Question about mead

[mle292]

Today we are making a fruit mead for the first time. Multiple recipes online direct the maker to boil the honey in water, but then add fruit once the mead has cooled down, at the start of the fermenting process

Comments

[lucfia]

it really depends on where you're getting your fruit from, shop bought stuff will have been washed so won't have yeasts on it.
Last time i did roship mead, I boiled half the water with the honey and cold-soaked the rosehips in the rest as they weren't going in the ferment. mashing the fuit and letting it sit in cold water for a day or so, before letting it drip thought a jelly bag, might be the best answer

[bassnote]

Another reason that you don't want to boil the fruit is that it can/will cause a "starch" haze that can be a real pain inna butt to clear.

[the_hat]

[nozferatu46]

I don't boil the honey, you lose a lot of the aromatics that way. Honey is anti-microbial, so you don't have to sterilize it. Just set the container in some hot water so it will warm up and flow easier out of the container. .

When it comes to fruit in mead and beer... I prefer adding it to secondary. You lose less of the aromatics through the airlock and fermentation that way. I freeze my fruit before adding, as that will kill off almost any wild yeast on the fruit, and break down the cell structure better for fermentation.

[bassnote]

I do boil my honey but that is because I've been lucky enough to use true "wild" honey still in the comb and it's full of ... stuff. Boil it and skim the crap off the top, cool it and then get my primary on.

[czar_wolfhound]

I make my meads the same way, unless I'm making cyser in which I do boil it a bit due to the massive amount of wild yeasts that come with raw ciders.

[faerieboy]

boiling the honey is pretty unnecessary too. Honey is anti-septic and yeast free.