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M

maynard

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 24, 2014
16
0
0
Morrison, Colorado, USA
I'm sitting here waiting patiently, or maybe not too patiently, for the bees to finish capping the last couple of frames in the super.
I wish they would hurry up, as I'd really like to try making the JAOM.

Thought I would introduce myself and say hello in the meantime.

:D
 
Mostly for a hobby. I've produced 30lbs of honey this year (Not much), and am waiting on 60lbs more to finish capping on one of my hives. 2 other hives should have ~30-60lbs harvestable honey each, so I'm hoping on 150#s left to harvest this year. I sell most of it, but use some for various things. I hope to continue to build and "retire" into beekeeping.

I thought I'd give mead a crack.

I tried some redstone mead, and didn't think it was too bad, although it had been produced in January of this year. From what I'm reading on this site, it seems that would be a very young mead.
 
My impatience has got the best of me. I ordered a honey refractometer so I can measure the moisture content of the uncapped honey. It may be ready now. I also moved the uncapped honey from the edge of the super into the middle of it. Come on bees!

:D
 
Glad your bees are working out well, I planted buckwheat for mine this year and they loved it. You could set your sights higher than a JAOM. What kind of honey do you think you have, or maybe you got early and late honey to seperate? Have you got a hydrometer and some Fermaid and some wine yeast like K1V1116 yet? I can tell you now that every beekeeper I know that I showed how to make mead loves it so get some carboys, a drill mounted stirrer works real good for stirring in your honey. You can take all your cappings and trimmings and toss them in as well into your new brewing bucket reserved for meads. Dont set around and wait for the first batch to get finished because then you will drink it all up and then be impatient for your next one to get done and rush it, so make a simple one to get the ferment going, like a 3 gallon batch, dont even fool around wasting time on 1 gallon batches, then get a 5 gallon batch going. You wont have to worry about selling it anymore, you are going to ferment it all from now on. As you advance you will find out about Polish meads, that is 1 gallon of honey and 2 gallons of water or juice, then you will want to make melomels, do you have blue elderberries out your way, great in a mead. This place is like Hotel California, you can never leave now, meads gonna get ya. WVMJ
 
I forgot to add if you spin down your unsealed frames and its not down to 18% dont worry about it, just start a batch of mead, you are going to dilute it anyway to ferment! WVMJ
 
Oh, make some JAO too, it'll give you something to drink to keep you out of the traditional while it ages :)
 
WVMJack said:
What kind of honey do you think you have, or maybe you got early and late honey to seperate?
Click to expand...

Wildflower. One hive I extracted from earlier, so it has Thistle, Russian sage, clover, and who knows what else.
A couple of other hives have been going all year.

I am most certainly not going to ferment it all from now on. Beekeeping isn't a cheep hobby, and my wife has made it pretty clear that she thinks it's about time the bees started pulling their own weight. :)

I'd rather have money than mead, but I'm not sure I'll be able to sell ~100 lbs, so am looking for something to do with potential excess.

I thought about JAO, because the wife absolutely did not like the readstone plain mead ( I think y'all call it a show mead, just water, honey and yeast), but she does like fruitier wines like Muscato.

Also, I have no equipment, and thought that a JAOM could be made pretty cheaply while I'm deciding if mead making is a worthwhile hobby.

I think in the long run, I'd prefer straight meads, particularly if the flavors of the different honey's used in them came through to the finish. Anybody know of a good commercial straight mead that showcases what's possible?

WVMJack said:
I forgot to add if you spin down your unsealed frames and its not down to 18% dont worry about it, just start a batch of mead, you are going to dilute it anyway to ferment! WVMJ
Click to expand...

Good point. I'd have to extract twice though, once for salable honey, and once for mead.

:D
 
ALWAYS make the wifes favorite FIRST, then she will let you make experimental batches if she KNOWS you are going to make her FAVORITE:) Does anyone in your area sell caremalized honey, cooked until its a deep mahogany brown, strained to remove the proteins that clump up, so good on ice cream or mixed with peanut butter, you could stand out from the crowd of other beeks who all have the same honey you got. WVMJ
 
That's kind of what I was thinking.

Convince her that making mead isn't a complete waste of time and money, then make something that strives for perfection.

I can't imagine heating these honeys. They are so wonderfully floral, and delicate that I think heat would kill them.

Caramelized honey does sound yummy though.
 
Received the refractometer on Saturday, but have been too busy to open up a hive, except for when it's been raining.

I did calibrate the instrument, and test some other honey I have on hand.

And of course, I have guests coming in tomorrow for a few days. It's kind of torture having honey supers that I just know are full, and no time to spin them.

:D
 
You might be surprised at how quickly you will sell 100 pounds of local, raw honey. Try offering it in quart jars -- the regular canning jars off the grocery store shelf. At $15 a jar (approximately $5/pound) I bet you'd get a few takers just by word of mouth. Even if you only sell 10... well that's one nuc paid for!

If you bottle it in quart jars, it's a handy size for using yourself (one per gallon of mead -- lots of gallon-sized experiments right there), plus it's easy to reliquify.
 
I've been getting $10/lb for my honey so far in the plastic dripless squeeze bottles. I think their Mann Lake.

The uncapped honey in my frames is still 20% water, so isn't ready to spin yet. :(

:D
 
Sheesh -- $10/pound?? Maybe you can retire into beekeeping!

Since you want to get the most bang for your honey, your cappings are your best friend. Wash your cappings in a 5-gallon bucket, in about 3 gallons of water. Strain that cappings wash into a clean bucket through a regular kitchen strainer. The resulting must looks muddy, probably has a bit of wax floating around -- none of that will hurt the final mead. Test it with your hydrometer and you'll find that you are well on your way to a good SG for a primary ferment, without using a drop of your market honey.

You'll need to add more honey to the must, but that can come from your uncapping tank and not the "market" tank. Get the campdens in, then pitch your yeast as soon as you can. Otherwise it'll start fermenting on its own, and you'll have adventures in wild yeast ferments.

As far as the wife not liking a straight, commercial mead... it might be the mead. I find the commercial show meads to be FAR less interesting than a homebrew. Hopefully she'll give your experiments a second chance!
 
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