No boil honey recipe?

I know I have read that some people do not boil their honey when making a mead or using it for priming. Is this a good idea? I am hoping to hear from someone who says, "oh yeah i do that all the time."

Sorry- not me! I've never boiled honey. But..........tomorrow I'm making a beer with honey in it, and because it's only for fermentables (not flavor), I'll add it at flame out. So, sort of, kind of, almost boiling it.

It's not really a good idea, the boiling process drives a lot of the flavor away from the honey. The only reason I'd see to do is if you think you had contaminated honey.

not much can live in honey. i would just dump it in and make sure everything else is sanitized. good luck.

Never have, never will boil honey. It's simply not fair to the bees that produced it....nor the friends that will drink it.

Yooper...Save some flavor and add your honey after a day or so, let the yeast mix it in for you.

BigKahuna said:

Never have, never will boil honey. It's simply not fair to the bees that produced it....nor the friends that will drink it.

Yooper...Save some flavor and add your honey after a day or so, let the yeast mix it in for you.

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but......I don't actually LIKE honey. This is in an Irish style beer, simply to add fermentables and dry it out a bit. That's why I'm using it. But, you're right- I'll wait and add it into the fermenter.

The friend who introduced me to brewing is crazy about clean. He is a good friend to have around if you need bottles washed or a carboy. I clearly remember a long speech about "you have to boil honey. . . . bees are dirty. . . bee fragments like legs and wings. . ." I guess he has had me all ****ed up.

This is probably why my cyser had little to no really honey flavor.

Thanks guys.

YooperBrew said:

But, you're right- I'll wait and add it into the fermenter.

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I hear that a lot....but somehow....coming from you.....I feel a bit of pride and some gratification. Thanks Yoop!


<Sheads a single tear>

so..okay this is probably a dumb question, but if you're pretty much doing a normal straight mead with just honey, do you just propagate the yeast for like three days on water and nutrient and then throw in the honey? XP I actually just made a rhodomel (hibiscus, rose petal, wild cherry bark +2.5 lbs of arrow root honey and a bit of white grape juice to hit the 1g mark..making a small batch ) which I boiled, skimmed and then put into a 6 gallon plastic brewbucket with some montrachet yeast I had lying around (it was seriously spur of the moment) from an apfelwine order. XP Think it'll help if I add some clover honey in at the 3 day mark?

I do not boil or pasteurize my honey when making mead. It would ruin all of the beautiful subtlety of the honey and I think it's pretty safe.

I've done boils and no-boils. I really can't tell the difference.

It's probably because I've never done a no-boil with just honey...that Barkshack Ginger Mead (from Papazian's TCJOHB) is great (if you like ginger...).

I do no-boils for all my meads.
If you want to use campden you can but I do not.
I use 2-3x pounds of honey for volume of water depending on what you want your ABV to be. I typically make session meads in the 5-8 ABV range.
Warm water, honey, yeast nutrient and a good yeast like D47 or S-05. I have even used Lager yeast and done pseudo-larger light sparkling meads.
Force carb after cold crashing once your ABV is met and you like the flavor works to clarify and gives a nice mouthfeel.

I have also done melomels using freeze dried fruit in a metal hop tube in the must as its fermenting. Raspberry and Blueberry's work great and can make a solid still mead in just 2 weeks.

Great Resources:
https://www.groennfell.com/recipeshttps://theversatiledad.com/2020/05/05/brewday2/