Goldseal's Honey Lake

[goldseal]

A friend of mine said he'd got 'some' honey for me.

'Some' turned out to be around 65 jars

Around 45 or these are Orange Blossom, which I have used to make Simple Mead and Ancient Orange. I'm reliably informed (by my mother) that it is the best honey she's tasted (and at her age, she's probably tasted quite a bit of it ).

The other 20 or so jars are a blend by the look of it.

Now, when I have some capacity and space (that's another story) I want to try a few 1 gal batches to build my mead experience up. My wines are OK now but my mead experience is limited.

So, can you Mead Experts recommend a few recipes for me?

[Duffbeer]

Daw posted some cracking mead recipes in the mead area.

[fatbloke]

Strange you allude to the taste and how good it is Pete.

I was asking the local commercial honey bloke the other month about "buckwheat" honey.

It does seem to be quite popular, but he was saying that as far as just honey, it's not considered very good.

Lots of recipes I've found use it, though as yet I haven't used any myself.

The commercial supplier doesn't keep it and only offered to obtain a 25 kg bucket - I'm gonna see if he can give me a price next time I'm up there.....

As for experiments, if you've got a reasonable amount of the same type, you can always just try making the same recipe/batch 3 or 4 times and then just use different yeasts to find out which is your personal favourite.

plus, apart from taking up space, don't forget it will keep, almost indefinitely - so you could try the different yeast trick or try other recipes, like a melomel or two of whatever fruit you can get easily. Maybe a cyser and a pyment etc etc.

65 jars might seem a lot, but at about the 3 lb per gallon it won't go that far.

I'll tell you what it will do.......because most meads taste absolutely foul when freshly off the lees and require a reasonable amount of aging, it'll take up even more room/space, glassware, time and effort.

I really enjoy making meads, but they're a PITA as you have to commit the storage space for some considerable time to get them at their best!

Well done with the honey though, I've got a small bucket of Orange Blossom waiting to be made up as I type!

regards

JtFB

[rjb222]

I have done some research on Buckwheat Honey and it is one of the best for mead brewing. From what I have read it is a strong dark honey with great flavors.Do you get it from import John or is Buckwheat grown in England as well?

[fatbloke]

I have done some research on Buckwheat Honey and it is one of the best for mead brewing. From what I have read it is a strong dark honey with great flavors.Do you get it from import John or is Buckwheat grown in England as well?

It would appear that it's probably imported from Eastern Europe Robert.

Places such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

It might be grown here, but I suspect only in small quantities.

All the "Agri Nazis" seem to focus on are cash crops with a goodly amount of EU subsidy.

I also understand that it's one of the better mead making honey's it's just that I'm a little reticent in having to buy a whole 25 kg bucket. Though if that's what I have to have then I'll go for it, I'll just have to make a few different batches with different yeasts, maybe some oak etc to see which comes out best!

Just about all the books etc I've got/read or heard of, seem to say that the darker the honey, then the better for mead making it is.

Hence I have to presume that it's a reasonably accurate assertion!

regards

JtFB

[rjb222]

I just started an five gallon batch of alfalfa honey. This is a dry honey very sweet and earthy tones to it. I stayed with the Joe ancient mead recipe as this is also a white honey. But very yummy.