Butter beer
This session mead recipe is ALL about the bochet (caramelized honey) and all about the interplay of other sugars and how they are treated. A good-tasting honey is critical to this mead’s success. At a low ABV riding a bit above 5%, this crisp, refreshing hydromel mead is perfect for summer sipping. Great either bottle condition or on draft. Why not home brew one right now? It can be ready in just over a month if kegged. In this video we show you how to make mead, but unlike a traditional mead this is a light and crushable drink more akin to a butterscotch-flavored or hard soda than a big, sturdy traditional mead. We’ve brewed this recipe several times, and it is now a trusted winner! This is a complex brew using multiple types of fermentable and nonfermentable sugars, some of which must be caramelized to achieve the roasty toffee and butterscotch flavors of the brew. This brew is designed to be carbonated and sweet.
Ingredients
Caramelized for one hour:
- 5# honey
- 1# sucrose (cane or beet sugar)
- 4oz lactose
Also for primary:
- 1# dark Belgian candi sugar
- 3g wine tannin
- Full five gallons water
- EC-1118 wine yeast
In secondary:
- 5 vanilla beans (or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract)
- 8oz Lactose
- 8oz maltodextrin
- 3# erythritol or honey (if stabilized or kept super cold)
- 5g lactic acid
- 1g citric acid