New Week - New Danger- Extinction in Four Years

[Drewster]

Mead.

Shame it takes so long to become drinkable.

Lots of Bee Keepers make "Mead Vinegar" for sale at Fetes, Shows etc.....

Its a very delicate procedure with unfortunately a lot of wastage ()...
in that they often "attempt" to make a fairly large quantity (lets say gallons)... but only "succeed" with a few bottles.....
Quite often they are fairly succesfull in stage 1 - making raw product for "Mead Vinegar" ie Gallons of Mead.
Now many Bee Keepers (allegedly) like to experiment with new ideas... so they (so I have heard) put a few bottles aside to transform into "Mead Vinegar" in lets say a traditional way......
The "Raw Ingredient" at this stage is allegedly quite nice to drink with your friends... but you can't sell it oh no no no!

With the rest they like to experiment..... one of the "experimental" ways of making "Mead Vinegar" is apparently to heat the raw ingredients using (I have heard the term "distill") some simple(ish) aparatus and seperate out the various liquids.....

This leaves (very disapointingly) a fairly disgusting "Mead Vinegar" - which doesn't pass quality control and is thrown away.
Apparently one of the other by-products is a fairly nice tasting liquid that can be either drunk with your friends or even stored in wooden casks etc and kept for many years to "rest" (I have also heard the funny term Mature).

It has been suggested that this by-product might have a market but that never happens as it would be just slightly illegal with out a licence and all that........

Allegedly if you ask certain Bee Keepers at shows who are selling "Mead Vinegar" if they have any "more refined Vinegar" there is the possibility you can obtain some of thier failed experiments...... errrrr allegedly

[RichardCranium]

Allegedly if you ask certain Bee Keepers at shows who are selling "Mead Vinegar" if they have any "more refined Vinegar" there is the possibility you can obtain some of thier failed experiments...... errrrr allegedly

That is a frighteningly expensive and slow way to make distilled alcohol.

[Drewster]

That is a frighteningly expensive and slow way to make distilled alcohol.

Well as you make Mead from the Honey flavoured dross, detritus and tulip left after extracting the honey its not particularly expensive.

Not sure about slow.....
I think the fermentation to get to the Mead stage takes as long as it takes...... ie Leave the "disgusting gloop" in a warmish cupboard (along with your various other Fruit Wines) and forget about it......
Take out "last years".... and off you go!

[RichardCranium]

Well as you make Mead from the Honey flavoured dross, detritus and tulip left after extracting the honey its not particularly expensive.

Not sure about slow.....
I think the fermentation to get to the Mead stage takes as long as it takes...... ie Leave the "disgusting gloop" in a warmish cupboard (along with your various other Fruit Wines) and forget about it......
Take out "last years".... and off you go!

Mead is made from honey, not the wax and crap in the hive. That would be called "hive crap wine".

Mead takes two years to be drinkable. That's slow.

If you just want cheap and fast fermented alcohol: a demijohn, a bag of sugar, a sachet of champagne yeast and an electric still is far more efficient that keeping bees or buying honey!

[BoredBloke]

21/12/2012 End of days.

The Mayan's were bee keepers... coincidence? I think not.

Nicky G

Obviously if it came from Nicky G it would have to be related to the great comet wouldn't it - They sell mobiles don't they so it might be true. We'd all thought he meant some large space rock but in actual fact the great comet is similar to the nifty currys and the pretty spectacular Vodaphone.

[Drewster]

Mead is made from honey, not the wax and crap in the hive. That would be called "hive crap wine".

Mead takes two years to be drinkable. That's slow.

If you just want cheap and fast fermented alcohol: a demijohn, a bag of sugar, a sachet of champagne yeast and an electric still is far more efficient that keeping bees or buying honey!

Yeah! Mead is made from best Honey. Bee Keepers who can sell Honey but have tons of Dross and Tulip left after straining out the valuable Honey just throw it away and turn thier expensive Honey into less valuable Mead (and/or <cough> Brandy - which it is illegal to make/sell).

I agree 2 years is slow........ but once you start the cycle you have loads of the stuff and it is only a by-product so leaving demi-johns burbling away isn't a problem.....

I don't want cheap and fast fermented alcohol..... I have a a load of Dross and Tulip left after straining out my (valuable and easily saleable) Honey.

[dang65]

Does anyone else here feed bees when you find them conked out on the ground? Been doing it for years and it's always very heartwarming, and entertaining for the children (for about 30 seconds anyway). I get a drop of honey on a bit of paper or something and stick the bee next to it. They stick their nozzle out and start lapping it up. Takes about ten minutes and then they sort of stagger away a bit and fly off.

I don't know whether this is actually a good idea or not. Maybe they fly round the corner and drop dead from a massive sugar rush. I might have to Google that.

[dang65]

Ah, right, apparently you're supposed to dilute it a bit, though this tip on a gardening forum seems a bit long winded:

Take a sheet of paper kitchen towel, fold it into 1/8 size. Daub a bit of honey on one side then dampen with water to dilute honey & spread the sweetness across the paper towel, and to leave it *damp* Place next to exhausted bee. The bee will feed on the sweetness & regain strength. I've used this many times and it works. Particularly good if you get a queen emerge early and she ends up in your house/greenhouse exhausted at the end of the day. Put a disposable plastic 'glass' over her & the sweet/damp paper (with air hole(s) made in the 'glass' and it will keep her safe overnight with food to give her energy for the next day.

There's a whole thread about it here.

[Drewster]

Does anyone else here feed bees when you find them conked out on the ground? Been doing it for years and it's always very heartwarming, and entertaining for the children (for about 30 seconds anyway). I get a drop of honey on a bit of paper or something and stick the bee next to it. They stick their nozzle out and start lapping it up. Takes about ten minutes and then they sort of stagger away a bit and fly off.

I don't know whether this is actually a good idea or not. Maybe they fly round the corner and drop dead from a massive sugar rush. I might have to Google that.

Well it does depend.......
If you feed a (obviously) Native Bee with non-Native/Imported Honey there is a likelyhood/risk of foreign diseases and tulip from far distant shores getting back to her Hive and potentially causing the end of civilization as we know it.........

but whats that compared to "heart warming"....

Seriously - athough it is a pretty low risk you would be better doing it with English/British Honey or just a plain sugar solution (white "Tate & Lyle" is possibly surprizingly better than more "natural" brown or unrefined sugar.)

[BoredBloke]

Or you could just step on it - it's only a bee and it's not like they are rare or anything!