2014 batch 3: Bochet (1) – Burning the honey

For a long time I have been wanting to try to make a bochet mead. From the internet it seemed not the be the easiest. Also, various people claim that the used kitchen ware was not possible to clean. So I have been hesitating and reading a lot to kind of being prepared. As it turned out it was not so difficult.

Here we go….

For 20L Bochet:
7.4 kg honey (water content 15%)
Biggest pot I have (15 L)

I had put aside 7.4 kg of spring honey from this year for the purpose. Of this 7.25 kg (~5 L) was poured into my biggest pot which holds 15 L. I had read that the honey would expand a lot and that I needed a pot which were 4 times the volume of the honey. I figure 3 times would be enough. As it turned out this was a super critical bit of information!!!!

I had also read several statements about the temperature of the burnt honey, some extremely high. To shed some light on this I bought a thermometer which could measure up to 250C. I prepared a holder for the temperature probe which I made out of a cheap wire hanger (see pic below). And I was ready to go.

As the temperature was rising the first I noticed was a dramatic drop in viscosity shortly after I reached 40C. Also, the honey became very unclear.

At about 110C the honey started to foam. This was expected since the boiling temperature of water is 100C and the honey contains about 15% of water. When the temperature hit 115C, the mead started to foam like crazy, and the foam level kept rising almost to the top of the pot. Fortunately it did not overflow – It would have taken forever to clean the kitchen. I turned down the heat to slow down the foaming, still keeping the temperature at 115C.

Since water is evaporating the temperature will not change if the heat is turned up. Instead more water will evaporate at the same time and the foam would have increased. As the water evaporates the honey will heat up slowly but it will never reach excessive temperatures as long as the sugar is mixed with water.

Now here is the interesting thing. Shortly after the foaming started the honey also started to brown. This means than the honey is not being burnt but is actually boiled.

The temperature slowly went up to 125C (give and take 5C) and never got above 130C throughout the heating. During the entire boiling time I was stirring the pot to ensure that the honey did not stick to the bottom at any time – then 1½ hour is a looong time

From homebrewtalk (HERE) I found this great picture that is worth showing again. It is a picture by Sharkman20 (credit where credit is due).

With reference to familiar terms from the roasting of malt, I figured I will use the following definitions

30-60 min: Mild-mel

75-90 min: Cara-mel

105-up: Choco-mel

:o)

I am actually not all that fond of a strong burnt taste, so I decided to stop when I reached a cara-mel. Using the same set-up, I followed my progress. 

Times from the top left the time was: 45min, 60min, 70min, 85min, and just before cooling 90min

The smell and taste of caramel was really strong with a light bitter aftertaste. I think this mead will taste like nothing I ever tasted before.

For cooling I filled my kitchen sink with cold water and slowly lowered the pot into the water. Then I poured cold water into the honey bit by bit until I could no longer hear the hissing of evaporating water. The pot was then removed from the sink because the honey started to clod on the sides, but with a bit of stirring the cloding melted again. Then I just added cold water to about 10 L, checked the temperature (about 60C) and poured the content into a sanitized fermenter. I rinsed the pot twice with cold water which was then also added to the fermenter. Finally I filled the fermenter to somewhere above the 19 L mark, put the lid on and left it to cool down. And best of all. No burnt black honey and a pot that was very easy to clean.

So in conclusion: With a pot large enough to hold 3-4 times the volume of honey and with good temperature control of the stove, it is not difficult to “burn” honey for a bochet mead in a controlled manner.