Mead with Costco Honey...

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TheMuffinMan

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All!

I recently gave up on a mead (Joe's ancient orange mead) that had absolutely zero fermentation activity after 4 months in primary. Thankfully it was only a gallon. I added an extra pound of honey, cause you know, alcohol, but was lazy when buying the honey and got it from Costco. Anyone have any bad experiences with Costco honey?
 
Bummer. I've used Costco honey with no problem, both a raw honey they sell and the Kirkland brand. Bears and the 5 pound jug. Was your yeast viable? Did you heat your honey and water?
 
All I did was mix the honey with hot tap water. I used champagne yeast the first pitch, then the second pitch (after 2 months) was with bread yeast...both failed miserably. I even used yeast nutrient the first pitch. Maybe because I didn't properly sanitize the honey by a light boil?
 
I've already whipped up two cysers using store bought apple juice and cost-co honey and they're fermenting like crazy, already dropped SG beyond what only the sugars in the apple juice would've allowed.

Few questions for you:
#1. What kind of yeast nutrient did you add? How much?
#2. What temperature was the water when you added the yeast?
#3. How well mixed was the honey into the water when you added the yeast?
 
@themuffinman the reason I asked about boiling is, and you likely already know this, if the liquid is too hot when you pitch the yeast you can kill it off before you start. Do you know the temp when you pitched? If you had absolutely no signs of fermentation that would be my guess.
 
All!

I recently gave up on a mead (Joe's ancient orange mead) that had absolutely zero fermentation activity after 4 months in primary. Thankfully it was only a gallon. I added an extra pound of honey, cause you know, alcohol, but was lazy when buying the honey and got it from Costco. Anyone have any bad experiences with Costco honey?

You messed with the recipe and failed. An "extra pound" would've brought you to about 1.171 OG and that's gonna be a problem. Costco or otherwise.
 
Maylar, why would 1.171 be a problem for a mead with champagne yeast? Also my mead had measured around 1.130 if I remember correctly.

Also, hoppy2bmerry, I am not sure if I pitched the yeast too hot as I didn't measure. But I used warm tap water and mixed it with the honey until the honey dissolved. But if I had pitched too hot, I would have assumed the second pitching of bread yeast would have done something. Unless my bread yeast wasn't active anymore (I just grabbed some from the fridge)
 
Maylar, why would 1.171 be a problem for a mead with champagne yeast? Also my mead had measured around 1.130 if I remember correctly.

The JOAM recipe calls for 3.5 lbs of honey in a gallon, which normally starts off around 1.130. With bread yeast it'll ferment down to about 1.025 and quit. That's the key to the JOAM - the sweetness balances out the bitterness of the orange. Using a champagne yeast would finish dry at about 17% (if all went well) and the mead will be unbearably bitter.

But if you added another pound of honey that'll bring the gravity up to about 1.17 (each pound adds about 38 points per gallon). I'm not an expert on this but I've read that yeasts can go into shock if put into high gravity must. You'd need to over pitch and use nutrients. You would have been better off starting with less honey and adding some in once fermentation was under way.
 
The JOAM recipe calls for 3.5 lbs of honey in a gallon, which normally starts off around 1.130. With bread yeast it'll ferment down to about 1.025 and quit. That's the key to the JOAM - the sweetness balances out the bitterness of the orange. Using a champagne yeast would finish dry at about 17% (if all went well) and the mead will be unbearably bitter.

But if you added another pound of honey that'll bring the gravity up to about 1.17 (each pound adds about 38 points per gallon). I'm not an expert on this but I've read that yeasts can go into shock if put into high gravity must. You'd need to over pitch and use nutrients. You would have been better off starting with less honey and adding some in once fermentation was under way.


Now THAT sounds like the most likely situation, as neither the champagne or bread yeast survived being pitched. I'll shut my brain off and follow the stupid recipe next time! Thanks Maylar, I didn't think the little yeasties would just go into shock like that.

:mug:
 
This thread's a bit reassuring. I have a Costco membership and despite having done no other meads before, I can't help but look at their honey and wonder. I may yet try that soon...
 
As long as you know your stuff and how to use a hydrometer, things should in general be fine no matter what kind of honey you use.

There are three golden rules to any kind of brewing, including meads:
  • PROPERLY sanitize all equipment, and boil the water if not using bottled water.
  • Know your yeast. (includes tolerance to alcohol and gravity, and also preffered fermentation temp, nutrient requirements, etc.)
  • Have patience.

That goes to say, the type and amount of honey you choose is crucial when it comes to the taste of the final product. If your honey tastes awful in the first place, it's problably not going to taste anything better after making mead from it.
 
I've made plenty of mead (50+ gallons) with grocery store honey. No issues.
 
As long as you know your stuff and how to use a hydrometer, things should in general be fine no matter what kind of honey you use.

There are three golden rules to any kind of brewing, including meads:
  • PROPERLY sanitize all equipment, and boil the water if not using bottled water.
  • Know your yeast. (includes tolerance to alcohol and gravity, and also preffered fermentation temp, nutrient requirements, etc.)
  • Have patience.

That goes to say, the type and amount of honey you choose is crucial when it comes to the taste of the final product. If your honey tastes awful in the first place, it's problably not going to taste anything better after making mead from it.

Yeah I'm sure now that it wasn't due to the type of honey I used, but more about the fact that I probably overwhelmed the yeast with the starting gravity over 1.300. I was too excited about the high alcohol levels!
 
I've made plenty of mead (50+ gallons) with grocery store honey. No issues.

On my first try, I went big and created a three gallon version of JAOM using a honey-to-water ratio of 3lbs/gallon of water. I used Costco clover honey, Spanish minneolas, filtered tap water, spiced citrus zest, and a liquid starter of Safale 05 ale yeast.
No problems as my temps were constant in the 61-64F range during primary phase.
It was in the primary on January 29 and now sits in a glass secondary at around 14% ABV. The attenuation rate amazed me and it might've had quite a lot to do with the stepped nutrient additions and de-gassing, which I took from the wine making world.

Starting gravity: 1.12 (est)
Final: 1.012 (and still clarifying)

After checking the BJCP info on mead, I found to my surprise my first try fell within specs for a high alcohol version of semi-sweet melomel .. and it's still going.
 

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