Honey / syrup

[vetusstimulus]

A good friend has brought me 4 jars of honey with honeycomb in it, he said happy xmas u can make a.mead.with this,,,,as it was very thoughtfull i smiled.and said,,,,, yeah i was gona get one on the go in the next few days,,,,
On closer inspection it is syrup with 10% honey and honeycomb,,,,,
Can this be done?

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[Homercidal]

Depends on what the syrup is, but it's probably doable. The quality of the finished product is what is unknown.

What it comes down to is that yeast will eat just about anything made with most sugars. So you will get fermentation and an alcoholic product. A trued mead person would recommend using ONLY a high quality honey in order to make a nice mead. Your personal taste might be fine with whatever sugar syrup is in that honey you got.

If it's not great on it's own, there are things you can add to mask it, like fruit juice, spices, etc.

Maybe do up a 1 gallon batch and see what happens. Maybe split that honey with equal amount of real honey.

 

[vetusstimulus]

I am.planning . On a 1 gal dj with a load of red and green chilli i need to use up,
I get a nice dry outcome.when.using.honey but the chilli usually masks the honey tast so i may just hav a go

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[fatbloke]

I am.planning . On a 1 gal dj with a load of red and green chilli i need to use up,
I get a nice dry outcome.when.using.honey but the chilli usually masks the honey tast so i may just hav a go

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Well, if you just added water to say, 2 of the jars of honey/syrup/comb - you say "DJ" ? are you in the UK, Canada, Aus, NZ ? (more likely to see that term from those locations than in the US).....

Anyway, say 2 of the honey/syrup/comb jars, then add another 1lb jar of honey (obviously the better "quality" if you can)...... then take a gravity reading. A gravity of 1.100 to 1.110 sort of area is gonna be about right for a decent ferment (if you presume finished at 1.000, then that'd be about 13.5 to 14.9 %ABV).

Don't make it in a DJ if you're gonna add the chilli, you're asking for mead eruptions from that. Make it in a 2 gallon brewing bucket (get one from the local HBS), and do the ferment in that, as you'll have much more air space to manage any possible eruptions in the early stages.

Also, you won't really notice the chilli flavour in the early stages either, apart from any taste where you get a bit of the chillin in it. The "hot bit" in chilli, is capsaicin, which is a fatty alkaloid, so it dissolves nicely in alcohol (one of the easiest methods of extraction is just soaking chillies in vodka for a couple of weeks - makes a f****r of a wicked chilli vodka). So once the ferment has died down some, you could, if you wanted, just give it a good mix up and then transfer it to a DJ once the ferment has dropped at least half way, if not more and then watch it finish as the yeast and eventually any chilli debris drops out.

S'up to you really. You'd likely need to back sweeten it anyway. Dry chilli brews are often just hot, hot, hot. Whereas if you back sweeten, you can get a nice honey/chilli kick. A bit like drinking an alcoholic version of a sweet chilli sauce :cross:

 

[WVMJ]

As a beekeeper I think it really sucks they are selling comb honey in sugar syrup, that really should not ever be allowed. I would bet they put some preservative in with it even if its not on the label. Dump this abomination down the toilet and find some good honey WVMJ

 

[fatbloke]

As a beekeeper I think it really sucks they are selling comb honey in sugar syrup, that really should not ever be allowed. I would bet they put some preservative in with it even if its not on the label. Dump this abomination down the toilet and find some good honey WVMJ

If it's here Jack, it's probably just that it's pieces of comb, that have a honey and water syrup to back fill the jar.

Sugar syrup types that you can read of, are a mega no-no under the EU regs if found. The seller gets hammered for big fines (when caught).

If vetusstimulus is in the EU, he can likely drop it off with the local trading standards department - who if they know where it's being sold, would usually bust the place and seize the fakery......

 

[vetusstimulus]

I am indeed in the uk,

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