Palm Sugar Island Hooch

[loveofrose]

In many tropical regions of the world, people collect palm sap for natural fermentation to yield a 4-5% ABV beverage. It is a very ancient beverage. No one really knows how old it is or the original founder was.

I would like to combine this ancient beverage with mead, but I need to know what it tastes like to pair an appropriate honey. This is the first round towards that end. I'm doubling the amount of sugar that most indigenous people would use in order to concentrate the flavor. I'm also using my tried and true nutrient schedule and yeast. Wild ferments are extremely variable. I like consistency.

Palm Sugar Island Hooch - 1 gallon

1. Add 2 lbs palm sugar to carboy. Be sure to remove wax seal completely. I had to use hot water to fully dissolve the solid mass of sap.
2. Add 0.4 tsp Fermaid K and 1 tsp of Fermaid O.
3. Add 1/8 tsp KHCO3.
4. Add water to half gallon and swirl to mix.
5. Add water to 1/2 cup shy of one gallon.
6. After it cools, Pitch a smack pack of Wyeast 1388.
7. Ferment until 1.000; ~5 days.
8. Cold crash as soon as you hit 1.000.
9. Step feed with appropriate honey to appropriate sweetness.
10. Carbonate in 1 gallon keg system.

Specs (Base before honey addition)
SG - 1.084
FG - 1.000
11% ABV



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[loveofrose]

Day 30
Began cold crashing. It had developed some slight Fusels, but very mild.

Day 49
Completely clear except for bits of paraffin wax. Bottled through sanitized cheesecloth and a fine mesh strainer. Very tasty and the fusels are gone. I wonder if the fusel taste was from the paraffin wax. Cheers!


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[mannye]

What kind of palms is this sap from? I have several Queen Palms on the property I can "tap?" Do I have to kill the palm? I have about 6 smaller palms which I don't know what they are and a whole buttload of Areca Palms and one Chinese Fan palm. And the rainy season is upon us. As long as I don't have to kill them, I'm game to play.

Edit: Wikipedia says it's called Toddy or palm wine. But the palms listed are coconut palm, oil palm, wild date palm, nipa palm, raphia palm and kithul palm. None of which I have. And it seems the sap is harvested from the big seed pods. I'll have to do more research. We don't have a West African community here, and Cubans nor South Americans don't do palm wine.

I'll see if we have an African community nearby and do some research.

 

[loveofrose]

It's coconut palm. I bought the sap off amazon. My understanding is that this is the best one to use, but I don't really have a lot of options to be picky.


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[mannye]

It's coconut palm. I bought the sap off amazon. My understanding is that this is the best one to use, but I don't really have a lot of options to be picky.


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Ok. I may not have any myself but there are hundreds of them around. I'll be surprised if I can't get it "fresh".


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[caduseus]

Since 50% of fermented sugar is not honey, this is not a mead

 

[dingurth]

Since 50% of fermented sugar is not honey, this is not a mead

I would like to combine this ancient beverage with mead, but I need to know what it tastes like to pair an appropriate honey. This is the first round towards that end.

From the OP.

 

[loveofrose]

In addition, this is posted in the "wine, spirits and other fermented beverages" section. Most folks don't know gotmead has such a section!


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