Honey

Mead
1

I know, garbage in garbage out, but am wondering if all the honey for a batch need be the best quality.

Some of the honeys I’ve found, like the buckwheat I’m currently testing with, are upwards of $12/lb, and if I were to make a 5 gal batch, that would get rather costly.

Would it be silly to use a cheaper honey (that still tastes good) to get the batch going, then just back-sweeten with the pricier honey?

Think I’d be shooting myself in the foot?

2

I would not skimp on the honey if you plan on making a quality mead. If you buy your honey in larger quantities you should be able to get it for about half that price with shipping.

3

I’ll use some cheaper honey in a batch to stretch some really good honey: $12 a pound? :shock:
Where are you getting your honey? I just bought 5 pounds for $13 at costco and Winco has some good honey for around $4 a pound. The last couple of years I’ve bought meadowfoam at the farmer’s market for $5 a pound.
The cheaper honey can work okay as a base for fruit or spiced mead.

4

I found a place that gives me a huge discount when I buy a 5 gallon bucket at once. Under 3 bucks a pound. I would suggest you look into bulk purchasing or get in touch with a local apiary.

5

When buying a specific variety, like buckwheat, you are going to pay a price.

Can you taste the difference in the honey?

Possible that the lower price honey is cut with some generic honey. NB’s buckwheat honey is a 50/50 mix with clover.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/ames ... honey.html
6

Even quality 100% buckwheat honey can easily be purchased for less than $6 per lb with shipping included when you buy a gallon at a time.

7

Yeah I get that I’m probably getting hosed buying little bits at a time, but I didn’t realize there’d be that big a dif getting gallons. Just trying to get an idea of what different types tasted like.

Once I zero in, I’ll have to look further than Amazon :slight_smile:

Thanks all

8

Make a batch with buckwheat honey (I use 15 pounds in a 5 gallon batch):

http://www.dutchgoldhoney.com/store/hon ... heat-Honey

Make another batch with orange blossom honey (I use 15 pounds in a 5 gallon batch):

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/cali ... honey.html

Wait a year and taste them. These meads are completely astonishing, and worth every cent. I use yeast energizer, yeast nutrient, and K1-V1116 yeast.

The cost is less than $1.40 per 12 oz bottle.

If the gods drink anything, they drink orange blossom mead.

9

Realize this is an old post, but I just purchased 15# of Raw Buckwheat. Smells great, tastes good, but it’s almost a waxy consistency, mostly crystalized I guess. That going to cause me any issues?

At first I was really concerned, since every other honey I’ve purchased has been, and stayed, liquid. So headed to Google and read that raw honey is more prone to crystallization than treated honey, but this stuff is more of a cream or paste, and I’m wondering if it’s ancient or what!?!

Some of the leftover “raw virgin honey” from last year shows almost no crystallization, so I’m guessing it wasn’t as raw as they claimed…

10

places that build industrial Honey Extractors, like Cowan’s Manufacturing, they get honey from their buyers to bring down the price on the machines. huge barrels of pure honey. I got 60 lbs of Buckwheat honey for $120, $2/lb. of course I was working there at the time… they get all sorts of honey like red clover and orange blossom, white sage too. next time I’m ready to buy honey I’m going through Cowan’s. with the more expensive honeys they’ll charge up to $15/lb, even employees don’t get much of a discount off that though.