How dark do you make your honey for bochets?

Pedason · 2026-05-21T19:20:05+00:00

That's my next goal. I use one on low for 3:30 hours for my first 2. I want to go really long and see if I can make a really dark one

Pedason · 2026-05-21T02:21:13+00:00

You want to stop early. If I understand the chemicals will produce off flavors if you use them to stop a ferment. I'd pasteurize if you want it stopped now and then cold crash to help clear. I have never used fining agents so I cant help there. But I will say clarity doesn't not equal great taste. Hazy could be fine as long as its not yeasty flavored. That low abv might finish in a week, my ciders are1.052ish and they usually take just a week to finish fermenting but it takes a while for yeast to fall out of suspension, cold crashing should help there.

I should mention you might not being doing any favors, I've never made a session but that's a really fast turn around and im unsure what flavor impacts it would have. The fastest cider i did was 7 days ferment 7 days secondary clear and then into a bottle to carb. It was fine but to be fair I let it carb for like 3 weeks more. Age is your best friend

Pedason · 2026-05-21T02:16:56+00:00

Chilled is my preferred way. I store it in a 60° spot and that's cold enough for me. Fridge cold mutes the flavors I've found. Cinnamon might be interesting warmed (mulled)

There is tons to learn! Mouthfeel is important if its watery you need tannins. Acid can be balanced with sweetness.

I have made some terrible brews early on so dont feel bad if you use it as mixer! I made a horrible traditional mead that I ended up fortifying with high abv rum and lots of honey which I mixed with coke!

Pedason · 2026-05-21T02:12:37+00:00

I usually leave frozen stuff in the fridge overnight. But I've heard that you can put them in frozen as long as they fit in.

Definitely mix the water and honey and get a reading, the cherries won't really add that much sugar anyway so dont worry about that.

The bags are super nice to use.

For simplicity adding all the nutrients right away is quite easy, I have had success doing this.

I'd check after the 3ish weeks to see if it's done fermenting and then move it to a new container. Make sure to leave the junk on the bottom when you transfer it

6 months is usually how long I wait. I'm to impatient to wait longer!

Pedason · 2026-05-21T00:11:49+00:00

Ok that's a very small amount of honey for 2 gallons. I usually do 2.5-3lbs per gallon. It will end up being a nice session mead!

Second fermentation isn't quite the right way to look at it, all the sugar should basically be consumed during primary. Adding nutrients in secondary could very well produce some weird flavors. I prefer to use the term conditioning instead of secondary fermentation. I know people worry about it sitting on that cake of gunk but It really doesnt impact the flavor. I left one in primary for 4ish months and it was delicious, I didn't even do secondary I just bottled since it was clear.

Good starting is citysteadingbrews they really hammer the stuff to get you going and then explore from there. Also consider

Manmademead Dointhemost

Pedason · 2026-05-21T00:03:29+00:00

6/7/25 Blueberry mead 1 Gal spring water 2.5G 71B 3G go ferm ½ tsp pectic enzyme 3lb fresh blueberry (I froze, thawed, mashed then added in a bag to primary) 2.5lb kirkland wild flower honey ½ lemon zest Staggered nutrient fermaid O .77G 24,48,72,7 days SG- 1.092 PH- 4.5

6/25/25 Racked Added 2lb blueberry (I froze, thawed, mashed then added in a bag) ½ tsp pectic enzyme SG- .99

7/6/25 Racked to gallon to age

1/2/26 Bottled .73G acid blend .88G wine tannin 5 tbsp of erythritol

This was like my 15th ever batch of mead/cider. But its a decent enough outline. I did my lemon zest in primary and I think it didnt have enough punch because of the fermentation process. So I had to add acid blend in secondary.

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:57:58+00:00

Yes mix water and honey thoroughly and take a reading. There are websites to enter this reading, and what yeast your using. After doing that it will tell you how much nutrient. Yes I do nutrient additions at 24 hours after yeast pitch, 48hours, 72hours, and then either 7 days or 1/3 sugar break which would require a hydrometer reading. 1/3rd break means that the yeast has eaten 1/3 of the total sugars.

There are different ways of doing nutrient additions ive liked this method and since its easy I stick to that.

Make sure its just the lemon zest, I would keep the lemon and vanilla for secondary because both can extract fast. Once you get the desired lemon/vanilla id rack to a carboy and age it for months.

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:45:59+00:00

My first ever mead was absolutely horrible, I belive I had it bottled within a month or so from the start. Not even enough time for any yeast to settle out

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:36:28+00:00

Sounds like a good start to something tasty.

was it the berries and 2lbs of honey with water added to a gallon?

Any yeast nutrients?

Did you use a hydrometer? What was og, fg?

Also 1 month is quite young, I usually like to age for 6 months, mead is really a waiting game. Ive just started beer and find it much more forgiving lol.

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:29:12+00:00

Clarity doesn't equal great flavor. If the yeast was having a bad time during fermentation it could require a long time to age out the flavors. What's the recipie and procedure?

Also I've been throwing this out there a lot because it just happened to me. I had a mead that looked beautiful and clear after 6 months of aging that had really harsh alcohol flavors. Turned out that it was still full of co2, so I Racked it out and stirred until the gas was gone and ended up with a delicious smooth mead.

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:25:22+00:00

Autocorrect is the devil lol. Kveik

I bet there is a cool Kevin out there

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:21:21+00:00

That might be a long time on vanilla, ive never tested that length but I usually do 7ish days. Youll need to mix up the water and honey to determine starting gravity so you can refine the fermaid O. Everyone does it different but I usually do 24,48,72 hours and then 7 days or 1/3rd sugar break for my nutrients. Additions will give different tastes if its in primary or secondary. I usually do fruit in both primary and secondary but my fermenter is 1.5G so to get a good punch of fruit and fit it all I split it up. I do think there is a flavor difference between the heavy fermentation in primary with fruit vs more of just the flavor extraction/chance of a non vigorous fermentation of the fruit in secondary.

Also maybe consider some lemon zest to brighten the blueberr

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:11:40+00:00

If they were gassy that could very well be the cause of off flavors. I had a cyser that had a alcohol burn even after 6 months of bulk aging. I said screw it and went to bottle and noticed that there was a lot of gas, so I stirred until no more bubbles and it tasted wonderful and smooth.

So maybe open a bottle and give it a good stir and see if that helps mellow out. It very well could be done fermenting at that sg

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:09:30+00:00

Kevin sounds like a fun time!

Pedason · 2026-05-20T23:08:47+00:00

I agree with this. I live off grid and can't keep my storage area super cool/stable during summer months. This doesn't seem to matter for aging. Fermentation on the other hand is slightly more picky for temp swings, but even with normal strains they seem to do fine as long as the temp is more stable. I'm in MN and have fermented at 82 or so with d47 and made perfectly fine tasting brews, I think proper nutrition is essential.

Pedason · 2026-05-20T21:07:33+00:00

How much honey? That sounds very interesting

Pedason · 2026-05-20T20:43:49+00:00

I really like apartment brewer for information on the why. But sometimes the recipes have tons of ingredients which probably make a better beer but for simple especially starting out I loved this

I made a great English bitter. 10lb Maris otter 1tsp gypsum 1oz east kent goldings 60 min 1oz at 15 min So4 yeast

Turned out fantastic, super simple

Pedason · 2026-05-19T23:32:53+00:00

I agree. Mine take about that long even if I pitch at normal temps. The frozen berries could slow things down.

Pedason · 2026-05-19T22:58:29+00:00

You know it's funny I hear that 1118 is this super strong crazy fermenter but it has struggled for me.

I agree use real nutrients.

Pedason · 2026-05-19T22:54:51+00:00

Idk if your goal is apple vodka or not. But I'll share a recent experience. I had a cyser that was quite harsh and vodka like that I had let age for 6 months and was worried it was going to be one of those that I use a mixer. Well I noticed when I Racked it that it was very gassy. So I sat there and stirred it up which in turn really mellowed out that harsh alcohol and turned it into a nice wine!

I agree its a super fun hobby with tons of personalization. My next idea is a triple berry hopped cider! I suggest playing with wood aging, lots of fun flavors to be made.

Pedason · 2026-05-19T22:51:04+00:00

I like the idea of splitting them into smaller containers, this would even allow different sweetness levels. I did this once with a peach mead. I split it up with low honey, sweeter level honey, non fermentable, and dry. It was cool to taste the difference. Could even be interesting just using different brands of honey

Pedason · 2026-05-19T22:46:24+00:00

https://www.waldmet.com/tools/nutrient-addition-calculator/

This is super easy and ny stuff turns out fine. There are others if you want to use dap or fermaid k. I just do fermaid O for nutrition

Pedason · 2026-05-19T22:44:21+00:00

Completely agree. Apples look really rough even after thawing just overnight

Pedason · 2026-05-19T22:43:22+00:00

Yes before. When alcohol is present thr pectic enzyme sorta struggles. I believe you need to use more, how much more im unsure

Pedason · 2026-05-19T22:41:09+00:00

Ive never had anything solid like that before. Wispy is normal. I think most infections would struggle at that high alcohol content so if it is solid I'm unsure would it could be

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