Boiling honey or not(Re: hist-brewing: mead)

[Nick Sasso]

Another thing to consider in the equation is exactly what variety of honey you are using in your mead.  It is more 'risky' to boil a clover honey than a robust dark wildflower honey.  I choose to boil honey to get clarity and to remove bee legs and stuff from my mead.  I find I get a far clearer mead and fewer off flavors develop. 

I use a dark wildflower honey from a local apiary, wiith great success.  It is unfiltered and very, very rich.  I am certain I lose some of the aromatics and flavor in my 15 minute boil that coagulates the scum into a gelatinous glob.  the best part is that there is still gracious plenty floral honey character in my finished mead.  This would not work for a clover or even orange blossom honey. . . too weak to hold up.

pacem et bonum,

Nick Sasso
Knaves of Grain



On Wed, 22 Sep 1999, BrewInfo wrote:

> noted above will make for a much clearer mead, but it will have less
> honey aroma than if you didn't boil.  I chose to not boil... I just
> added the honey to boiling water after turning off the heat.  The mead
> did clear very nicely in two years, but it was never as brilliantly
> clear as a boiled mead.

Well, one could cheat and add a little "Honey Malt". Not quite a honey 
aroma, but still aromatic.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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