M' Wife's bees.....

[Snaveba]

Pulled the last of my honey frames on Wednesday. Got another 72ish lbs (6 gal). This honey is darker with less of a floral tone, more “full bodied”. 
 

 

[Garufa]

So, who makes Mead with all their honey?

[dralarms]

57 minutes ago, Garufa said:

So, who makes Mead with all their honey?

If I had bees I’d be making mead out of it all, except what’s needed to provide for the bees.

 

or if I could hook up with a bee owner and make mead and split the batches.  

[ReeferMac]

Its my understanding mead takes quite a bit of honey to make... A quick search turned up a recipe suggesting 2-3lbs of honey per gallon of mead.

[dralarms]

5 minutes ago, ReeferMac said:

Its my understanding mead takes quite a bit of honey to make... A quick search turned up a recipe suggesting 2-3lbs of honey per gallon of mead.

That is true, I use 15 lbs per 5 gallon batch. 

[analog_kidd]

I have a couple gallons worth of honey from 2 years ago that crystalized for some reason. I'm going to be making mead out of it here soon.  I want to try a few different recipes, so I'm drinking down a couple 1 gal jugs of wine to use as carboys for each batch. The wife said that was a lot of wine to have to drink up, I said "challenge accepted"

[A.J. Holst]

Been enjoying the thread, very happy to hear y'all have healthy hives!

[dralarms]

44 minutes ago, analog_kidd said:

I have a couple gallons worth of honey from 2 years ago that crystalized for some reason. I'm going to be making mead out of it here soon.  I want to try a few different recipes, so I'm drinking down a couple 1 gal jugs of wine to use as carboys for each batch. The wife said that was a lot of wine to have to drink up, I said "challenge accepted"

Want to borrow a 5 gallon carboy?

[ReeferMac]

Lol @dralarms, beat me to it! I've got a glass one collecting dust!

[Moped]

Loving this thread!!!

[Snaveba]

4 hours ago, analog_kidd said:

I have a couple gallons worth of honey from 2 years ago that crystalized for some reason. I'm going to be making mead out of it here soon.  I want to try a few different recipes, so I'm drinking down a couple 1 gal jugs of wine to use as carboys for each batch. The wife said that was a lot of wine to have to drink up, I said "challenge accepted"

All honey will likely crystallize eventually. It is a super saturated sugar solution. The higher glucose to fructose ratio lends itself to crystallize more quickly. You can put it in a hot water bath (100-110 deg) and it should. liquify. If it has not been sealed really well and the water in the honey has been allowed to evaporate it may crystallize more quickly. 

[peejman]

1 hour ago, Snaveba said:

All honey will likely crystallize eventually. It is a super saturated sugar solution. The higher glucose to fructose ratio lends itself to crystallize more quickly. You can put it in a hot water bath (100-110 deg) and it should. liquify. If it has not been sealed really well and the water in the honey has been allowed to evaporate it may crystallize more quickly. 

I read something recently with a good idea... it said if you've got a lot of crystallized honey, replace your oven bulb with an incandescent 100W bulb.   Verify the temp, but it should be about 150 deg. Stick all of it in there overnight to liquefy it.  Then be sure to swap the oven bulb back in before you use the oven. 

[Snaveba]

That’s a good idea. Purists say don’t take it above about 110 deg or you may destroy the natural enzymes.  I have a design for a “hot box” that uses a light bulb to heat the box. I will try the oven trick and monitor the temp. 

[dralarms]

10 hours ago, ReeferMac said:

Lol @dralarms, beat me to it! I've got a glass one collecting dust!

That’s a crime in these parts. 

[analog_kidd]

Thanks for the offers to borrow a carboy. I'm set up with several of my own, as I make a fair amount of wine already. I was just going to use the gallon  jugs to make a couple different recipes, instead of making one 5 gal batch. Can't  say that I've even ever had mead before, and I'd like to see if there is one recipe or another that suits me.

Do any of you all have a recipe to share?

[dralarms]

47 minutes ago, analog_kidd said:

Thanks for the offers to borrow a carboy. I'm set up with several of my own, as I make a fair amount of wine already. I was just going to use the gallon  jugs to make a couple different recipes, instead of making one 5 gal batch. Can't  say that I've even ever had mead before, and I'd like to see if there is one recipe or another that suits me.

Do any of you all have a recipe to share?

All mine are 5 gallon+. But a quick check looks like 3 lbs per gallon.  

[ReeferMac]

2 hours ago, analog_kidd said:

Can't  say that I've even ever had mead before,

Might want to get some before to try and see if you like it? I have not tried it either, but heard its a unique taste?

Might be able to find it at that big store in Turkey Creek?

Edited August 30, 2021 by ReeferMac

[Snaveba]

Is Mead really so good as to spend $30 per gallon on honey to make it? Now, if you have your own bees, then the honey is much less of a cost (other than the time and effort spent tending hives, extracting honey, etc). Does good mead cost >$30 per gallon?

[dralarms]

1 hour ago, Snaveba said:

Is Mead really so good as to spend $30 per gallon on honey to make it? Now, if you have your own bees, then the honey is much less of a cost (other than the time and effort spent tending hives, extracting honey, etc). Does good mead cost >$30 per gallon?

I get 5 gallons out of 45.00 bucks worth of honey. (Now mind you, that’s the cheap Walmart stuff).

 

if I could find someone to sell me honey @30.00 a gallon I’d be all over that.

[OldIronFan]

On 8/27/2021 at 4:23 PM, Garufa said:

So, who makes Mead with all their honey?

 

On 8/28/2021 at 6:17 AM, ReeferMac said:

Its my understanding mead takes quite a bit of honey to make... A quick search turned up a recipe suggesting 2-3lbs of honey per gallon of mead.

I used to make a lot of mead, cider, cyser, pymet, and other variants. Typically I was in the 2.5 to 3.5 pounds of honey per gallon range for most of my meads. I would buy in bulk from keepers I had come to know or small operations like orchards or farms that kept bees as part of their operations. Using store bought stuff is a risk. Half of it comes out of china and half of that is (at least in part) corn syrup. 

I started out making beer an transitioned to mead and cider variants when I found I tolerated it and enjoyed it more. I had begun to have some health issues with beer. 
Sadly now I don't tolerate much alcohol at all so my making days are behind me. 
Back in the day I actually won quite a few medals with my meads and ciders at homebrew competitions. Got a bit of a reputation for it and was asked to do radio radio and speaking gigs about it over the years. 

[Snaveba]

33 minutes ago, dralarms said:

I get 5 gallons out of 45.00 bucks worth of honey. (Now mind you, that’s the cheap Walmart stuff).

 

if I could find someone to sell me honey @30.00 a gallon I’d be all over that.

That came out wrong on my part. I meant $30 worth of honey (3lbs) to make a gallon of mead. 

[dralarms]

1 hour ago, Snaveba said:

That came out wrong on my part. I meant $30 worth of honey (3lbs) to make a gallon of mead. 

Oh, ok.  . I get 5 lbs from Walmart for under 14.00. (I don’t actually go to Walmart, my wife picks it up when she feels like it without me asking. So I use it).

 

 

[Handsome Rob]

Oddly, I used to make mead before we had bees. These days it's really hard to snag a few pounds that we could be eating or selling! 

However, one thing I really do enjoy for myself, is to polish off 9/10ths of a bottle of bourbon. 

[Handsome Rob]

Damn. Sorry. Once the bottle only has a couple or 3 shots, fill it up with honey. It takes a few days to mix itself, but it's awesome on breakfast cereal, mixed with oatmeal & is especially good as a BBQ or roast glaze. 

I marinate my dove breasts in it for poppers & use mix it with home made blackberry & chili jam as a dipping sauce for wild game. Delish!

[KahrMan]

That sounds pretty good. I am going to have to try that n