The Chouchen is the 5th mead I made when I began my Mazer journey, and it’s still one of my absolute favorites! Not only is it a historical mead with a cool story, it’s easy to make and has a wonderful flavor!
In this video I cover what I discovered about this interesting mead, but I’ll cover the basics here anyway! The tale that’s told is that Druids who crossed the English Channel made their way into what is now Brittany, France (where Chouchen is STILL the local drink). Chouchen was known to be so strong, it would knock folks out!
The recipe I created is based off what I read, which is that the apples are fermented first, and then fermentation is extended by adding buckwheat honey.
Because of the hive’s design, the entire thing would be dumped into a barrel containing the fermenting apples. This of course not only included wax and honey, but bees and their venom.
The tale follows that because of the high alcohol content, AND the bee venom, people would get really umm… drunk and high.
Of course now-a-days we don’t brew with bee parts or their venom. I took a guess at when to add honey once the apples are fermenting, you don’t want to wait too long to take proper care of your yeast. Not being fed properly can be stressful for them, and that’s when you end up with off flavors and aromas!
As a WARNING: These videos are older, and my brewing practices were much simpler. I HIGHLY recommend you step feed your yeast, and stabilize with either additives or pasteurization. It’s pretty tricky to fully push your yeast to the max without risking off flavors that will take forever to age out!
Check out the tasting videos to see how it turned out! I have made this mead a couple of times, and with experience I’ve definitely changed things up a bit. Take this as a base and build on it!
**The following is for a 5 gallon recipe**
Primary:
A step I learned of fairly recently was that it’s recommended to flash (A couple seconds) boil your apples to remove wax. We want the skins to provide natural tannin and complexity to the mead without any potential negative flavor.
Slice & Freeze an apple medley – choose flavorful, tart apples.
3lb Sweet Tango
2lb Pink Lady
2lb Granny Smith
2lb Gala
Packet of Lalvin 71B Yeast
5 Gallons of Apple Juice (No Water) – make sure there are no preservatives or yeast inhibitors
Follow TOSNA
After about 6 days I added 8lb of Buckwheat Honey. This step may be done earlier during nutrient additions. May need to adjust amounts of nutrients due to the increase in sugar.
Secondary:
Post fermentation it is recommended to stabilize.
Rack & Add French Oak Spiral
Backsweeten to taste (Warning: If you do not stabilize then your mead may re-ferment)
Acid & Tannin Balancing is recommended!
Clear & Bottle!
Faewood Mead 