Mead on the BBQ

[AZRedhawk44]

I started a new batch of mead yesterday, and I opted to use the propane burner on the BBQ grill outside rather than the stove top inside, since I didn't want to heat up the whole house in the process.

I heat the 15lbs of honey and 1 gallon of water mixture to 165+ degrees for 10 minutes to pasteurize anything that might cause problems later on and give the yeast a pristine environment with no bacterial or foreign yeast competition.

So, I get the water up to 165+, and start adding honey, 3lbs at a time.  I swish around some hot water/honey mixture inside each 3lb can to make sure I get as much honey as possible from each container.  Temp of the water drops from 165+ to about 140 after adding 15lbs of 90 degree honey, so I stir and allow the temp to rebuild.  I get the cauldron up to 165-170 degrees for about 5 minutes.

All of a sudden... bees!  Holy bees, batman!  

They get very curious when they smell honey being heated up outdoors.  They also seemed territorial of it, chasing me away from my own honey.

Fortunately I was pretty much done by the time they swarmed in.  I covered the must and let it pasteurize for the remaining 5 minutes, then came back out and grabbed my 2 gallons of honey/water mixture and took it inside to add to 3 gallons of cold refrigerated water, netting the combined temp to about 95 degrees.

[Gewehr98]

I'm told that heating honey to make mead detracts horribly from the finished product.  Honey has antibiotic properties and can't support yeast growth by itself, so that's not really a risk.

http://www.finevinewines.com/Introduction-to-making-mead.htm

Since mead is in essence honey wine, the reasoning is thus: One doesn't boil grapes or fruit juices to make wine, either.

http://traditionalmead.blogspot.com/p/our-mead-making-philosophy.html

I found a huge source of honey for $2.00/lb the other day, and I bought 20lbs. to make a melomel batch and a batch of acerglyn, myself. 

I'll use my standard potassium metabisulfate (campden) tablets to kill any bacteria that evade my sanitation efforts, before I pitch the wine yeast.

[AZRedhawk44]

I've heard there's a bit of a controversy to it, and that honey is a mild antibiotic anyways.

Maybe I'll start another batch once my primary fermenter is freed up when I do first racking in a couple weeks, and abstain from pasteurizing.  But every batch I've done so far in the last 5-6 years I've pasteurized.  The only batch that people didn't care for was the first one, and it came out way too dry and strong.  The last 3 batches have had rave reviews from my imbibers.  If the non-pasteurized batch is better than the pasteurized batch, then I'll join the no-cook school.

[AZRedhawk44]

I'm told that heating honey to make mead detracts horribly from the finished product.  Honey has antibiotic properties and can't support yeast growth by itself, so that's not really a risk.

http://www.finevinewines.com/Introduction-to-making-mead.htm

Your link above cites the book I've been using so far as my mead bible, which suggests that novice meadmakers (such as myself) should pasteurize.

[bedlamite]

Your link above cites the book I've been using so far as my mead bible, which suggests that novice meadmakers (such as myself) should pasteurize.

Ken's book was one of the first resources when nobody really knew what was going on, and even he doesn't pasteurize anymore:

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showpost.php?p=98464&postcount=3

From his post in 2007:

I have not boiled or sulfited a must in seven years.

Pasteurizing is completely unnecessary.

[AZRedhawk44]

Cool.

Well, I can't un-pasteurize it. 

I'll start another batch with the same source of honey, in about 2 or 3 weeks.  Same yeast, but only heat the first gallon of water to 90 degrees or so.  Just enough heat to help with rinsing out the honey containers and dissolving the honey stuck inside on the walls.

[Regolith]

[Gewehr98]

Just scored a gallon of pure Wisconsin maple syrup, so I'm going to try an acerglyn this weekend. 

The syrup has sugared considerably, so it'll be interesting trying to get it all back into solution for the yeast. 

[Pharmacology]

I think I'm going to try and make some for the first time when the weather gets cold-ish. 

There's nothing like standing in freezing temperatures with a piping hot cup of mead.


Is there any mead that would be available (say at Specs) that is worth drinking?

[AZRedhawk44]

Only retail mead I've had is Chaucer's, which I had at the RenFair here in AZ.  It's what turned me on to making my own.