I have made mead, but I make no claims to being a master.

Don't bother trying to use bad honey to make mead- the off flavors will give you off flavored mead.  (Whether from fermenting, overheating, or bad tasting floral source, if you don't like the taste of the honey, you probably won't like the taste of the mead.)

 If you had immediately frozen the high water content honey, or used it immediately for making mead, then a little extra moisture wouldn't have caused much of a problem.  Now you have off flavors, and wild yeasts to deal with- not a good beginning.  When making mead, or any wine, you have to be careful what types of yeasts you use.  Different yeasts give different flavors and ageing qualities to the mead.  The yeasts causing the fermentation in your honey are sure to be the wrong kind.

Start with good ingredients if you want to get good mead.

Ellen

Mt. Clemens MI


  "Jaquie Bunse." <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Could one of you master mead-makers tell me how wise it is to use fermented
honey to make mead?

I have one pail of honey that I extracted late summer even tho' the bees
hadn't finished capping it, and it was pretty high in H2O, but the brood
nests were plugged with honey and it was time to treat for mites. It would
be great if it could be used up making mead.

Jaquie Bunse
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