I have been making mead for about two years now and have never boiled my mead before i start fermentation, but i have a friend who swears by boiling before fermentation. I'm not trying to start a conflict, just trying to get some help.

Thanks,
JHammers

Welcome to the forum.

I have seen it done both ways. I wouldn't boil any fruit. Normally boil the honey mixture and then just pour the mixture over the fruit. boiling fruit can cause a pectic haze which sometimes can be difficult to get rid of. The boiling process can make it more difficult to get the mead to ferment. Stirring the must vigorously before adding the yeast can help introduce some oxygen. They use this process in beer after it is boiled.

Adding campden 24 hours before adding yeast does kill off most other yeasts. Some mead makers suggest bringing honey mixture to 140 degrees and not really bringing it to a boil, then pouring it over the fruit.

My only concern would be not boiling the fruit that flavors the mead.

I understand your quandary. Not boiling the honey at all just seems...wrong.

However, if I am ever to be a really good mead maker this is something I will need to overcome.

The subtle flavor and aroma characteristics of honey are quite volatile and can be liberated by heat especially boiling.

Most of the award winner mead makers I know do not boil the honey. They may heat it to help dissolve the honey into the water but they never boil it. Many people don't heat the honey at all so as to preserve all of the honey character.

I've only made mead a few times and have always boiled the honey. Having said that, the meads I made were not traditional meads but were rather fruit and spiced meads (i.e. melomels and metheglins) so the honey character would not necessarily be at the forefront and could very well be obscured by the fruit and/or spices. I also used cheap, generic honey from Sam's Club so I suspect that the honey character may not have been all that great to start with.

Perhaps the next mead I make I'll purchase better honey and maybe I will just heat the water/honey mixture to about 140-160 F for about 20-30 minutes to kill off most of the yeast and bacteria present without the loss of all of the honey character. This is a 12 step program. One day I might be able to make a mead with not heating at all. At present, that seems like a long ways off.

- Scott

So you think those bees knew they were making discount honey for Sam's Club? Just kidding.

Thanks guys, there is a lot of good info there. I will try heating the honey mixture before, and also I agree stirring the must before adding the yeast does help introduce a lot of good oxygen before the fermentation process for the yeasts to do there thing.

Thanks again.....

Side note: No I don't think the bees knew they were making honey to be sold at Sam's Club.

I think you would be fine either way.