Question on the ferment

[rwlaw]

I was talking to a guy about the beer he had brewed (a spruce tip porter). And the idea of a spruce tip/ginger mead popped into my head (A.D.D ya know), asking about his recipe he said that he aways boiled his stuff and added just the tea. He got all weird when I said that all I've ever done is
just thrown everything in a hop bag and in the ferment it goes, I guess I never worried about it because I use Lavin 1116 and the natural antbiotics of the honey, haven't had a bad batch yet. Whata think, to boil or not to boil this the question.

[Dr.Wax]

Think of the wonderful aromas given off when you boil the honey or other ingredients. Then consider that all those wonderful smells and flavors are going into the air rather than your mead!

That and the fact that honey is naturally resistant to bacteria (as you mentioned) persuaded me to not boil.

[Camp9]

This is one of those topics that will split families. If you've had good luck not boiling, then keep making it the way you been doing it. I've been making mead for year and haven't boiled yet.

Camp

[riverattachment]

I have been brewing mead for a few years now. I always pasteurize at 150 F for about 30 minutes. This amounts to boiling a volume of water roughly equal to the amount of honey you will use, turn off the heat, add the honey to it, stir, and put the lid on to cool. Then add the remainder of water required that has been previously boiled and cooled . I have never had a contamination problem and the honey aroma stays in the mead. Most of the other people I know brewing mead do a similar sort of process or do not heat at all. Boiling is bad for mead in my opinion. Beer wort is much more sensitive to contamination - sugar/alcohol concentrations are lower and there are no natural antibiotics like there are in honey.