Liquid Sex Chocolate Mead project, (Last place I post this, I promise.) Options

[the4th]

I decided to break in my Mini-Brew Conical this evening.

I have opted for a 6 gallon batch of "Liquid Sex" Chocolate Mead.

19 lbs wildflower honey
4 tsp yeast nutrient (will feed a little more later)
water to 6 gallons
1 lb bakers cocoa powder
2 packets of re-hydrated Lalvin D47

OG was 1.115ish. If the yeast tuckers out at 14% as advertised, I should have a bit of residual sweetness.

[Pat_13]

Sounds good, where did you get the recipe? Have you made or tried it before?

[armagh]

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=63428

Some other permutations.

This post has been edited by armagh: Mar 14 2007, 07:02 AM

[the4th]

The "real" recipe states that one should have a semi-sweet to sweet recipe for mead that they are adept at making and like drinking, then just add the cocoa powder before fermenting.

I am no more adept at making mead than I was with my first batch (raspberry melomel), but it turned out great. This is my first attempt at this recipe, and I haven't tasted any others.

This post has been edited by the4th: Mar 14 2007, 10:15 AM

[armagh]

The "real" recipe states that one should have a semi-sweet to sweet recipe for mead that they are adept at making and like drinking, then just add the cocoa powder before fermenting.

Good advice if using cocoa powder, which depending on how it is processed, may be bitter. Start with cacao beans, extract the "meat" from the beans, grind it up and you have what is called the chocolate liquor (non-alcoholic). Extract from the chocolate liquor the cocoa butter (non-dairy butter) and what is left is dried, processed, and sometimes "Dutched" (treated with alkali) and called cocoa powder. (see The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipies). In truth, cocoa powder is a bit distant from chocolate in some ways, which is why I use high-quality unsweetened, pure dark chocolate in meads. Several years ago Cook's Illustrated ran a piece on unsweetened chocolates in which Scharffen Berger came out at the top of their ratings. I've been using it ever since. It is far messier to work with than cocoa powder because of the cocoa butter but the rewards tastewise make it worthwhile.

[Mead Guy From MD]

I'm thinking of doing one similar, but using cocao nibs.
~Phil

[buzzardwhiskey]

Were I to do this I would make the best plain sweet mead
I could, then add a chocolate extract such the one made by
Nielsen Massey

This post has been edited by buzzardwhiskey: Apr 17 2007, 07:58 AM

[Pat_13]

Any update on this?

[Dave F]

I'm glad someone bumped this thread (it precedes my participation with the BB)...I've been planning a chocolate mead too...the source for my recipe comes from a really interesting winemaker's blog. Interestingly, he also calls his chocolate mead Liquid Sex. Recipe is pretty similar, but he recommends a sweet cocoa powder (Nestle's) rather than bakers chocolate. Here's the info...

[Dave F]

I'm glad someone bumped this thread (it precedes my participation with the BB)...I've been planning a chocolate mead too...the source for my recipe comes from a really interesting winemaker's blog. Interestingly, he also calls his chocolate mead Liquid Sex. Recipe is pretty similar, but he recommends a sweet cocoa powder (Nestle's) rather than bakers chocolate. Here's the info...

I hate to reply to myself, but I forgot to ask: what do any of you think about the concept (in the posted link) of keeping the mead in the primary for an entire year? It seems odd to me, but the blogger seems like he's made this a few times and has the recipe pretty dialed in...seems to feel that the extended primary is necessary to mature the chocolate compounds/flavor with the mead.

[Dave F]

I'm glad someone bumped this thread (it precedes my participation with the BB)...I've been planning a chocolate mead too...the source for my recipe comes from a really interesting winemaker's blog. Interestingly, he also calls his chocolate mead Liquid Sex. Recipe is pretty similar, but he recommends a sweet cocoa powder (Nestle's) rather than bakers chocolate. Here's the info...

Again, sorry to reply to myself, but I wanted to correct my assumption re: sweet cocoa powder. It seems (as I recently went to the store and bought cocoa to have on hand for when I brew this one up), that Nestle's does make an unsweetened baking powder. It very well may be that the recipe I referenced may use unsweetened cocoa after all.
The referenced recipe does however, call for a 4:1 water:honey ratio, so 19 lbs honey for a 6 gal batch would be much more, unless you were going to use a yeast that would attenuate before drying too much. The quoted FG (after back sweetening) was 1.030. I'm not sure I'd want a mead *quite* that sweet, but I suppose that's to taste. The author of the recipe does contend that too hot of a mead will mask the subtleties of the chocolate.

[Mead Guy From MD]

Lalvin K1V and EC 1118 both will run to 18%. The EC is more of a Champagne yeast though. I have used both and prefer K1V fore a less dry Mead.
~Phillip

This post has been edited by Mead Guy From MD: Jun 9 2009, 12:59 AM

[the4th]

No updates on this.

When I went to Iraq the second time, this was put into a large carboy for bulk aging. While I was there, the missus an I got a divorce. Allegedly, all my beer, wine, and equipment went into climate controlled storage in Houston. I returned to the US to take a job near Nacogdoches, Texas about 4 months ago. This past weekend I took the 2 hour drive to Houston to unpack my store room only to find that the ex gave me the wrong set of keys. As luck would have it, the lock picks I would have used to pick the lock are in the store room. It's a Master 40 series security lock with the shroud over the shackle so I couldn't get bolt cutters in there to cut it off.

IF the mead survived the airlock drying out this past year and the undoubtedly harsh treatment from the ex and / or her family, it's probably pretty tasty since it's been bulk aging for 2 years. If it's gross, my girlfriend is a science teacher... maybe she can use it in class for something.