Hopped Mead Question / Boil Questions / Rather Sciency

[reincarnationfish]

I've mostly been trying to brew heavily single hopped Pales so far, but I used Bramling Cross hops and the aroma came out very orange, so I thought that might make for a good low ABV hopped mead.

Question is about the boil... The boil basically does three thing reasons, extract bitterness from the hops, to sanitize everything and boil off Dimethyl sulphate from the wort.

Q1, Since the Honey has not been mashed, it should not contain any DMS, since that is formed by heating - this is if honey actually does contains the Sulphates in the first place to actually make DMS when heated, anyone know this?

Q2 If DMS is not an issue with honey, is there any reason not to boil the hops in water in order to maximize bittering efficiency due to the low SG of the water, then simply add the honey 10 minutes before the end of the boil to make sure you kill any nasty bacteria in it.

Q3 Come to that, since I'm usually focused on heavy hopped IPAs, is there any reason why I shouldn't pre-boil my hops in water before adding them to the wort for the main boil, to increase bittering efficientcy?

 

[rodwha]

There's a meadery we buy from at a local farmer's market that has a dry hopped mead I really like. I had 1/2 a pack of US-05 yeast and considered making a small mead of about 8% ABV and figured I'd use a small portion of honey to boil the hops in for 7 mins and then add to the rest. I didn't do it as I hadn't known I'd need to concern myself with several nutrient additions, but one of these days I will, and a hopped mead will be in the works!

I've been under the impression that hop oils do better with a little something, but I don't know this.

There cannot be bacteria in honey. but there can be wild yeasts. I use plenty of honey in my wheat beers and add it at flameout, though I've also added it to the fermentor a week after fermentation began. I only add it at flameout to get a more accurate OG.