Re: Mixing Honeys was Boil or sulfite?
Vicky Rowe said:
Chuck, I'd like to have some more conversation about mixing honeys. I've done that, and invariably the meads are better. Usually I do it because I'm back-adding honey water to the must to achieve the desired level of sweetness, and haven't got any more of whatever I started with. . . .
Chuck should have a lot to say about mixing honeys. He's
been making a mead patterned after those made by the
meadmakers of Brittany France for a few years now, along
with all kinds of creative blends of his own.
Just to add a little background before Chuck checks back
into the thread -- the color of the honey offers some
general guides to fermentation characteristics. The darker
honeys tend to be higher in mineral content, nutrients, phenolics, acidity, and antioxidants. Vice versa for the
lighter honeys although there are exceptions. Tupelo
honey, for instance, is relatively higher in acid content as
compared to other honeys of similar lightness.
As you can see in Chuck's post above, discounting flavor
profiles for the moment, you can offset deficiencies in
fermentation characteristics of one honey by blending it
with other honeys. No need to add acid -- blend in a
honey with high acidity. The darker honeys add extra
nutrients and help stabilize the fermentation. Judicious
use of dark honeys can be a good thing to add to a very
light honey, as Chuck suggests.
John White jr did an extensive analysis of U.S. honeys
during the early 1960's. If you can find a copy of the
article, you'll have a very detailed analysis of the essential
components of well over 400 U.S honeys. That should
give some basic data to work with. Abreviated portions
of White's work are available in a web paper by Ken
Schramm and Dan McConnell on meadmaking. The paper
is titled "An Analysis of Mead, Mead Making, and the Role
of its Primary Constituents," available at:
http://www.solorb.com/mead/danspaper.html
Naturally, I wouldn't advise going about honey blending
on the basis of composition and fermentation characteristics
alone. Flavor is the key -- Chuck should have much more
to say on this.