Comments on: Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe

By: Chocolate mead anyone? - Home Brew Forums

Chocolate mead anyone? - Home Brew Forums — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:46:00 +0000

[...] is about 6 months in the carboy, http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2008/03/25/lord-rhys-chocolate-mead-recipe/ __________________ What I smoke has a sting to [...]

By: Leap Year 2012? - Page 5 - Home Brew Forums

Leap Year 2012? - Page 5 - Home Brew Forums — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:56:04 +0000

[...] won't even have to backsweeten (although I'll do so if necessary…) The cocoa mead recipe was this one, and I scaled it up to 6 gal, so I used 20 oz of regular Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder. This [...]

By: I don't want to be a pest - Home Brew Forums

I don't want to be a pest - Home Brew Forums — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:46:09 +0000

[...] waz following the recipe at this link, http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2008/03/25/lord-rhys-chocolate-mead-recipe/ I normally rack my other brews as you suggest but this one specifically said not to rack but once. [...]

By: Anyone ever done Jack Keller's Chocolate Mead? - Home Brew Forums

Anyone ever done Jack Keller's Chocolate Mead? - Home Brew Forums — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:58:14 +0000

[...] have made a similar recipe, which does not use a tannin addition (the tea), and uses a fair bit less honey. For a 6 gal batch, [...]

By: Erroll

Erroll — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:57:12 +0000

Hi Biar,

You’ve got an eye for detail! I was aware of Lady Bridget’s copy of the recipe, and I’ve even corresponded with her, but I didn’t know our copies were different until you mentioned it. This recipe is all over the web and is many years old, but they all originated from a single source – Dan (aka Lord Rhys). Errors can pop up when you make many copies of something, so maybe that happened here. Or maybe Dan made a small change to his recipe. Newer copies would have the change, but older copies might not be updated.

My understanding is that letting the mead age on the sediment is an important part of the recipe. Dan uses cocoa powder, instead of chocolate extract, to get everything that’s in the chocolate into his mead. So I would say not to strain. But I’ll see if I can get to the bottom of this.

Erroll

By: Biar

Biar — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 07:20:20 +0000

I’m just curious, in the original wording I’ve seen for this recipe (http://www.ladybridget.com/m/chocmead.html) it says to strain the must once after the bubbling has started to slow down in order to remove the bitter oils from the cocoa. Is this a typo? Would it be better to just let it sit in the carboy and the oils will break down on their own?

By: John Freels

John Freels — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:01:57 +0000

If I may suggest a very important point on sweeting your product ( Mead or Wine) I strongly advise waiting 24 hrs after adding the sweethner of choice to TASTE it. It will prevent an over sweetened product and increase the quality of your product. This is what the pros do in the Wineries, they dont tell everything they do…..
Oh yes, you can Google me, just add wine to the search to review my “qualifications” LOL
Cheers
John

By: Erroll

Erroll — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:14:08 +0000

Hi Tom,

Giving the carboy a twist every now and a again (once a month, maybe) is probably a good idea.

Let me know how yours turns out!

Erroll

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:19:27 +0000

I just made 30 gallons was wondering if you occasionally stirred
seiment of your mead the first year?

By: Erroll

Erroll — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:34:21 +0000

Hello CuAllaidh and Patrick,

I try to get to all the comments, but some slip past me. I agree with CuAllaidh: the Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead recipe is deliberately made w/out bentonite. I works great in conventional meads, like my Simple Mead Recipe, so that’s where I use it.

Erroll