30 Oct
2002
30 Oct
'02
10:34 a.m.
I am not expert but here are my thoughts;
1. Honey should never be boiled. It removes the
delicate aromatics (and, according to an article in
Zymurgy changes the structure of the sugar). If
worried about nasties and the like you can use campden
to kill the critters. Or, boil water (optionally with
Irish Moss) and then allow the honey to steep in the
hot water, while not subjecting it to boiling. Or,
just forget about it and add a bunch of yeast.
2. The reason that he suggests adding Orange Blossom
honey in the secondary is that there will not be as
much activity (assuming you are adding a lesser
quantity than is originally added). Fruit extracts can
be added to secondary because they do not really
ferment a lot. Active fermentation causes much of the
aroma to be vaporized off with the other gasses
expelled during fermentation. Also, it is safer to
addt hings directly to secondary as there is some
alcohol and a lot of yeast and not much food to
prevent unwanted critters from getting in the process.
Just my $0.02. Perhaps the award winning meader Mike
Moranz will have some input as well.
Cheers
WH
--- John Longballa <longballa(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
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An article on mead in the latest issue of Winemaker
magazine states:
"There are several bulk honey suppliers that are
good sources of honey; the
National Honey Board keeps a list of them. (Go to
www.honeylocator.com to
search the NHB database. The site also lists
beekeeping associations by
state.)"
I read a different article that said that lighter
honeys, such as orange
blossom, should be added to the secondary fermenter,
rather than to the
primary, in order to preserve their delicate aromas.
Is the author simply
telling the reader that the boiling process is too
vigorous for the lighter
honeys, or is there something different about
fermentation in the secondary
fermenter? I would think that the yeast would do
the same things to the
honey that is added to the secondary that it would
have done to that honey
in the primary. I've noticed that fruit extracts
are often added to beer in
the secondary. Won't the extracts suffer the same
fate in the primary that
they would in the secondary? I'm confused. Same
yeast, same temperature
(for the most part), what's different? Thanks.
John Longballa
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