60 Year Old Honey

[Melana]

So, in the process of cleaning out my grandmothers house I was able to get my hands on 2 Gallons of 60 year old honey. Any suggestions on what type of mead I should make out of it? I'm a bit new (not a virgin) with making meads and I want something that will highlight this very dark honey.

 

[skadalajara]

I vote traditional.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

TRaDitioNaL - Let that honey shine

 

[fatbloke]

Concur.....

 

[Swarley88]

Ohhh yeaaah

 

[Melana]

Thanks! I'm torn as to which yeast to use here... Any suggestions?

 

[WVMJ]

So how does it taste? Does it have any kind of label on it? Did your grandfather raise bees and this is his honey? Did your grandad especially love something like cherries or did he just forget he had a bunch of honey in the basement. While a traditional is one way to go to highlight this wonderful find, if your grandfather had some special thing he liked it might be a more personal batch if it was made along those lines. WVMJ

 

[Elgran]

Lalvin D47 or EC1118 or if you want to try something really different and Irish Stout yeast.

 

[Melana]

It is very dark and complex with a strong honey flavor. My great grandfather had the bees and this honey was collected in the fifties. We have three gallon jugs of this gold and my family is kind enough to give me one to turn to mead. I agree with letting the honey flavor shine because there is so much flavor.

 

[fatbloke]

Lalvin D47 or EC1118 or if you want to try something really different and Irish Stout yeast.

The D47 if the ferment temperature can be kept below 70F/21C, because above that, it's known to produce lots of fusels etc in honey musts.

EC-1118 is a champagne yeast so if you want to blow the volatile aromatics and finer flavouring elements straight out the air lock, that'd be the way to go (it's why I don't use champagne yeasts and certainly don't believe the rubbish the people in HBS say, as most of them know bog all about meads).....

K1-V1116 or D21 is the way I'd go. K1 will go to 18% or so if needed and D21 will do 16%. You don't need to go strong with either yeast, just ferment dry, then stabilise and back sweeten with a little bit of this wonderful sounding honey......

The Irish Stout honey ? dunno. Never used it. I wouldn't chance the limited amount of honey to such an untested/uncertain yeast (which it is, when considering it for a mead - I'm sure it's brilliant for it's intended target brew).

 

[Melana]

The D47 if the ferment temperature can be kept below 70F/21C, because above that, it's known to produce lots of fusels etc in honey musts.

EC-1118 is a champagne yeast so if you want to blow the volatile aromatics and finer flavouring elements straight out the air lock, that'd be the way to go (it's why I don't use champagne yeasts and certainly don't believe the rubbish the people in HBS say, as most of them know bog all about meads).....

K1-V1116 or D21 is the way I'd go. K1 will go to 18% or so if needed and D21 will do 16%. You don't need to go strong with either yeast, just ferment dry, then stabilise and back sweeten with a little bit of this wonderful sounding honey......

The Irish Stout honey ? dunno. Never used it. I wouldn't chance the limited amount of honey to such an untested/uncertain yeast (which it is, when considering it for a mead - I'm sure it's brilliant for it's intended target brew).

Thanks!

 

[Goofynewfie]

+1 on the k1-v1116, its my go to yeast for meads. Wide temp range, low nutrient requirements, retains flavor well and good alcohol tolerance

 

[Elgran]

That's good to know on the K1. I have only done about 10 mead's, so I am still experimenting with a lot of yeasts and so on. The 3 yeasts I listed were just ones I have tried and liked. But I am still learning different things on brewing.

Let us know how the mead turns out though, the honey should be very nice.

 

[bob1852]

71b-1122 is my favorite mead yeast, but d47 and kv-1116 are great for traditionals, too.

 

[Yooper]

71b-1122 is my favorite mead yeast, but d47 and kv-1116 are great for traditionals, too.

I like all three of those the best- probably 71B would be my pick but you can't go wrong with any of those three!