wworker

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I am just wondering what the general attitude towards heating honey is? Do you do it? If so, what is your method?

AZ_IPA

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conventional wisdom these days is that it is not needed - and perhaps detrimental to some of the flavors/aromas.

That being said, I'll usually heat about 1/3rd of my water to 140*. In addition, I'll have another vessel of warm (~100) water that I put the honey container into (it helps the honey flow easier).

Then I'll add the honey to the ~140* water, stir to dissolve and add to the fermenter with the rest of the needed water. That gets it pretty close to pitching temp, but it also allows the honey to mostly dissolve.

klcramer

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I heat honey and water mixture to about 140 degrees or so and skim off the white foam that rises to the top. I am told it's not needed but makes me feel better.

Yan

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I've done both. I find the only real advantage to heating is that it seems to clear faster due to coagulation of proteins, I imagine. Also, skimming the foam I presume removes residual wax.

liquiditynerd

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I put it out int he sun or in a sink full of very warm water. I have read that there are natural antihistamines if you do not over heat it. either way the yeast takes care of it anyway so i figure why make more dishes to clean.

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....just add water.....

Yan

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well, heating denatures proteins. Pollens are largely composed of proteins, and there are proteins in (especially unfiltered) honey. Many people claim that eating local honey builds up your immune system against local allergens. But I've never seen anything stating that it has specific histamine blocking properties.

shanecb

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I only heat the container of honey in some warm water to make it easier to pour out, but that's it. I don't boil anything or heat anything up beyond that.

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Primary - Nothing
Secondary - Wild Brett clementine sour beer


2010 - 62.5 gallons
2011 - 62.5 gallons

gratus fermentatio

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The most I do is warm it in a water bath of hot tap water; if it's too hot to put my hand in it, I don't put honey in it either. Mostly I just use it at room temp. Regards, GF.

MedsenFey

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I don't heat my honey. I believe that doing so causes a great loss of aromatic elements that I want to keep in my meads. However, there is very little data on which to base a conclusion. The only report of a side by side comparison of a boiled and non-boiled batch that I have seen so far was done by Erroll Ozgencil in his Washington Winemaker blog. In it he used a very strong honey (heather) and the boiled batch was preferred.

I have outlined my criticism of his approach in a thread over on GotMead, and several of us are currently running side by side batches to try to establish more data points with different types of honey. Mine is almost ready for bottling using another strong dark honey (mint), and I want to set up another comparison using a light honey like orange blossom. In a couple of years, we may be able to speak with much more certainty about the pros and cons of each approach.

I would invite anyone here interested in collecting some data, to try setting up two identical batches (a boiled and non-boiled) and fermenting them out. If you keep a good brewlog that information will be helpful to future generations of mead makers. If you will post a link over on GotMead to any of your data, we'll try to tabulate it over time, and eventually we'll have enough comparisons in one place to be able to draw some conclusions (at least that is my hope).

In the meantime, I keep advocating no boiling based purely on faith and anecdote.

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"Our results are merely the result of carefully managing the transformation of bee spit into yeast excrement."
--- Wayneb

AZ_IPA

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hmmmm. I seem to have a fw empty gallon jugs and a plethora of orange blossom honey

Like many brewing techniques! What works, works.