type of honey

[hounddawg]

I'd like to know what types of honey makes the best mead, and I would love a simple mead recipe,,,
thank you
Richard

from reading I'm leaning toward golden rod raw honey
Richard::

 

[salcoco]

go to gotmead.com.

 

[Deezil]

Beautiful answer!


3lbs honey / gallon, should ballpark you about 1.085-1.090 SG
3lbs honey = ~1 quart

Depends on what you're shooting for,
If you're making a mead - as in, honey only, then it depends on how much (and how) you like your honey
If you can handle the flavors of the darker, bolder honeys, then you might consider a mead made with them

But usually Clover, Wildflower, Blackberry, are preferential - something lighter.

If you're adding fruits, then it depends on what you're showcasing - the fruit, the honey, or both?
If its the fruit, then your honey need only be something like Clover or Wildflower
If its the 'both', then you'll want something that's worth showcasing
Likewise if it's the honey, with a slight fruit undertone, then you'll want something worth showcasing

There's a lot of room for self-expression/art in all of this..

 

[BernardSmith]

You might want to avoid buckwheat. Tupelo honey makes an incredible mead but the secret is in the yeast and in feeding the yeast enough nutrient while fermenting at lower rather than higher temperatures. That said, any honey blend will make a decent mead and if the honey doe snot have a really distinctive flavor you might consider boiling the water you will use to dilute the honey with a flavor rich hops for 10 - 15 minutes... Hopped meads are very delicious.

 

[Jericurl]

Hmmmm...that's a pretty subjective question. I have a feeling if you ask 10 different maizers that question, you will get 10 different answers.

I personally really like orange blossom and tupelo.

I've got a 5 gallon batch using huajillo honey going right now that is shaping up to be very, very nice.

I think mead using just about any honey has the potential to knock your socks off as long as you plan your work (and work your plan). Figure out how much alcohol you want it to have, choose your yeast, make sure you plan how to keep your temperatures within range, and work out how you are going to feed it nutrients. And yes...if you choose to not use any fruit or any other additives, it is definitely going to need it.
Yeah, they didn't do that years ago, but when you know better, you do better.
If you decide to skip all of that, plan on something that is probably not going to be as fantastic as it could have been, and will likely need a bit of aging on it.

eta: I've also heard that raspberry honey, cotton honey, and carrot blossom honey all make very interesting meads as well, though I've never tasted them.
I have several meads going using yaupon holly honey. It is amazing and has a spicy, woody undertone to it that would translate very well in a show mead.
I've never had goldenrod honey, so I can't speak to it.

 

[hounddawg]

thank you
Richard

go to gotmead.com.

 

[hounddawg]

this will be my first plunge into straight mead, I back sweeten most all my wines with honey but I've been reading on the mead threads, so I wish to make a strong tasting golden rod type mead, and I can convert your recipe up to 6 gallons, what's your choice for mead yeast,,,
and thank you both for your info as well as your time
Richard

Beautiful answer!


3lbs honey / gallon, should ballpark you about 1.085-1.090 SG
3lbs honey = ~1 quart

Depends on what you're shooting for,
If you're making a mead - as in, honey only, then it depends on how much (and how) you like your honey
If you can handle the flavors of the darker, bolder honeys, then you might consider a mead made with them

But usually Clover, Wildflower, Blackberry, are preferential - something lighter.

If you're adding fruits, then it depends on what you're showcasing - the fruit, the honey, or both?
If its the fruit, then your honey need only be something like Clover or Wildflower
If its the 'both', then you'll want something that's worth showcasing
Likewise if it's the honey, with a slight fruit undertone, then you'll want something worth showcasing

There's a lot of room for self-expression/art in all of this..

 

[hounddawg]

so what would you recommend as a yeast for a dark stout honey like golden rod
thank you for your info and your time, this site has amazing people,,,
Richard




so

You might want to avoid buckwheat. Tupelo honey makes an incredible mead but the secret is in the yeast and in feeding the yeast enough nutrient while fermenting at lower rather than higher temperatures. That said, any honey blend will make a decent mead and if the honey doe snot have a really distinctive flavor you might consider boiling the water you will use to dilute the honey with a flavor rich hops for 10 - 15 minutes... Hopped meads are very delicious.

 

[hounddawg]

you wouldn't kind of walk me thru the steps and yeasts and feeding time for the yeast, everything I have made so far is at low temp's, my small home calls for a 1/2 ton ac unit, I put in a 4 ton unit, and I also have a 29,000 btu backup window unit, that takes a fifty watt plug, before I became so unhealthy I was in construction all my working life I can plumb, run electric an so on, but 70% of my outside days are gone,,, yet I refuse to lay on a couch watching TV waiting to die, just a brief outline, how often yeast nutrient , type of yeast, temps, so on so forth, yes/no sorbate, yes/no k-meta and so on,
thank you for any and all info an thank you for your timr
Richard

Hmmmm...that's a pretty subjective question. I have a feeling if you ask 10 different maizers that question, you will get 10 different answers.

I personally really like orange blossom and tupelo.

I've got a 5 gallon batch using huajillo honey going right now that is shaping up to be very, very nice.

I think mead using just about any honey has the potential to knock your socks off as long as you plan your work (and work your plan). Figure out how much alcohol you want it to have, choose your yeast, make sure you plan how to keep your temperatures within range, and work out how you are going to feed it nutrients. And yes...if you choose to not use any fruit or any other additives, it is definitely going to need it.
Yeah, they didn't do that years ago, but when you know better, you do better.
If you decide to skip all of that, plan on something that is probably not going to be as fantastic as it could have been, and will likely need a bit of aging on it.

eta: I've also heard that raspberry honey, cotton honey, and carrot blossom honey all make very interesting meads as well, though I've never tasted them.
I have several meads going using yaupon holly honey. It is amazing and has a spicy, woody undertone to it that would translate very well in a show mead.
I've never had goldenrod honey, so I can't speak to it.

 

[hounddawg]

so when to feed yeast, I'm not deadest on golden rod honey, but I want a heavy flavored honey, something that can be enjoyed slowly but not over bearing, but like I said I'd like my honey flavors to come thru, so at least on my first attempt , I wish no fruits, no berries, no hops, or anything else, jst a straight heavy honey flavor to coincide with a high alcohol content.
this will be a batch just for me I plan on breaking out a bottle once a year to twice at the very most. see how bad I failed or if I just squeaked thru and for the few that helps me try this I plan on sending each of you a bottle. for feed back
Richard

You might want to avoid buckwheat. Tupelo honey makes an incredible mead but the secret is in the yeast and in feeding the yeast enough nutrient while fermenting at lower rather than higher temperatures. That said, any honey blend will make a decent mead and if the honey doe snot have a really distinctive flavor you might consider boiling the water you will use to dilute the honey with a flavor rich hops for 10 - 15 minutes... Hopped meads are very delicious.

 

[Rampage4all]

I find with the straight meads I have made. the foremost taste is just as the honey smelled so that's where you start selecting your honey I say.

 

[Masbustelo]

Richard suggested yeasts might be KV1-1116, Cotes des Blancs, 71B.

 

[BernardSmith]

I like 71B yeast with honey. But the issue with mead is this: all the sugar for the fermentation comes from the honey and all the flavor comes form the honey - so the lower the alcohol the less intense is the flavor, and the more intense the flavor , the higher the alcohol but there is a kind of organic balance between alcohol level and flavor so that you can destroy the pleasantness of the flavor because of the heat of the alcohol. Some honeys seem to me to have more intense flavor than others - I particularly like Tupelo and meadowfoam honey.
I would suggest about 3 lbs of honey dissolved in spring water to make a gallon.
Honey - unlike , say grapes, is nutrient poor as far as yeast is concerned. So you need to coddle the must by adding nutrient. You could add DAP or Fermaid K. There are lots of debates about which is better. Personally, I don't think that it really is all that critical if you are making small volumes (5 gallons or less). The idea , however, is to determine how much nutrient is required and then add that nutrient at critical points in the fermentation process - You add 1/2 the total amount required as soon as the lag time has ended and the yeast have begun to convert the sugars to alcohol. You add the next 1/4 after half the total sugar content has been used up by the yeast and you add the last 1/4 after half the remaining sugar has been consumed. To determine those times you need to use your hydrometer and you need to know the starting gravity.
So, say your starting gravity was 1.090 - 1.100 then you would add half the nutrient at the start ; the next quarter when the gravity has dropped to about 1.050 and the last quarter when it drops to about 1.025.
Honey is essentially a bacteriacide - it has so little water in it that it kills microbes, so you do not need to add K-meta before you pitch the yeast. You also do not need to boil or even heat honey. Assuming your water is good quality and you have no reason to boil it then all you need to do to help make the honey flow more easily and male it easier to mix with the water is to place unopened jars of honey in a hot water bath for a few minutes. The honey becomes more viscous and so flows far more easily. What I do is pour the water I intend to use into a blender (that I have santized) and then add a quantity of the honey to that water and blend the crap out of the mixture. This has the added benefit of getting air into the mixture - and aeration is very important for the yeast.
If you ferment around 60F and your starting gravity is about 1.090 - 1.100 (about 12 -13% ABV) then your mead is drinkable in about 3 months, is better at 6 months and can be quite incredible at 12.
But you can make what are known as short meads (hydromels) where the ABV is closer to a beer (about 5 or 6%) - and so you are using about 1.5 lbs of honey to make a gallon of mead - but in this case you may want to experiment with ale yeasts - saison and other yeasts - that help enhance and perhaps add different flavors

 

[Jericurl]

Have you decided where you are going to get your honey and which kind yet? It would be a lot cheaper for you to find something local, but if you don't have that option, I can post a couple of links from beekeepers I've used.

 

[hounddawg]

,

I found one place that sales golden rod honey a strong honey, I like strong flavors on my honey and maple syrup, what most call cooking maple syrup is grade A dark, that with peanut butter is how I like my hot cakes, twice a year, diabetic is I,,, but what I'm getting at is on stuff like honey, maple syrup and molasses I like very sharp strong taste, as for my water I have well water I think my well is 240 feet deep, sorry got lost again they want $270 for 60 pounds of golden rod honey , is that about average?,, I forget what they get for 12 pounds, just slightly higher per pound in smaller amounts but not much, so I'm thinking to start with I'll go with 12 pounds = to one gallon, the honey I keep on hand to back sweeten my wines is clover honey that way the fruit shines , but my thinking is with a mead I'd like to go more flavorful since it will be only honey, but if you know better sites for honey I'd be proud to check them out, been putting my startup wines or meads on the back burner lately, been clearing fence lines and repairing fence, I only got 9 head. but I put my momma cows to their selves till they calve, and put a yearling bull on pasture to feed out so on an so forth..
I found the step feeding on one of my other threads, I have problems remembering things, I was put on statins after I got to where I could not remember week to week I quit my statins, memory not perfect but much better then it was, it embarrass me to ask things again a month or two later I was a commercial construction superintendent before the statins I could read a set of prints in one night make all my lists and make 1 trip to which ever place I got my material, I works building stores in shopping malls, I could do a complete job from memory, now I couldn't do it with fifty trips to home depot, Lowes, manards ,,, so I apologize for having to bother people on here so much, but this has helped both my memory an my health, my animals outside, my wines inside. this gives me purpose, a reason to get up.
Richard

Have you decided where you are going to get your honey and which kind yet? It would be a lot cheaper for you to find something local, but if you don't have that option, I can post a couple of links from beekeepers I've used.

 

[hounddawg]

,

I found one place that sales golden rod honey a strong honey or that (tuopol )(cant spell), I wont a strong flavor,, on my honey and maple syrup, what most call cooking maple syrup is grade A dark, that with peanut butter is how I like my hot cakes, twice a year, diabetic is I,,, but what I'm getting at is on stuff like honey, maple syrup and molasses I like very sharp strong taste, as for my water I have well water I think my well is 240 feet deep, sorry got lost again they want $270 for 60 pounds of golden rod honey , is that about average?,, I forget what they get for 12 pounds, just slightly higher per pound in smaller amounts but not much, so I'm thinking to start with I'll go with 12 pounds = to one gallon, that way I can try 2 kinds at the same time,,,, the honey I keep on hand to back sweeten my wines is clover honey that way the fruit an berries shines , but my thinking is with a mead I'd like to go more flavorful since it will be only honey, but if you know better sites for honey I'd be proud to check them out, been putting my startup wines or meads on the back burner lately, been clearing fence lines and repairing fence, I only got 9 head. but I put my momma cows to their selves till they calve, and put a yearling bull on pasture to feed out so on an so forth..
I found the step feeding on one of my other threads, I have problems remembering things, I was put on statins after I got to where I could not remember week to week I quit my statins, memory not perfect but much better then it was, it embarrass me to ask things again a month or two later I was a commercial construction superintendent before the statins I could read a set of prints in one night make all my lists and make 1 trip to which ever place I got my material, an but every thing in one trip, I worked building stores in shopping malls, I could do a complete job from memory, now I couldn't do it with fifty trips to home depot, Lowes, manards ,,, so I apologize for having to bother people on here so much, but this has helped both my memory an my health, my animals outside, my wines inside. this gives me purpose, a reason to get up.
and all you people on this site gives me hope for this world. and I've grown very fond of this site an it's people
Richard

Have you decided where you are going to get your honey and which kind yet? It would be a lot cheaper for you to find something local, but if you don't have that option, I can post a couple of links from beekeepers I've used.

 

[Winenoob66]

$270 for 60 lbs?

Check these guys out

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/21/bulk-honey.html

 

[hounddawg]

oh heck yes,
I can not tell you how much I appreciate..
thank you,, thank you,, thank you,,,
my god all I've found have been double that,
I went thru lots of sights on ask.com
nothing no where as cheap as this,
I can not thank you enough,, Winenoob66
Richard

$270 for 60 lbs?

Check these guys out

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/21/bulk-honey.html?vendor=H-Fox-Co

 

[Deezil]

Except it's not honey:

"This honey blend includes a mixture of corn syrups and honey that adds extra sweetness and flavor to your recipes, and the familiar color and texture to regular honey makes H. Fox & Co's product ideal for baking into cakes and pies. It's also an economical alternative to pure honey, thanks to its mixture of other sugar products."

You get what you pay for, and the real deal will never be cheap.

$270 is about right commercially
You can get it for less if you know a local beekeeper

 

[Jericurl]

....

Just how much are you making here?

If you are only going to be drinking one or two bottles a year, I'm not sure you need a whole 5 gallons of it.

eta: I usually pay about $40 to $46 per gallon of honey before shipping, so $270 doesn't seem too out of bounds for 5 gallons.
Some of the fancier varietals charge up to $80 or $90 per gallon.