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WineEast Two major hurdles in honey wine production are high microorganism loads and haze-causing proteins. consistent, high-quality results, mead makers must address each of these issues. The oldest and simplest method for making mead—diluting the honey with water and leaving it in the hands of fate—is not a viable commercial option. This is a good way to make bad-tasting, cloudy mead. Two major hurdles in honey wine production cited above are high microorganism loads and haze-causing proteins. Traditionally these problems were overcome by boiling the honey-water mixture for 15-20 minutes while skimming off the foam. Boiling sterilizes the mixture while denaturing and eliminating most of the haze-forming proteins. However, this solution comes at a cost. The first and most immediate problem with this approach is that most wineries lack the equipment to boil commercial volumes of liquid. Other drawbacks include the loss of some delicate and pleasing honey aromas as Waterloo_Nov10.qxp 8/26/10 11:36 AM Page 1 well as the development of bitter, harsh, resin-like tastes. Pasteurization has been used as a compromise. Holding the honey-water mixture at a temperature of 150°F for 20 minutes has been reported to work well for eliminating biological load while not inflicting as severe a blow to the aromatic integrity of the honey. Unfortunately, this process still requires special equipment and does not eliminate the potential for haze formation. It is most likely that fining will be required to eliminate unstable proteins. Sulfiting, such as is used in grape wine production, can be used to control microorganisms. Combined with a tight DE filtration, this method should give the yeast a healthy head start on biological contaminants without the addition of heat. As a rule of thumb, additions between 80 and 100 parts per million should be adequate in the typical range of honey-water pH. Keep the honey-water cool and allow eight to 10 hours from sulfiting to inoculation. Again, this treatment does not eliminate potential protein haze problems, and fining will probably be required to improve stability. In the early 1990s it was discovered that meads produced through ultrafiltration were rendered both biologically and protein stable.1 Researchers showed that filtration at 500,000 molecular weight cutoffs (about 0.1 micron) removed roughly half the proteins, which was sufficient to produce proteinstable mead. In the same study, mead produced using ultrafiltration was judged to be vastly superior to mead produced using the traditional boiling method. While ultrafiltration solves the problems of sterilization and potential haze, its biggest disadvantage is the initial equipment cost. I believe anyone Win es & Vin es F EB RUA RY 20 13 75