 hours before pitching the yeast. So should the apple juice be put in the carboy and then rest for 24 hours before pitching? Hope to hear back. Joe ------------------------------ Subject: Meadllenium? From: dan@geer.org Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:13:18 -0500 While it is certainly my responsibility to keep my eye on the ball, did I miss the announcement of Meadllenium here on mead-list@talisman? The time of year somehow reminded me this afternoon but, alas, it is now too late to enter. Good luck to all who did! - --dan ------------------------------ Subject: possibility of using molasses in mead From: hansvater@comcast.net Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:46:06 +0000 (UTC) Has anyone every tried using molasses in making mead. I have seen in some recipies to add corn syrup to mead if you want a sweeter mead. has anyone tried using this? Brian Hackman ------------------------------ End of Mead Lover's Digest #1455 *******************************