To boil or not to boil

[Mcbobs]

I've been doing a lot of reading on mead recipes and really want to make sure I've got everything worked out before I do anything. I believe I've got a good ingredient list made up, but I've got a question about something that confuses me. Some recipes call for boiling the water and honey and scoop off the hot break to remove particulates whereas other recipes just call for warming the water and honey so that you can get a good mixture. Is there a way that is better or more practiced and why? If all goes well with this initial 2.5 gallon batch, I'll step it up and do a 5 gallon batch that will be ready for Christmas next year.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[BryanThompson]

I don't even heat the water and honey mixture. I just put the honey jars into some warm water to decrease the viscosity and make it a little easier to mix. Many people believe that heating the honey will create a loss in aromatics which makes sense.

 

[biochemedic]

Check these links out:
The experiment...
The results...

 

[fatbloke]

Well, I try to not even warm the jars etc.

Doesn't matter whether its runny, set or crystalised honey, just scoop out the jar(s) into a food processor or liquidiser, add some of the water you're gonna use and blitz the hell put of it. Bingo. Thoroughly mixed and aerated........

 

[lawpaw]

It's difficult to learn anything from that experiment without knowing what honey they used.

Mead is very heavily influenced by how the honey is processed from the hive.

If you are using most commercial honey, it has already been heated and finely filtered. This drastically changes the character of the honey (which can easily be seen by the fact that it will no longer granulate).

I notice a substantial difference in the flavor of the honey and mead from unheated honey.

If using a commercial mead that has been processed, I wouldn't worry about boiling having much negative impact, but you will notice even here that it drives off the aromatics (like with hops or anything else).

I still use processed honey for something's, so try not to read this as too preachy.

 

[biochemedic]

It's difficult to learn anything from that experiment without knowing what honey they used.

The experiment was done with heather honey, which is noted in the results link to be a fairly strong flavored honey. The author does surmise that the effect of boiling may be different with lighter, more delicate honeys.

Still, the point being is that while some people have *very* strong feelings about boiling, I think it should be looked at more as just another technique that can be used when the purpose suits it.

 

[lawpaw]

Do you know if the honey was raw or processed?

I'm going to be starting a raw meadowfoam brochet here soon; I'll be boiling the life out of that one.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Boiling the honey/water mixture is an age-old way to deal with RAW honey & dubious water. It was a good way to get rid of things like bee parts, pollen, beeswax, dead bees, plague germs, etc...

Boiling also happens to drive off the more delicate & aromatic flavours, making even the best varietal taste more like generic, bland honey. Like taking orange blossom honey & making it taste like clover honey. I like to keep as much of those delicate & aromatic flavours as possible.

Unless you are using raw honey direct from the hive, I wouldn't boil it; I don't think I'd boil it even if it were direct from the hive; modern technology has provided us with several filters suitable for filtering honey. A nylon paint strainer will work, might take a while, but it'll work. No reason a fine sieve wouldn't work too.

The ONLY heat I use when mixing up a mead must is a little hot water (NEVER BOILING), no hotter than I can put my hand in without scalding it. This is simply to get it to mix more easily in the blender. Blender works great for mixing & areating, the only drawback is that you can only blend about a 1/2 gallon at a time, depending on the size/power of your blender.
Regards, GF.

 

[BryanThompson]

Do you know if the honey was raw or processed?

I'm going to be starting a raw meadowfoam brochet here soon; I'll be boiling the life out of that one.

I wouldn't use a nice varietal for a mead like that. All the flavor and enzymes will be lost after the looooooong boil required.

 

[lawpaw]

I wouldn't use a nice varietal for a mead like that. All the flavor and enzymes will be lost after the looooooong boil required.

Meadowfoam is a possible exception to this rule. I've heard great things about it as a bochet, and have cooked with it with great results.

It is probably my favorite honey; it is very unique, unlike other honeys.

"One caveat: a lot of the flavor of raw honey is lost when it's heated. Meadowfoam honey ($12 for a 9 oz. jar), however, defies this rule, making it an ideal baking honey. When heated, it not only retains the flavors of its raw state (a heady mix of toasted marshmallow and vanilla), it actually develops nuances of orange and clove. Yum!"

http://www.hmsbeekeeper.com/HMSB/Bl...Baking_with_Meadowfoam_(Limnanthes_alba).html

 

[lawpaw]

I wouldn't use a nice varietal for a mead like that. All the flavor and enzymes will be lost after the looooooong boil required.

Meadowfoam is an exception to that rule. It is very unique and popular for bochet.

 

[BryanThompson]

What's different about it? I'm really wanting to do a bochet soon.

 

[GinKings]

Meadowfoam has a unique flavor. Kinda like toasted marshmallows. I like to use it for backsweetening due to the unique flavor. I would've thought a couple hour boil would hurt the flavor, but what do I know.

 

[biochemedic]

I've been wanting to do a varietal with meadowfoam for awhile now...I've never actually tried it, but always heard the flavor was awesome...

 

[Saccharomyces]

FWIW every commercial meadery I know of with the exception of Redstone does not use any heat. Most do not sulfite either. With a vigorous pitch of yeast you are fine without pasteurizing.

 

[lawpaw]

People always describe Meadowfoam as marshmallow, but I don't get that impression until I cook it. To me it smells like earthy vanilla when raw. The aroma isn't really like honey at all.

I don't know what it is about Meadowfoam that survives heat well. I haven't made any mead with it yet, but will be making a traditional and bochet with it soon to compare the difference from it being carmelized. I've cooked with it, and it always seems to come through being cooked different and stronger than I imagine it would raw (more marshmallow as a glaze or in stuff).

 

[MedsenFey]

Boiling definitely causes volatile aromatic elements to be lost. Even in Erroll's test, the boiled batch had less aroma.

See also Boiling Mad Mead Test

Some further testing needs to be done with lighter honey.

 

[dichotomous]

I have about 20lbs of raw grade B honey, it has partially crystallized, and it was from a guy on craigslist who was giving away beer brewing stuff.
he says it contains some comb and particulates, and bee bread.
is there a fairly easy way to clear this all out and be sure of a good mead? if boiling gets rid of aromatics, but will sterilize everything, maybe thats ok for my first mead....

but will all the "junk" in the grade B fall out during fermentation?

 

[fatbloke]

I have about 20lbs of raw grade B honey, it has partially crystallized, and it was from a guy on craigslist who was giving away beer brewing stuff.
he says it contains some comb and particulates, and bee bread.
is there a fairly easy way to clear this all out and be sure of a good mead? if boiling gets rid of aromatics, but will sterilize everything, maybe thats ok for my first mead....

but will all the "junk" in the grade B fall out during fermentation?

Raw honey is fine. Any bee/hive/apiary debris will come out during the making. It either floats or sinks and gets flushed with the racked sediments. After all, why try to sterilise something that's already as sterile as nature can manage ? There's anecdotal evidence of honey being found in ancient tombs in Egypt being still edible after 3 millennia. Crystalised solid sure but still edible.....

As for meadowfoam honey being good for bochet because of the perceived toasted marshmallow flavour, what flavour do people think they get from a bochet ? Bingo.......toasted marshmallow. So why pay lots for the varietal when the honey, well the mead will give that taste once the honey has been burned/caramelised anyway.....