Creme Brulee Mead Idea

dogbert · Jan 14, 2014

I've got about a half dozen recipes for melomel and metheglyn style meads that consistently turn out good, and are very drinkable after six months.

I was thinking of trying out the following recipe:

15lbs Caramelized Honey
3 whole pears, crushed and boiled into a lumpy solution to add to the mead
1/2lbs Caramelized/Burnt Sugar in Solution
1cup homemade vanilla extract (made from approximately 1cup Grey Goose vodka with 6 vanilla beans chopped and scraped in solution for 4 months)
1sachet EC-1118 yeast
DAP and yeast energizer using staggered nutrient addition schedule
Water to fill up the 5gallon carboy

Does this sound like it would turn out any good? The caramelized honey is nice, as it seems to have a bit of unfermentable sugar in it, and I don't think the yeast can make use of the burnt sugar either, so no back sweetening seems to be necessary when using caramelized sugars. The homemade vanilla extract also is more potent in aroma and taste than the store bough stuff. I'm mainly concerned about the burnt sugar overpowering the other aromas.

Thank you.

Honeyhog · Jan 14, 2014

The only thing I would change is the yeast instead of EC-1118 I would use D-47, 71B-1122 or K1-v1116

Midnight Sun · Jan 15, 2014

I don't know that the pears will contribute anything other than a little mouthfeel, but they shouldn't hurt. Would skip boiling them, however.

GntlKnigt1 · Jan 15, 2014

Not sure 3 pears in 5 gallons will have much impact but better frozen and then bagged in fermenter. Chevette Girl has lots of pear experience.....

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WVMJack · Jan 15, 2014

30 pounds of pears, roasted under a broiler would mand an impression, but 3 pears is just going to make a pectin haze. If you got some pear nectar in a jar that would be better, or pear cider. Not sure what the burnt sugar is going to add since you already have caramelized honey, or were you going to go just to like mahoghony on the honey and scortch the sugar black - but you might just extract the bitter black flavor and loose the sweetness, a trail is called forth - scorch some sugar, dissolve it in some water and see what it tastes like, whoops, make that with a shot of everclear to see if the alcohol dissolves anything bad out of the burnt sugar. WVMJ

mannye · Jan 15, 2014

My main concern would be what all this stuff tastes like after fermentation is done with it. It may leave all the bitter and eat all the sweet.

That actually might not be a bad thing as you would probably have the perfect base for sweetening.

Unless of course, you're right about the unfermentable nature of the cooked sugars.

In any case, a creme brûlée mead sounds awesome.

Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G

Honeyhog · Jan 15, 2014

I have a bochet cyser that had a weird ferment and has lots of residual sugar even though I restarted it with EC-1118. If I do another bochet I will only caramelize half of the honey, maybe less.

WVMJack · Jan 16, 2014

I always like seeing your dog in your pic. How about a thread on this batch, everyone is still experimenting with this bochet style. I do think backsweeting a Bochet with a little raw honey adds back a little body and reminds you it is still a honey product. WVMJ

Honeyhog said:
I have a bochet cyser that had a weird ferment and has lots of residual sugar even though I restarted it with EC-1118. If I do another bochet I will only caramelize half of the honey, maybe less.

UKTony · Jan 19, 2014

I concur with Honeyhog; As noted in my Top 10 things I learned from my first few weeks here: http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21779

Champagne Yeast is only the answer to a handful of questions. Are you...

1. Making sparkling mead?
2. Restarting a stuck fermentation, that you have been unable to restart by any other method?
3. Looking to make a rocket-fuel mead that needs 18%+ alcohol content?

For everything else, there are alternatives to the sledgehammer of yeasts. All of which will likely give a more aromatic, more complex final product.

Hope my 2¢ helps.

Tony

Honeyhog · Jan 19, 2014

WVMJack said:
I always like seeing your dog in your pic. How about a thread on this batch, everyone is still experimenting with this bochet style. I do think backsweeting a Bochet with a little raw honey adds back a little body and reminds you it is still a honey product. WVMJ

Hahahahaha, everyone loves Foster, my dog. That costume of his got me a lot of candy on Halloween night. People would call me over, offering me candy if they could pet Foster. It's always the same, I'm totally outshone by my dog, hahahaha. So simple too, it's just a vets cone cut into a daisy shape and spray painted white, taa daa.

I just tasted the Bochet the other day when I was checking the gravity. It's not offensive but at this point it's nothing special. I'm hoping the burntness taste mellows out. I heated my honey to in candy making terms would be called hard crack maybe a bit hotter about 370F. It's still as dark as Guinness. It's been sitting since Sept. when the last of the fermentation was done. Seems to have stopped at a SG of 1.036.

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