Bought honey honey, Boy did I buy honey

[Sabar]

Went today and purchased some orange blossom.

Then tasted some Pa pumpkin that they had. Wow that was tasty. Before you ask, I have to tell yea I am no good at describing taste. pretty much either yuck! or Wow thats good.

Next thing I know I have two buckets at 124 lbs walking outa there. Yea as you can imagine that hurt.

But the good news is, I should have my yeast arriving this week and then its brew time!

So what is the verdict on boiling the water and heating the honey to 150 degrees? do you guys actually do this? I know I did on my first batch but thats what Mr. Schramm told me to do. Now from what I am reading it sounds like maybe people don't do it so much.

Thanks
Sabar

 

[Sabar]

Just to give every one a heads up. This particular bee keeper travels all over the country, and when I asked him about Orange Blossom for next year he said he didn't think he would have any.

The reason being, he isn't sure he will be doing orange groves this year, due to the fact that in Florida, I guess they are spraying pesticide on them 11 months out of the year, and he, along with some other people have been experiencing heavy loss's (50-60%) shortly after pollinating.


I know you all have been discussing honey bees on and off. thought this would be interesting.

Sabar

 

[Medsen Fey]

So what is the verdict on boiling the water and heating the honey to 150 degrees? do you guys actually do this?

I don't even warm my honey up in most cases. I just mix it in. Until I see clear and convincing evidence that boiled meads are superior, I will not boil (or even heat) my honey. There are some of us currently doing some side by side comparisons, and since you have all this honey perhaps you'd like to try a batch of boiled vs. non-boiled to see which is better.

 

[afdoty]

So what is the verdict on boiling the water and heating the honey to 150 degrees? do you guys actually do this?

I don't heat my honey nor boil the water. I usually use Poland Spring Water I get at Costco. Personally, I feel heating either drives off aromatics that can be captured in the mead.

There's not too much that can survive in honey and once mixed with water, a good fermentation, along with proper sanitation and sterilization, will almost always guarantee nothing will live in the mead.

There's actually several actually several experiment going on relating to the boil/no boil methods.

 

[Dan McFeeley]

I like to have the water heated to pitching temperature -- it helps with mixing the honey into must and it avoids shocking the yeast when dumping from their nice warm hydration container into the must.

--

 

[epetkus]

Sabar, I know Ken talks about heating the honey in the front of his book, but later on, he "confesses" to have abated that process. (see page 42, last paragraph).

Further, there is in Gotmead hallowed threads a very informative thread on boiling vs no boiling, including blind taste testing that concluded the tastes were pretty much indistingusable from each other, but that the aromatics were very much reduced in the boiled must versus the non-boiled must.

Personally, I don't boil UNLESS I purposefully want to drive off the aromatics, like in the case of Eastern buckwheat honey, where I like the flavor but not the smell.

For honey that I freeze, I do place the gallon jugs into the pot where I have already boiled water, but just to warm them up so they will flow out of jug.

If you do an experiment with both, I'd love to see the results!

Eric

 

[Sabar]

I Just may do an experiment were I take two batches do the same thing to each but boil one.

I did remember Mr Shramms book were he confessed to not boiling. However after reading as many posts as I have here, well lets just say I don't know what is common practice any more.

The Compleat meadmaker is a very good book and very in-lightning, how ever if a complete new person comes here and starts reading posts. It doesn't take long to get completely over whelmed with all the information available.

Now I am just waiting impatiantly for my order to arive so I can mix up anouther batch ;-)

Thanks guys
Sabar


answer to my question; First batch no boil.

 

[Prolific_Praxis]

I don't even warm my honey up in most cases. I just mix it in. Until I see clear and convincing evidence that boiled meads are superior, I will not boil (or even heat) my honey. There are some of us currently doing some side by side comparisons, and since you have all this honey perhaps you'd like to try a batch of boiled vs. non-boiled to see which is better.

Medsen, do you even warm it in a water bath for easier pouring?

 

[Medsen Fey]

Sometimes I'll warm it if the honey happens to be particularly thick or crystallized, but in most cases I'll just scoop it into the fermenter. The spring water I use to mix it with is stored in the garage - typically 80-90 F so that helps it dissolve more readily.

 

[akueck]

The Compleat meadmaker is a very good book and very in-lightning, how ever if a complete new person comes here and starts reading posts. It doesn't take long to get completely over whelmed with all the information available.

Unfortunately the pace of publishing doesn't match the rate at which we're all adding information here. Even so, with the NewBee guide and Ken's book to get you started, you should be well on your way before your head starts spinning. A glass of mead can help alleviate the sense of confusion.

 

[fatbloke]

-----%<-----

Next thing I know I have two buckets at 124 lbs walking outa there. Yea as you can imagine that hurt.

Cor, bloody hell! 124lb is a hell of a lot to be starting off with ;D at an average of 3lb to the gallon that's like about 40 gallons8)

But the good news is, I should have my yeast arriving this week and then its brew time!

So what yeast did you select to start with ?????

So what is the verdict on boiling the water and heating the honey to 150 degrees? do you guys actually do this? I know I did on my first batch but thats what Mr. Schramm told me to do. Now from what I am reading it sounds like maybe people don't do it so much.

Thanks
Sabar

No, I don't boil my honey either. At most I'll warm it (in a bath of warm water) so it runs out of the container if it's very viscous or crystalised, otherwise it just goes into pitch temperature water to help it mix more easily (and the yeast shock thing.....)

regards

fatbloke

 

[Sabar]

What can I say? I was there. the honey was there. Just easier to grab a five gallon bucket.

On this last batch I used D47, which is now bubbling nicely. so far everything seems to be going well. I didn't start a brew log yet, was kinda waiting till I racked it into my secondary.

Now I am just waiting for my secondary to empty out or beginning of Jan when I can open my JAO. If I like the JAO I will be starting a 5 Gallon batch of that right away.

And I used the no boil method also, However I did put hot tap water into the bucket to make it easier to mix the honey.

Sabar

 

[akueck]

Cor, bloody hell! 124lb is a hell of a lot to be starting off with ;D at an average of 3lb to the gallon that's like about 40 gallons8)

12 lb/gallon or so, so "only" 10 gallons. I think my wife would kill me if I brought that home!

 

[AToE]

12 lb/gallon or so, so "only" 10 gallons. I think my wife would kill me if I brought that home!

I think he meant gallons of mead.

 

[Sabar]

Yea that was 10 gallons (like 120 pounds?) of honey. I think each bucket had like 60 pounds in it. I actually just went to get one five gallon bucket of Orange blossom. How ever they had this Pennsylvania pumpkin that tasted really good so I got a bucket of that also.

Trust me I really didn't want to spend that kind of money but, These guys are leaving for Florida soon so.... figured once they leave I am stuck with what ever wild flower we have here.

Besides it's honey. not like it is going to go bad. and if it does granulate I have the means if I have to, to heat the whole bucket so.... ahh life's to short not to try something new.

Sabar