Fermented Honey

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Hey,

So my dad just called me and told me he has a gallon of fermented honey in the basement. I'm not sure when he pulled it off of his hive (this year or last). Regardless, he wanted to know if I could do anything with it? I' don't know the answer, can I?

[akr71]

mead? braggot?

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

My concern is the wild yeast that are causing the problem in the first place. But if if were sterilized in the boil (I have no idea how to make mead) then it might work. I'm hoping someone here has an idea about it.

[mr x]

I don't understand how the honey is 'fermented'?

[vgoreham]

I don't understand how the honey is 'fermented'?

This. My understanding is that honey won't ferment unless it's been diluted. Honey has been shown to survive thousands of years in nature (e.g. in Egyptian tombs)

[akr71]

My concern is the wild yeast that are causing the problem in the first place. But if if were sterilized in the boil (I have no idea how to make mead) then it might work. I'm hoping someone here has an idea about it.

Don't boil honey! You may as well just dump in table sugar if you are going to do that. Use warm water to get things dissolved, sure, but no boiling. Also, lets remember that all mead, wine and beer were spontaneously fermented for millenia.

Tho is might just be some mold or something. If so, scrap it off and don't think twice about using it.

[moxie]

My concern is the wild yeast that are causing the problem in the first place. But if if were sterilized in the boil (I have no idea how to make mead) then it might work. I'm hoping someone here has an idea about it.

Don't boil honey! You may as well just dump in table sugar if you are going to do that. Use warm water to get things dissolved, sure, but no boiling. Also, lets remember that all mead, wine and beer were spontaneously fermented for millenia.

Tho is might just be some mold or something. If so, scrap it off and don't think twice about using it.

You may want to warm it to skim wax off the top!

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

So I was just talking to my dad and he told me the whole story.

This was honey he took off a hive this past spring, but the hive had died through the winter, so the honey sat in the hive without bees for a while before he got to it. He knows that honey on its own doesn't ferment but he can taste "alcohol" in it. He said it looks fine, but there's something "off and boozy" about it. I asked if he had diluted it somehow or added anything to it and he said no, it was just extracted from the comb, strained and put in a gallon jug. That is how he's been doing it for years. He's going to bring it to me next time he's out my way. Then we'll see.

I've never tried mead before....

[moxie]

So I was just talking to my dad and he told me the whole story.

This was honey he took off a hive this past spring, but the hive had died through the winter, so the honey sat in the hive without bees for a while before he got to it. He knows that honey on its own doesn't ferment but he can taste "alcohol" in it. He said it looks fine, but there's something "off and boozy" about it. I asked if he had diluted it somehow or added anything to it and he said no, it was just extracted from the comb, strained and put in a gallon jug. That is how he's been doing it for years. He's going to bring it to me next time he's out my way. Then we'll see.

I've never tried mead before....

The NSLC has a honeywine from the valley if you want to give it a try. I have no idea what % of honey it is, there is a distinction between mead and honeywine.

[Graham.C]

I started with mead long before brewing. One of my e-mail lists just finished up a discussion about mead vs. honeywine and concluded that there is no difference between the two, just that honey wine is a better seller commercially (likely because consumers know what it is).

Honey is too high a sugar content for most organisms to survive on, however some do. From what I know, yeast are not one that can of them but some off tasting molds can occur. I agree with Andy, skim off anything that is wrong with it and warm it up (just slightly) and mix it with water (~4 US gallons will give you a dry wine of ~11.5% ABV). I would be inclined to toss in a cup of really strong tea for tannic stucture and maybe some lemon juice (1-2tbs) for balance. Let it ferment then rack it after its done. Put it somewhere you never think about it and leave it as long as you can. Mead really starts coming into its own after 3 years and peaks somewhere after that but before 30 years. If you want you can even use fruit skin in place of pitching yeast to let the wild yeasts take over to give it even greater depth. Its much less risky then beer because of the time it has to mellow, then again I have had some funky meads and tend to stick to a wine yeast that captures fruity character. Stay away from the mead yeasts unless you are going to commit to it, they are finicky and regularly stall from what I have heard. A champagne yeast works great and costs almost nothing.

Good luck!