Looking for a choco-chili mead recipe...

[Sirthomas42]

I've been trying to figured out a good recipe for a chocolate chipotle-chili mead. I keep finding ones that are "almost", but not exactly what I'm looking for. What I'm trying to get, is when you taste it, it's mostly chocolate, but enough heat to it, that it tastes like one of those hot pepper chocolate squares.

There's also a ton of ways to add chocolate flavor to a mead. My last mead, I added a ton of cocoa powder. The downside to that, is it's been done for almost a year, and it probably needs another year to be drinkable. I'm hoping we can find a way to add a good chocolate flavor (the predominant flavor) without having to wait so long aging. I'm wondering if anyone has some advice for what form the chocolate would take, and how much. Syrup? Melted down dark chocolate bars? Extract?

I've been in this hobby barely a year, so any advice the masters can provide would be greatly appreciated! I have 15 pounds of wildflower honey bored, just waiting around for a recipe it can join! Thanks!

 

[Deezil]

Have you considered actually using a form of those hot chocolate squares? Something with 70+% cocoa is usually recommended.. The darker varieties... You would probably want to use some regular chocolate, and only a fraction with the heat in it.

Dan/Runningwolf has a picture here somewhere, where he shows his chocolate pieces in the bottom of his carboy.. This is basically what i'd do, with often stirring & tasting until you get it where you want - i would add the chocolate after secondary fermentation, running primary with just the honey & appropriate ingredients..

To sum up that jumbled mess, what i would do:

Ferment the honey as a normal mead
Rack into secondary & finish fermentation
Rack off lees onto dark chocolate / hot chocolate pieces
Stir often / taste often, rack off when you get the taste you're looking for

If you dont get enough heat, can try adding 1 or 2 jalapenos w/o seeds, and let them sit with the chocolate.. Just taste often so you dont overdue it.

 

[Deezil]

Something like this

As for the whole time thing... Meads generally take longer to come together than other wines.. But the best things in life are worth waiting for, so i'd be thinking about investing atleast 2 years into it if you're going for a high quality finish.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Chocolate and Chiles go together so well, habenaro flakes on a chocolate syrup Sundae is very special. Jack Kellers site has a Feb 16th blog on chocolate and wine as a guide.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/wineblognew.asp

I wouldnt use chipolte in sauce, if you wanted chile flavor add some anaheim powder and for heat some habenaro powder, both available at Penderys online. The anahiem has a deep earthy flavor that would go really well in a mead. So what kind of honey are you going to use? Can you get a darker honey that would stand up to such a strong chocolate flavor?

Crackedcork