Followup on Goldenrod Honey

[Morning Song]

Hi! I drove-by posted several months back asking if the unpleasant smell of goldenrod honey would go away during fermentation. And I'm pleased to report that it definitely does.

My mead--dubbed Trolleri after the Swedish word for magic--has been sitting in secondary about four months now, and is starting to clear up. I've racked off the sediment twice since the initial transfer to secondary, each time taking a hydrometer reading--a steady 1.030 the past four months--and giving it a little taste.

I don't detect any of the "gym-sock" smell, and it currently tastes and smells like a slightly harsher version of the 'traditional' mead that inspired me to undergo this whole crazy endeavour.


Whoops! Posing the jug made the sediment a bit angry. Still not ready to bottle yet, but hopefully soon!

[skunkboy]

I have not tried find goldenrod honey. Is this something you think you might be willing to do a second time?

[Chevette Girl]

Good to know, I hope I get to making a traditional out of my goldenrod honey before it all goes to JAO's and silly whims!

[TAKeyser]

Originally Posted by Chevette Girl

Good to know, I hope I get to making a traditional out of my goldenrod honey before it all goes to JAO's and silly whims!

Traditional Meads are usually the first thing I make when trying a new type of Honey. Gives me a baseline for the flavor.

[Chevette Girl]

Originally Posted by TAKeyser

Traditional Meads are usually the first thing I make when trying a new type of Honey. Gives me a baseline for the flavor.

Agreed, but it's not a new honey to me; the first and second traditionals I ever made were with this same honey. It's one of the main products from my apiary, they mainly have goldenrod and clover, although they do carry buckwheat in small quantities.

[TAKeyser]

Originally Posted by Chevette Girl

Agreed, but it's not a new honey to me; the first and second traditionals I ever made were with this same honey. It's one of the main products from my apiary, they mainly have goldenrod and clover, although they do carry buckwheat in small quantities.

I need to move somewhere with a better local apiary, mine mainly has wildflower and clover (don't get me wrong I do like both of them) with the occasional Star Thistle or Raspberry Blossom. It'd be nice to get some OB, Meadowfoam or Tupelo without having to either pay shipping and wait or pay like $7 or 8 a lb at a store that stocks it.

[Morning Song]

Provided this gets a little smoother with age, then i'd definitely do it again. I want to try more honies though, and given that the season for it is coming up, i'm very tempted to try making "mead" with maple syrup, instead of honey.

[Chevette Girl]

Originally Posted by Morning Song

Provided this gets a little smoother with age, then i'd definitely do it again. I want to try more honies though, and given that the season for it is coming up, i'm very tempted to try making "mead" with maple syrup, instead of honey.

My favourite acerglyn ratio is 1 580 ml can maple syrup to 1 kg honey for a gallon, starting SG is 1.125 and mine tends to finish around 1.025 or so with EC-1118, although with proper feeding and aeration it should go down a little further.

[Morning Song]

I knew fermented maple syrup had to be a thing already! I just for the life of me could never find a name for it.

I noticed all the recipes on this site for acerglyns seem to be honey/maple mixture. Is there a reason people don't seem to make it with pure maple? Or is it just a personal taste thing?

[wayneb]

Only a matter of terminology. When it is made with honey, it is called an acerglyn (a meadmaker coined term that is the concatenation of acer, i.e. maple, and metheglyn, a mead with non-fruit adjuncts). When it is 100% maples syrup or sap based, it is simply a maple wine.

[Chevette Girl]

Probably the biggest reason most of us split the maple syrup with honey is price... and if you ferment maple syrup right dry, you can't taste the maple, apparently.