Recently I did two identical mead matches. The only difference was that one batch I didn't boil the honey and the other I did. The non boil finished sweet and cloudy and the boiled batch turned out clear but dry. So does boiling cause the sugars to be more easily fermentable or something?
Boil/Non-boil clarity and dryness?
- Thread starter spagnot
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bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
Curiously, there is a myth out there that cooking the honey transforms some of what are fermentabe sugars into non fermentable. Which is to say that folk who cook their honey for bochets suggest that they cannot get their mead to ferment brut dry. Personally, I have not found that cooking my honey has such an effect but , spagnot, you seem to suggest quite the opposite: that cooking your honey makes it more fermentable. I think all that boiling does is transform the flavors by cooking out the more volatile aromatics and flavor molecules which presumably is one reason for buying and using the honey you want to ferment and by creating more caramelized flavors which you can do with less expensive non varietal honeys. Of course , all bets are off if the honey you have was improperly filtered and prepared. Most honey nowadays, at least in the USA, even if raw, does not need to be boiled.
Thank you for your response. Since my original batch did not clear, I figured I'd boil my honey in water and skim the foam at the top off to get rid of the impurities and bees wax out. I was hoping this was the culprit in my batch why it did not clear out like other batches I've made. If definitely cleared, but It also finished pretty dry. I guess it's inclusive as to why it cleared out since it seems like dryer batches more easily end up really clear. I don't know how much skimming helped or what.
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
I guess it is possible that the removal of proteins and other particles helped clear the mead but I never apply heat to any of my meads and they all clear bright. I think the secret is if you degas the mead then you remove the CO2 and it is the CO2 that can saturate the liquid that helps ensure particulates remain in suspension. Once the gas is gone gravity will ensure the mead clears. But all bets are off if you are making melomels and the like with fruit. If you don't add pectic enzyme before you pitch the yeast and allow the enymes 12 hours to work in an alcohol free environment then clearing such meads is a real challenge.
