apple-honey-butter-mead/bench-trial.md

Bench Trial Guide — Apple Honey Butter Flavoring

The full batch is not the testing ground. Use 100 ml samples first.

Scaling

3 gallons is about 11,356 ml.

For a 100 ml sample:

full batch amount = sample amount × 113.56

For potent extracts/spices, start lower than the math-scaled dose if uncertain.

Suggested sample matrix

Sample	Honey	Apple concentrate	Vanilla	Cinnamon/spice	Butter/butterscotch	Salt/acid/tannin
A	none	none	none	none	none	none
B	low	none	tiny	none	none	none
C	medium	low	tiny	none	none	none
D	medium	low	tiny	tiny cinnamon	none	none
E	medium	low	tiny	tiny cinnamon	tiny butter	none
F	medium	low	tiny	tiny cinnamon	tiny butterscotch	tiny salt

What to look for

• Enough sweetness to carry dessert flavor.
• Apple still present.
• Honey still present.
• Butter/butterscotch not fake or popcorn-like.
• Cinnamon warm but not hot/woody.
• Finish not flat or cloying.

Rule

You can always add more. You cannot remove too much extract/spice.