Mead from fermented honey

[Acebird]

I have heard both sides of the story about using fermented honey.  Some say good and others say not good.  I brought down 6 cases of mead from NY and the first batch is about a year old.  So far it is great!

[BeeMaster2]

Did you make the mead from fermented honey.
Jim

[JackM]

Mead IS fermented honey, just like wine is fermented fruit juice.

[blackforest beekeeper]

there is a distinction between a "wild" fermentation and a controlled one.
often, honey-water-solution is heated as to kill unwelcome yeasts asf.
the old northmen spit into it to make fermentation go....

the OUTCOME, thoug.... a cultured wine-yeast is what I use. Works well.
I did a little experiment, letting some solution just sit around. got a nice vinegar.

I don`t know. I have always used good honey. If you drink it yourself, try it out and tell us. It WILL work and it WILL give a buzz.

[Acebird]

Did you make the mead from fermented honey.
Jim

Yes Jim.
The recipe I use calls for boiling the water first let it drop down to 180-190 and then dump the honey in killing off the natural yeast.  I think it would come out nasty if you didn't do that.

[BeeMaster2]

Brian,
Without killing the yeast, it could be bad or it could be great. Remember when they used to say a wine from a certain wine was so great. It was because the natural yeast was a good one that year. Now they always control which yeast makes the wine.
Jim

[Acebird]

Yes but if it were from a wine then the good yeast would already be singled out and not from a host of other yeasts.  Honey in the raw state has a multitude of yeast in it.  And if you let fermentation take place in an open dish it would be collecting other yeast from the air.  So just letting honey water sit around is bound to produce vinegar.

[van from Arkansas]

Yes, Yes, Yes: the wild yeast will ferment the honey, then bacteria will convert the alcohol to acetic acid or another name is vinegar.  So timing is important when making wine or vinegar.  Yes, different yeast produce different flavors.  But give enough time, bacteria will produce vinegar from wine or mead when presented with free oxygen.

White vinegar is produced from diluted distilled alcohol.

[blackforest beekeeper]

it is not necessary to heat the honey and water (it may be safer, but taste does suffer). but do give the yeast a good start in a starter and multiply it before giving to the big tank. then it will have a head start over the wild flora. and mix the honey and water just prior to adding the starter.
also, there should be no great difference in temperature between starter and tank.

wine is never heated and has lots of wild yeast, too.

[Acebird]

At this point I am not going to change my process.  Most people who make mead put all kinds of stuff in their recipe like nutrients, phosphate and ph balancers.  I do not.  It is just honey, water and yeast.  So far I have not had a bad batch so I will continue what I am doing.

[blackforest beekeeper]

never talked about adding anything. 

[Beeboy01]

I've been a mead maker and drinker for years and prefer not to boil the initial mixture. Even if the wild yeasts are present the commercial yeast grows fast enough to overwhelm the wild strains. I use Red Star Champagne yeast for my mead which gives a fruity flavor when compared to some of the other yeasts. 
  Just picked up a first place blue ribbon for a mead I entered at the Volusia County Fair. The honey I used was partly crystallized and had a little natural fermentation occurring which is why it ended up as a mead.
   

[splitrock]

Ive been making mead for 3 years and don't boil anything either. Just use hot tap water.

The way I understand it, somewhere there is a medicinal mead that is made from letting only the natural yeasts do the work.

Also, i won't use sulfite's and just use a little bleach water for sterilizing rinsed with hot tap water as well. Seems to work, haven't had a batch crash yet.