No heat method?

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janzik

janzik

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Reading the recent BYO article on melomels, the three recipes they include there describe the process w/o heating the honey/fruit/water (other than for making a pitching temperature). This appears to be the exception, rather than the rule. What are your thoughts?
 
Do NOT heat honey or fruit. Well, don't cook it. You can put the honey containers in a warm water bath, as in the warm water from your tap, not the stove. This will soften the honey enough that it can mixed with the water easily. And heating fruits can lead to pectic haze, which is a pain in the ass to clear.
 
I just made my second batch of melomel today (first batch was Strawberry Banana, based off of the BYO article: 22lbs WF honey, 18lbs frozen strawberries, 3 gallons of water, and 4lbs bananas for the secondary).

This batch I did the same, but w/o the bananas. The actual weight and measurements came out to be 22.5lbs of honey (I had to eyeball it in my bucket then put it on my scale, because I was pouring out of a 5gallon honey bucket), 17.5lbs of strawberries (as per my scale). OG was between 1.2 and 1.26 It was hard to get a good reading because it was pretty thick up top. (I crushed the strawberries too much last time, so I didn't mash them as hard this time).
 
Heat vs no heat could be a better debate than Obama vs McCain! Personally, I don't heat anything. I've never had a problem doing it that way and it's a heck of a lot easier. I don't think there is anything wrong with heating as long as you keep it around 150-160. Higher temps can cause issues in both fruit and honey.

Congrats on your first two batches. They are pretty ambitious...lots of honey and lots of fruit. Did you get the honey from Grant Stiles?
 
If this is a five gallon batch, your OG should be much higher than 1.126. With 22.5 lbs honey and 17.5 lbs strawberries, I'd expect it to be closer to 1.170.
For comparison, I typically use 12-15 lbs of honey in five gallons.
 
GinKings said:
If this is a five gallon batch, your OG should be much higher than 1.126. With 22.5 lbs honey and 17.5 lbs strawberries, I'd expect it to be closer to 1.170.
For comparison, I typically use 12-15 lbs of honey in five gallons.
Click to expand...

1.26

The article says it should be 1.155, but it was between 1.2 and 1.26 at 68 degrees.


I did get the honey from Grant. Real nice guy. I will definitely get my next batch from him as well...
 
I'm assuming you read a "126" on the hydrometer, which is actually 1.126 rather than 1.26. It's really hard to take an accurate gravity after you add fruit. Take it before the fruit addition next time. I'd bet the article is closer.

A quick ballpark estimate. Sugar content varies a bit in honey, but 36 points per pound is a reasonable estimate.

22.5 lbs honey x 36 points/lb = 810 points
strawberries are about 5% sugar, so 17.5 lbs would contain .875 lbs of sugar
.875 x 45 points/lb of sugar = 40 points

810 + 40 = 850 total points in five gallons
850 / 5 gallons = 170 points per gallon or an approx OG of 1.170

This is a BIG melomel. ABV will be high if the yeast holds up.
 
GinKings said:
I'm assuming you read a "126" on the hydrometer, which is actually 1.126 rather than 1.26. It's really hard to take an accurate gravity after you add fruit. Take it before the fruit addition next time. I'd bet the article is closer.

A quick ballpark estimate. Sugar content varies a bit in honey, but 36 points per pound is a reasonable estimate.

22.5 lbs honey x 36 points/lb = 810 points
strawberries are about 5% sugar, so 17.5 lbs would contain .875 lbs of sugar
.875 x 45 points/lb of sugar = 40 points

810 + 40 = 850 total points in five gallons
850 / 5 gallons = 170 points per gallon or an approx OG of 1.170

This is a BIG melomel. ABV will be high if the yeast holds up.
Click to expand...

Wow, I was insisting it was .126. I had to go downstairs and look at my hydrometer... thanks for the gentle correction :)

Based on the BYO article (22lb honey, 18lb frozen strawberries, 4lb bananas (for the secondary), 3 gallons of water), they say it should be an OG of 1.155 and finishing between 1.025-1.035. My first batch finished at 1.020.

Also, after reading around more, I thought this was a big melomel. I wonder why BYO would post something that seems to be different from a standard recipe w/o indicating that they're kicking it up a notch, so to speak.
 
janzik said:
Reading the recent BYO article on melomels, the three recipes they include there describe the process w/o heating the honey/fruit/water (other than for making a pitching temperature). This appears to be the exception, rather than the rule. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I never heat honey, I use a blender to mix/areate the must. This serves to retain as much flavour from the honey as possible in the end product. Regards, GF.
 

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