Making Mead
Mixing the Must 
Checking the SG before fermentation : 1.010 
Fermentation Pail after 6hrs 
Fermentation Pail after 12 hours
Proverb: If you use a commodity or resource carefully and without extravagance you will never be in need.
One by-product of honey can be Mead or honey wine. And one resource available to a beekeeper is naturally honey, but also honey washings that are produced when reclaiming wax. It is surely a good idea not to be wasteful. It is for this reason that I decided I would attempt to start making Mead this year. It’s also a fun thing to do.
I am making mead for the first time. Years ago, when it was fashionable, there was wine and beer to be made from ‘kits’ bought in a ‘Home-Brew’ shop or even from ‘Boots the Chemist’. I seem to remember that most attempts ended in dissatisfaction 😦
To learn about Mead making I have a fine small book written by Harry Riches, and a booklet (special series) produced by the BBKA, together with YouTube videos from the internet. But as usual, just as all beekeepers appear to always do things differently, it seems there isn’t just one simple standard method of making the mead. For example, some advocate moving the must straight into a demijohn after it has been mixed and others prefer to leave the must in a fermenting bin/pail for the first couple of days to prevent over-flow when the initial fermentation period may be vigorous. I have chosen the latter for my first attempt. It is a case of trial and error.
It was an odd feeling to use a hydrometer again. The last time I used a hydrometer was probably when I was a cadet in the Merchant Navy. But then I was using it to measure a Dock Water Allowance for calculating the change in draught of the ship when it moved out of the dock water into the salt water of the open sea. To get that simple calculation wrong could mean not taking enough cargo/payload and have the ship at a lighter draught than it’s load lines would allow or, on the other hand, find the ship was overloaded. Whereas here I am determining if the must has sufficient honey to achieve the desired alcohol content. This is not so critical and not such a high-profile mistake if things go wrong 🙂
There is now a sweet and heady smell in our kitchen.
Both batches of mead have been made using a basic recipe of ingredients: Honey, water, cold tea (tannin), juice of 1 lemon (acid + vitamin C), yeast nutrient and yeast. The only difference between the two is the water. For the first demijohn I used tap water and for the second demijohn I used honey/wax washings. At this stage the apparent difference between the two is in the colour – and the first demijohn is fermenting more vigorously.
Other Stuff
Mouse guards were fitted during the first week of October and Apivar strips will be removed next week.
I have started making split-boards for use next year. Two have been completed and ten more to do.
Bess's Bees 
Save a couple of glasses for us 😉
LikeLike