# Questions of a rank beginner...



## JohnBruceLeonard (Jul 7, 2015)

After following Tenbear's thread, "WOW! just rolled out of bed! Some great meads," and reading with great interest the learnèd dialogue between Tenbears and Eikel, without understanding so much as a tithe of it, I've decided to make a go at mead making. I'll be starting simple, simple, simple, for it seems an enormously complicated business; but I did have a few basic questions I was hoping the forum's mazers (i.e., meadmakers, correct?) might help me with...

_*Yeast:*_ If I understand rightly, wild yeast is undesirable as a fermenter because it gives unpredictable and generally coarser results, and because it requires a considerably longer fermentation, unless one makes a starter with it. I also understand that wild yeast is present, _not _in the honey itself, but in the air; which means that there is no such thing as a honey-specific yeast. Is this all correct? I ask, because I've had a devil of a time trying to find winemakers' yeast. In Italy no one seems to have heard of adding extraneous yeast to make wine, and I have been told that winemakers here rely instead each grape's characteristic yeast. Beer yeast has been recommended as a possible alternative. Would this work? How does it perform in mead making?

_*Honey types:*_ My other question relates to how much the flavor of the original honey influences the final result. I have a few different kinds of honey knocking about (one of them with a _very _distinctive taste) and I'd like to try two or three different batches, but I was curious how much the end would show the origin. Are there any honeys that, by reason of peculiarities of their flavor, are better avoided?

Thanks very much for any and all responses. I am, really, as rank of a beginner as I _could _be, so any advice, either on these questions or more generally, is more than welcome.

John


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

> [learnèd dialogue /QUOTE]
> You surely must be referring to Tenbear's part of the conversation as I'm the "grasshopper" in that discussion.
> 
> I've found yeast that the manufacturer has labeled for hard cider but I haven't seen honey/mead specific. A number of recipes call for a specific brand and "name/style/number" but many folks have their own preferences based on the yeast characteristics and/or characteristics of the wine to be produced. There are "charts" that provide descriptions and recommendation based on your "target" product (red, white, fruit, etc), I'll PM a couple of the manufacturer's charts.
> ...


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

John, You nailed it as far as Italian wine makers the wild yeast associated with various grapes are the preferred method. Most of todays yeast cultures were developed from those yeast with their individual characteristics in mind. 

Eikel and I were discussing a phase of mead making a bit beyond the rudimentary beginnings. which is where every mead maker should start. To understand what makes a good mead one must understand the elements it consist of. To do this one must consume their share sort to speak. that is not to say we all will hold the same appreciation for the same brew. one mans treasure can be another's trash. 
The first mead I made was from a recipe that used fireweed in it because it contained a wild yeast. I brewed by this for many years with good results. it was not until I began to notice that although I never had a bad batch. I also never had the same batch twice, and was unable to reproduce my best batch. That I began searching for why. To be honest I did not even know that the fireweed was there to provide it's companion yeast. I just did it the way it was explained to me. Trying to reproduce a mead with a degree of consistency throughout it's profile opened a whole new chapter in mead making for me. The learning was half the enjoyment. Developing yeast from a wild grape fermentation, then using the slurry to start a mead could produce as fine a mead as one has ever tasted. 

The honey flavor does transcend the fermentation. a slow ferment lends to the maturation of the individual honey's flavor profile. a buckwheat mead should taste like buckwheat honey. As should a mead made with carrot blossom taste like carrot blossom honey. The Beauty of a mead is if you do not care for the individual nuances of a particular honey. then you can craft it with Oak, cinnamon, rosemary, or any spice you choose to alter or complement that mead. 

Some people just make mead, an alcoholic beverage. The more alcohol the better, and that is fine too. there are no rules for personal taste.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

Carrot blossom honey would have never entered my ream of possible nectar sources, live and learn I guess. For my own edification, I'd like to see a field of carrots blooming.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Carrot blossom honey is very hard to come by. Carrots do not produce seed until their second year of growth. being where carrots are grown to harvest their young tender root which grows the first year they do not blossom other than in a seed production situation. Commercial carrot growers do not produce seed. 85% of all carrot seed is grown in the mountains of Oregon in and around Jefferson county. only about 4000 acres of carrots are grown for seed, with a portion of this land being within the Warm Springs reservation. add to that last I knew only Native Americans were allowed to place bee hives on the reservation makes this one of the hardest to come by honeys. If you have an opportunity to acquire some of this rare and wonderful honey I suggest you do so, If not to make mead. Then just to sample it. it is different but the true quality and uniqueness is in the mead it produces in my opinion.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

Thank for the information, I was totally ignorant on carrot production.


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## JohnBruceLeonard (Jul 7, 2015)

Eikel and Tenbears, thank you both for the information. You have given me a place to start, and I am eager to do so. The idea of _crafting_ mead is of great appeal to me. Eikel, I can understand completely the satisfaction and pride you might take from such work. I have no doubt that here in the beginning I'll be stumbling around a lot more than you were, Tenbears, when you first began - but a start is a start!

As I told Eikel, I've managed at last to find a few different yeast varieties for wine making. I have no doubt I'll be back with more questions once I get my equipment in line. Once more - thanks to you both.

John


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

You are more than welcome John, always happy to share.


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