raw or heated honey best for mead?

Other Fermentables
1

Hi all,

In the back of “The Compleat Meadmaker” I found two honey suppliers that are faily neraby (Western Suburbs of Philly). One supplier says, “Dutch Gold’s processing steps do include a flash heating step to 185 degrees for five minutes, after which the product is quickly cooled and the packaged.”

Another says its honey is “raw.”  From the website, “When you buy a jar of Fruitwood Orchards Honey, you are buying pure, raw, unfiltered honey, containing all the enzymes, pollen, minerals and vitamins that Mother Nature, with honey bees, put into this honey. You will never find any artifical ingredients in our delicious, flavorful honey. Often, when honey is extracted from the honey comb, heat has to be used. We strive to keep the heat used in this process to a lower temperature than the heat found naturally occurring in the bee hive.”

Is there an advantage to one over the other for mead making?

Thanks,
Steve

2

Yes. the raw honey will have more flavour and aroma. Also there is some nutrients in the other stuff (pollen, propolis, wax and bee bits/baby bee bits) that really help the yeast out. Along with yeast nutrients I add pollen, propollis and even royal jelly to my meads and I think it had made them better.

I would go with the raw and then don’t boil it yourself. just mix it with water and stir till it disolves.

3

Don’t even need to mix the honey in. Just pour the honey (and yes raw is best), water, nutrients, rehydrate the yeast add, a bit of aeration. The yeast will eat its way thru the honey.