# Just thought I'd share..



## Deezil

You could possibly be asking yourself at this point, "Where is this going?"



> Banana Bochet Port
> 
> 150lbs bananas
> 3 quarts Blackberry honey
> 5 gallons water
> 1/2 gallon brandy - "blend(ed) it specifically for richness and full flavor", "begins with a delicate bouquet of sweet and brown spice, delicious notes coaxed from its extended time aging in barrel. On the palate, inviting flavors of vanilla cream, maple and sherry linger into a satisfyingly smooth finish"
> 
> W-15 yeast - "bright fruit and heavy mouthfeel" & "produces higher levels of glycerol and succinic acid"
> 
> Go-Ferm & Fermaid-O
> Booster Blanc - adding to the juice, "a smoother mid-palate and aromatic freshness"
> FT Blanc Soft - adding to the juice, "softness and improved mouthfeel", "enhances texture with a perception of sweetness on the palate" & "can contribute to minerality"
> Opti-White - adding near the end of fermentation, "for smoothing and better integration of wood and alcohol"
> 
> Vanilla Bean
> 
> French Oak - 3oz, Medium Toast; "aromatic sweetness and full mouthfeel", "a fruity, cinnamon/allspice character, along with custard/ crème brûlée, milk chocolate and campfire/roasted coffee notes"
> American Oak - 3oz, Medium Toast; "aromatic sweetness and mouthfeel/fullness" & "a campfire/roasted coffee attribute with cooked fruit more than a fresh or jammy"
> 
> 
> *Prepare the brandy (months ahead)
> - Add the brandy to 1gal jug
> - Add blackened-ripe, peeled bananas to brandy in 1gal jug until it cant take anymore (up to 20lbs)
> - Set aside until later*
> 
> Prepare the honey
> 
> - Add 3lbs honey to pot and bring to boil
> - Boil until honey deepens to a ruby color, stirring constantly
> - Allow to cool, add water to dissolve honey
> - Add cooled honey-water to fermenter
> 
> - Add 3lbs honey to pot and bring to boil
> - Boil until honey deepens to a caramel color, stirring constantly
> - Allow to cool, add water to dissolve honey
> - Add cooled honey-water to fermenter
> 
> Prepare the Bananas
> - Carefully separate blackened peels from bananas
> - Add peels to one straining bag, bananas to another
> - Add both straining bags to primary fermenter
> - Add pectic enzyme & let sit 12 hrs
> - Measure SG and adjust to 1.080 - 1.090, if necessary
> -Add Fermaid-O, Booster Blanc, FT Blanc
> -Add yeast starter
> 
> - @ SG 1.030, add unheated honey to SG 1.060 - 1.070
> - @ SG 1.020, add Opti-White
> - Ferment until yeast give out
> 
> -Rack to carboy, settle out gross lees
> -Rack to carboy, settle out sur lees
> -Rack to clean carboy
> 
> -Add the banana-infused brandy
> -Add 3oz French Oak - taste every 2 weeks, rack off
> -Add 3oz American Oak - taste every 2 weeks, rack off
> -Add vanilla bean - taste weekly, rack off


The bolded portion, is the Bananas and brandy;
The 1.75 gallon test batch was to figure out how far to caramelize the sugars

Think.... Banana's Foster, in a bottle...

Another batch coming up, is an Apple-Pear Bochet (think caramel-apple in a bottle)
As well as a 'normal' Mead, Blackberry Melomel (blackberries + honey) & a 'normal' Bochet (Red+Gold)

Just thought I'd see if I could generate a small buzz; maybe convince a few more of you to make your own mead
Feel free to bug me, ask questions


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## Vance G

Thanks for the detailed brewlog.  It is good to give folks solid directions if they wish to brew. I make quite a bit of mead and have good results except for sticking a bochet fermentation this early summer. Dumping it down a floor drain was a definite mistake as I can't get rid of the smell everytime I flush the drain with hot water I think I have cured it but not yet! If it ever happens again it's into a hole outside in the garden.


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## Deezil

You dumped it?!

What all did you try, to get it started again

Did you try a yeast hull addition, with a good amount of stirring.. Let is settle, rack off & repitch yeast?

The yeast hulls bind to the toxins that yeast secrete as fermentation happens - sometimes a lack of yeast nutrients can cause excessive amounts of these toxins to be created earlier than they would normally, which can hang/stick the fermentation.. 

When you rack off the yeast hulls, you leave those toxins behind, & pitching with a new yeast - they're allowed to get a foothold in a less-toxic environment, and generally have enough oomph to finish up a stalled ferment... Particular yeast strains are better at this than others as well, the one that comes to mind immediately is K1V-1116


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## Deezil

The latest batch..

2013 Blackberry Melomel

25lbs Blackberries
3 quarts Blackberry Honey




















Dissolved honey in about 2/3 - 3/4 gallon of water & poured over thawing berries
Added 5 tsp pectic enzyme

This morning, it's thawed

SG: 1.114

Added 1 gallon of water
SG: 1.082




















Dissolved 6.5g Go-Ferm in 1 cup ~110F water











Added 8 grams of yeast: W-15










Added to must:
6.25g Fermaid-O
10g FT Rouge Soft
5g Opti-Red

Pitched yeast

Stay tuned; to come:

Will rack to carboy @ ~1.010 & add Booster Rouge

Rack off gross lees
Rack off sur lees

Add French Oak
Add Vanilla Bean
Rack off @ taste

Age long as I can stand it


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## Deezil

Soooo... Things got kinda screwy.. Got a tooth yanked, so the Blackberry sat a day or two longer than I intended. Since I cant suck (and arent smart enough to have bought an auto-siphon... yet), I had to have help getting the wine racked 

But I/we got it..

Here's a shot of the wine after I had strained out a majority of the floating solids but pre-racking:











So I got it in the carboy, and let it settle some. I havent added the Booster Rouge yet, as I didnt want to lose it in the sediment. When I'm healed enough to rack the wine again, and isolate the sediment, I'll add Booster Rouge to the liquid & see how far I can get the solids to compact











Obviously short on my 5 gallons, so I've been brainstorming - what to do, what to do..

I still have last years [(2012 Blackberry + Riesling + Rhone 4600 yeast) + (2011 Blackberry+Honey+native yeast)] behemoth, that I could top off with, but only the 2011-part has honey in it.

Time will tell; time I have..


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