Is $1.55 a lb. a good deal?

[Homercidal]

I stopped by the bakery today and asked if they could get me a price on honey. I know they use it because one of the buckets that I use in brewing was a honey bucket.

She figured up $1.55 per pound for what they call "Wildflower Honey" on the side of the bucket.

 

[homebrewer_99]

HELL YES!!!! Anything under $2 is great.

 

[MultumInParvo]

Wow, thats a great deal. I never thought of just asking a restaurant... Good idea!

 

[flyweed]

at that price, buy as much as you can before they figure out you are stealing it at that price.

Dan

 

[digdan]

That is better than wholesale prices in my parts(hint of jeliousy). Watch out for some "Wildflower" Honeys. Its a generic term, so you dont know what you are going to get. Ive heard of "rubber,plastic,medicine" flavors in some varieties.

Best o' Luck

 

[summersolstice]

As noted above, see if you can find out where it comes from. It could be cheap imported Chinese honey that has a less than stellar reputation, or it could be thin, watered honey. Do your homework and remember what they say about being too good to be true...

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I've had less than favourable results with "wildflower" honey & I won't use it for fermentations anymore. It's still tasty on toast, but for meads I'll stick with varietals from reputable sources. Regards, GF.

 

[Brew-boy]

The wildflower honey I get straight from the bee keeper is great for my meads. Knowing the source really helps in making a quality beverage.

 

[jezter6]

I've gone through 2 5g buckets of Wildflower honey and have been pleased with every mead that has come through them.

 

[Homercidal]

Well, I'll check up on it. I had no idea what the term meant, but figured it was just a fancy way of saying "We don't know where our bees get their nectar, but this sounds lovely, so let's just go with that."

And, I know little about meadmaking. I thought I'd give it a try though. I suspect that the way the bakery uses the honey will require much lower quality honey than for meadmaking. Well, we will see. I can get the name off the bucket and see what I find out.

Right now my 5 gallon carboy is going to be busy dryhopping a brown ale. Although I suppose I could use a bucket for that too...

 

[summersolstice]

Like milk, it all depends upon what the bees have been visiting. Some areas have an abundance of flowering plants that produce off odors and flavors while other places don't. Assuming it isn't Chinese honey, if it smells and tastes good it'll probably make good mead.

 

[jezter6]

Well, I'll check up on it. I had no idea what the term meant, but figured it was just a fancy way of saying "We don't know where our bees get their nectar, but this sounds lovely, so let's just go with that."

And, I know little about meadmaking. I thought I'd give it a try though. I suspect that the way the bakery uses the honey will require much lower quality honey than for meadmaking. Well, we will see. I can get the name off the bucket and see what I find out.

Right now my 5 gallon carboy is going to be busy dryhopping a brown ale. Although I suppose I could use a bucket for that too...

I'm guessing that it will end up being some ultra filtered commercial honey like a dutch gold or something like summersolstice said from China.

Might make a good mead, might not. I'd get 15# and make a mead and see how it turns out before I thought about buting a lot of it.

 

[Matrix4b]

If it doesn't turn out well, you could always use it strictly for back sweetening.

BTW: "wildflower" honey does vary a lot. That is because the bees don't have enough of the same flower in their hunting area so it is many diffrent flowers that they draw from. I personally like alfapha for it's nice robust "Honey" taste. The one time I used wild flower honey for a watermellon mead it didn't come out with a strong character that I like in my meads. Felt a bit wattery even though I can trust the quality of the honey.