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Crystalized Honey
The wildflower honey that I was given for my birthday in September, never made it into meade (yet). With the extreme cold temps we having been having, the entire gallon jug has crystalized. What is the best way to de-crystalize it? I do not want to set the entire jug in boiling water as the plastic jug might melt or release some toxins into the honey. I have thought that maybe wrapping the jug in a heating pad on low over night might be an option. Anybody out there have a few tricks of the trade on getting crystalized honey out of a narrow necked jug?
The water does not need to be boiling to return the honey to a liquid state. You can heat it to boiling, remove from heat and set the jug into the water until it re-liquidfies. If you are concerned with the plastic releasing bad elements into the honey then heat only to 180*, place the jug in it, and let set for a bit and remove the jug and re-heat and repeat as needed until the honey is to your liking. Microwaving is not a good idea, I've been told.
Hope this helps!
regular hot tap water should work fine with no ill side effects
A little late on this post but I would second Andrew with the hot tap water and just replace it as needed to liquify the honey again.
ID
you do not want to use anything above 120 as this will drive off aromatics in the honey. The best way is a heated blanket and keep it on wrapped up for about 24 hrs. The problem with crystalized honey is not the liquify part you have to mix the crap out of it to get it back in combination with the heat. I put mine into a pot that pot mixed the crap out of it and put it back.
I have been pondering the action I wanted to take and decided to just set the honey outside in the sun and see what happens. After 2 days in Texas sun, the honey has melted and is pourable once again. I wanted to make an Imperial Green Plum mead but they are not in season until July so I think a dried cherry/vanilla bean mead is going to be the next flavor of choice ( at least a small batch).
wow that sounds great. how much cherry/ vanilla are you gonna add per gal?
ID
I am thinking of starting out with 2 gallon of water to 6 lbs of the honey, then adding 2 lbs of dried cherries that have been steeped with 1/4 to 1/2 vanilla bean. I think I may want to add the cherries to the secondary this time around. I usually put the fruit in the primary but last time with the peaches/raspberries, it was damn hard to get it to clear (took 10 months and several rackings).
I think that adding the fruit into secondary is going to help all the flavors to be more prevalent. When I add to secondary this time I think that I'm going to back off on the fruit/ spices some. You can't take flavor out once it's put in. 
Might just add 8 oz of cherries and 1/4ish vanilla bean per gal. Do you prefer dried or fresh fruit?
ID
You really think 2 lbs of dried cherries it too much for 6 lbs of honey? I don't want weak flavored melomel. Do you use fresh, dried or fruit concentrate? I have done fresh and fruit concentrate (which was by far the easiest), this is gonna be my first batch using dried fruit.
By the way, I called and talked to Judy at Good Flow today and they are still in the honey biz (no juice only honey for right now). They have honey for $25 a gallon (the end of last years run) but after June it will go up to $28.00 for the new season of honey. Just passing on some good info for fellow mazers.
Tess
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