using pear/apple molasses

[snikje]

been looking into some additions into my meads.

and i keep getting drawn to what would be translated to molasses.
(i have no idea if the stuff has a proper English name, dutch would be "perenstroop" and the german name is "birnekraut")
seems like the production is similar to what is called molasses only its made from pear juice boiled down (or apples with added sugar) it has a sugar content of somewhere between 65-75%. nice dark brown color and very distinctive smell and sweet sour taste(at least to me )

i already figured out i need the organic stuff to avoid any preservatives wich are common in the regular stuff. but i am wondering if anyone has used this or similar products before. and what their experience is with it. and what kind of dosage is best for mead.

 

[Medsen Fey]

I think the English term for birnekraut made with apples is probably "apple butter." It can definitely be used as an ingredient, and there was a group brew done some years ago using it with high gravity ferments. I've not used it in a recipe but I think it would be fun to try.

 

[fatbloke]

been looking into some additions into my meads.

and i keep getting drawn to what would be translated to molasses.
(i have no idea if the stuff has a proper English name, dutch would be "perenstroop" and the german name is "birnekraut")
seems like the production is similar to what is called molasses only its made from pear juice boiled down (or apples with added sugar) it has a sugar content of somewhere between 65-75%. nice dark brown color and very distinctive smell and sweet sour taste(at least to me )

i already figured out i need the organic stuff to avoid any preservatives wich are common in the regular stuff. but i am wondering if anyone has used this or similar products before. and what their experience is with it. and what kind of dosage is best for mead.

I've heard of this, but never used it. Molasses is basically the residue from sugar refining. It is very, very dark brown/black in colour and has a burnt sort of taste to it, as well as a pronounced sweetness. The only problem with it (molasses that is), is that it can impart a burnt bitterness sometimes......

I don't think that there's an english equivalent to perenstroop. I certainly haven't heard of anything like that being available.

Go on though, experiment with it, it sounds rather good .....

regards

fatbloke

 

[kudapucat]

Hmm Google says
birnenkraut = pear-herb
perenstroop = pear-syrup

Syrup's a good English term for what you describe. Syrup is always thick, sweet and condensed of flavour.
Herb is just weird, but so is the German language I've found ;-) But I feel this is a bad translation.

Apple-butter is apple-syrup that has been caramelised, and trust the English to come up with a term that absolutely doesn't apply logically to the descripted!

 

[snikje]

yeah the way you discribe apple butter would be (close to) what i intend to use. though there are lots of fruit bases that are available here in the Netherlands. apple and pear just is the most common (pear also being the one with highest sugar content without adding it artificially) but many fruit mixtures can be found. so far i have seen very few who have some sort of preservatives listed so i am going to take a gamble an buy some nice pear-butter.

as for logical names. the dutch word for peanut-butter would translate into peanut-cheese.. go figure.

so as for the other question.. dosage. anyone have some pointers?
considering the high sugar content i prolly could replace a lot of the honey with it and get a good fermentation going. but i am worried about the final taste becoming way to overpowering and since it usually also has lemon juice in it, it might acidify the must too much.

 

[kudapucat]

as for logical names. the dutch word for peanut-butter would translate into peanut-cheese.. go figure.

LoL touché.
You've made me ponder though. The Lebonese/Italian grocer near me sells bottles of fruit 'nectar' which is WAY too sweet to drink. They always said it was for cooking, and I was lost. Perhaps now I'm found.
I will have a look and check prices... Thanks for the inadvertent tip.

 

[wayneb]

Snikje, without having access to the fruit bases you're talking about, it is difficult to offer much in the way of advice except to try an experiment. Take a measured volume of the fruit base, add to it a measured volume of honey and water, then check the things we normally monitor during fermentation (pH, initial gravity, etc.), and if the going in numbers look reasonable, pitch a yeast and see what happens.

If I were to try something like this, I'd start with a mixture of between 1/4 and 1/3 fruit base by volume, and make up the rest with honey and water. I'd of course taste the mixture before starting fermentation to get some idea of how pronounced the fruit flavors are, before I'd start the ferment.

If you do something like this, keep a good detailed brewlog - you may find a good way to make a fine melomel and you'll want to be able to repeat and refine the process in future batches.