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"local honey"
Picking up on a point made in the "local honey" thread recently.
I've made just 3 meads so far, all with wild/local honey (supplementing with a few ounces or a pound or two of store-bought if I'm just shy of the requisite amount) but ALL the recipes I have instruct to boil the honey for 10-20 minutes. I understood this is to help clarify, remove particulates, etc. They do say that this will remove some of the flavor, but I've gone with the recipe.
Would a suitable alternative be to mix the honey with some warm water, just enough to liquefy, then strain/filter to remove the particulates like bees legs and larger wax chunks?
The mead I'm currently working on (in secondary) is sweet dessert mead: 4 lbs honey per gallon. I got it unfiltered from the producer and had to simmer it for an hour to skim off all the junk. Is this mead going to task like water?
I realize meads need extended aging. I'm still 3 months shy of one year since my dry and sack meads were fermented, but they taste boring with this strange off-flavor that I can't describe--kind of musty. I hope (1) this will disappear once they're bottled and age for a good 6-18+ months and (2) my dessert mead doesn't turn out this way!
Thanks
Ali
I went the simpler route and just heated it to 140 (or maybe 160, I'd have to look at my notes). This is supposedly hot enough to kill bad stuff, but cool enough to leave some of the light floral characters.
As a beekeeper and a honey-eater, I do notice that heated honey loses a lot of the light complex flavors and becomes rather dull. If you are using any sort of varietals with a light flavor, you risk losing it by boiling. Strong honeys though, I doubt you need to worry, and the same goes for those of a rather general taste. Clover or wildflower honey will come out almost the same. Whenever possible though, avoid boiling it, if you can smell the honey strongly, then that means you are losing it.
When I added more honey later on in the secondary, I just dissolved it in warm water. The yeast activity and alcohol already in the mean should keep any bad guys from gaining a foothold.
Thanks
Amir
I started out boiling, and skimming the scum off. My mead was usually fairly dry.
Now I merely raise the entire mix to 180 degrees for a few minutes (5-15 minutes) to ensure safety (I use bottled water, because tap water here is hideous) and then cool the pot down to under 100 to start the yeast. (I generally aim for about 75 degrees, but I usually lose patience and start the yeast at around 80-95 degrees. A bit warm, but it usually likes it well enough.)
I think boiling makes for drier, less flavorful mead.
Thanks
Jamal
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