getting 15 lbs of honey

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seanf76

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I need a good mead recipe. My friend has bees and is giving me 15 lbs of honey. Do I make a 6 gallon batch or 5 different 1 gallon batches
 
I need a good mead recipe. My friend has bees and is giving me 15 lbs of honey. Do I make a 6 gallon batch or 5 different 1 gallon batches

It really depends on what you want to do. Do you plan on making a sweet mead? High alcohol content? Spiced or fruity?
 
That will get you about 14% ABV... Change it to 4 gallons total volume and you're in the 17% area.

If it's really good honey, I would just make a traditional mead.

I would wait for a late season harvest if it was me though. Get the darker stuff that has much more flavor to it. I picked up some from a guy in Woburn that was a mid-season harvest and I'm not at all impressed. Seriously lacking in flavor. Both the honey and the mead made with it. Color is also very light. A far cry from the first meads I made using honey from NH that was intense in flavor (both by itself, or just as honey, and once made into mead).

I would ask for a small sample to taste before you take any honey. Granted it's free, but I'd rather have really GREAT [free] honey than ho-hum [free] honey... :D
 
I would ask for a small sample to taste before you take any honey. Granted it's free, but I'd rather have really GREAT [free] honey than ho-hum [free] honey... :D

If that were the case then why carmelize the honey and make a really great bochet from ho hum honey? Hey....free is free.
 
Snob...:mug:




J/k!

Hey, at least you're making yourself a nice target for the bees... :D

For the meh honey, figure out some other flavors to add to it. You could let it ferment, then drop several split and scraped vanilla beans into it for a few months (up to about 6)... Or maybe some really course grind coffee beans (stuff you like to normally drink of course).

I plan on adding flavor elements to the 'meh' mead I have sitting in vessel now (started it in December). It's only about 14%, and about 4 gallons volume. Just trying to decide what to add to it... I do have plenty of vanilla beans on hand... Hmmmmmmm

Think I need a glass of my [18% traditional] 2010 mead to help me decide. :drunk:
 
Make 5 gallons of semi-sweet mead, then split it into five 1 gallon secondaries and add different fruits and spices to each.
 
That is a really nice gift.

I buy 5 gallons of honey at a time (about 60 lbs), from a local bee farmer. All of the bees farmed are within 50 miles, (I am a nut about my honey, and local honey is so damn good for you, especially if you have allergies). I end up paying $150 per 5 gallon bucket however. I could get it a lot cheaper (if I bought commercial), but it is well worth it. I have always wanted to make a honey mead, but the cost, has kind of pushed me back some. It's a sickening irony, being as I have gone through almost 10 gallons of honey this year so far.
 
i am thinking of making it semi sweet anyone have good recipe
i then think i may split it and do
2 with vanilla bean
2 with berries
and i straight honey

any suggestions or help would be great
should i secondary all the ingrediants berries vanilla bean
should i use fresh or frozen berries i heard both work '
 
i am thinking of making it semi sweet anyone have good recipe
i then think i may split it and do
2 with vanilla bean
2 with berries
and i straight honey

any suggestions or help would be great
should i secondary all the ingrediants berries vanilla bean
should i use fresh or frozen berries i heard both work '

Adding the berries to the primary will give you more of the fermented fruit flavor and adding them to the second will give you a stronger, fruit flavor. It's up to you what you want. You might even want to do both.

I like to add my berries at the end of the primary. That way there is enough alcohol so that any bacteria on the fruit can't take over and there isn't as much fermentation blowing all the aromas out of the airlock.

It's good to freeze the fresh fruit so that the cells break open and the yeast can get in. It isn't really about fresh vs. frozen. Just use the best fruit you have.
 
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