Another shot at a bochet, since the last few seem to have turned out so well. This batch uses raspberry, blackberry, and cranberry honey that we've had sitting in the cupboard since our 2020 trip to the southeast. For now, I'm calling it Triple-Berry Bochet.

Ingredients in this batch

  • 1 lb., 9.5 oz. raspberry blossom honey from ???, moderately caramelized by heating, covered, for 210 minutes in our Crock-Pot on low.
  • 1 lb., 7.7 oz. blackberry blossom honey from ???, moderately caramelized by heating, covered, for 210 minutes in our Crock-Pot on low.
  • 1 lb., 1.5 oz. cranberry blossom honey from Ziegler's, moderately caramelized by heating, covered, for 210 minutes in our Crock-Pot on low.
  • 1 lb., 3.2 oz. raspberry honey from ???, not caramelized.
  • 1 lb., 6.9 oz. blackberry honey from ???, not caramelized.
  • 13.9 oz. cranberry honey from Ziegler's, not caramelized.
  • Nutrient addition of 18 Oct 2022:
    • ½ tsp. Fermaid O.
  • Nutrient addition of 19 Oct 2022:
    • ½ tsp. Fermaid O.
  • Nutrient addition of 20 Oct 2022:
    • ½ tsp. Fermaid O.

Procedure

Heated just over four pounds pounds of honey in the Crock-Pot for three and a half hours on LOW, then poured it into water in the three-gallon carboy. Heated water in the Crock-Pot to help dissolve off the remainder of the caramelized honey from the side of the Crock-Pot, then poured it into the carboy. Filled the Crock-Pot with water and switched it to HIGH for twenty minutes, then poured that water into the carboy. Allowed the carboy to cool, neck covered, until it was safe to pitch the yeast. Rehydrated a pouch of Lalvin 71B-1122 in ½ cup of tap water at 95℉ for twenty minutes. Pitched the yeast.

Did not measure the gravity here: there was so much undissolved honey stuck to the bottom of the carboy that it would have been pointless.

Brew date: 16 October 2022.
Original gravity: not measured, but estimated as 1.167, based on honey quantity.
Bottling date: 3 May 2023
Final gravity: 1.000
Estimated ABV: Perhaps 20% ??? See notes.

Yield:

  • 5 x 375mL wine bottles.
  • 5 x 500mL wine bottles.
  • 2 x 500mL beer bottles.
  • 3 x 12 fl. oz. beer bottles.
  • 10 x 375mL beer bottles.

Total: About 10.2L, or just about 2⅔ gallons.

Observations and Notes

  • 2022-10-18: Added Fermaid O.
  • 2022-10-19: Added Fermaid O.
  • 2022-10-20: Added Fermaid O.
  • 2023-05-03: Bottled, yielding 2⅔ gallons of bochet at 20% or above. (An initial ABV measurement was impossible and could only be estimated. 24% overstates the case because some of the caramelized honey never dissolved and was therefore never converted into alcohol. However, no attempt was made to measure the amount of left-over caramelized honey.