{"id":289,"date":"2023-07-26T23:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theshanty.us\/?p=289"},"modified":"2023-07-28T15:34:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T15:34:28","slug":"making-some-mead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/2023\/07\/26\/making-some-mead\/","title":{"rendered":"Making some mead!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As I&#8217;m sure I have previously mentioned, a friend of ours keeps bee hives on our property. Here&#8217;s an aerial video of him working on one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Bees again!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wnvIK849Stc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As of this posting there are two hives on that bench, not just the one. Apparently, by May, the one hive had produced around 160# of honey. That feels like an insane amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the large amount of honey he collected from the corner of our yard, he offered to supply the honey if I would make mead. Last week a bucket appeared on the porch with approximately 27# of honey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">That meant it was time to make mead!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I gathered the ingredients and the equipment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" src=\"http:\/\/theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_173704_result.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-278\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>First, in went 9# of frozen blueberries. <br>Next came the 16# of honey<br>Finally came the water to fill to 6 gallons<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"279\" src=\"http:\/\/theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_174316_result.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-279\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"280\" src=\"http:\/\/theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-280\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"281\" src=\"http:\/\/theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175924_result.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-281\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I made an error when it comes to the order of operations. I should have put in the FROZEN blueberries and then the hot water BEFORE putting in the honey. The honey hit the blueberries and became a solid mass. I&#8217;m pretty sure there is still a sticky ball of blueberry\/honey in the middle of the carboy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, in went the yeast and the yeast nutrient. I shook the heck out of the carboy until there was no more honey sticking to the sides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The second batch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The second batch was far easier. In went 8# of honey, then hot water to make up 3 gallons and finally the yeast ands nutrient. The original gravity on the second one was 1.120! I can only assume the blueberry mead started out the same or slightly higher, but I can&#8217;t be sure, because the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Tilt-Wireless-Hydrometer-Thermometer-Black\/dp\/B07RX2168S\/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=tilt%2Bhydrometer&amp;s=home-garden&amp;sr=1-3&amp;th=1\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Tilt-Wireless-Hydrometer-Thermometer-Black\/dp\/B07RX2168S\/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=tilt%2Bhydrometer&amp;s=home-garden&amp;sr=1-3&amp;th=1\">Tilt hydrometer<\/a> can&#8217;t get to the surface because of the blueberries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"292\" src=\"http:\/\/theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230728_112455_result.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-292\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Floating like it should<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"291\" src=\"http:\/\/theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230728_112446_result.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-291\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trapped by blueberries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll keep you posted on the progress<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I&#8217;m sure I have previously mentioned, a friend of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brewing","category-maker"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",1500,2000,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",113,150,false],"medium":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",225,300,false],"medium_large":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",640,853,false],"large":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",640,853,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",1152,1536,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",1500,2000,false],"chromenews-featured":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",1024,1365,false],"chromenews-large":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",431,575,false],"chromenews-medium":["http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230726_175203_result.jpg",308,410,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"chuck","author_link":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/author\/chuck-2\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/category\/brewing\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Brewing<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/category\/maker\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Maker<\/a>","tag_info":"Maker","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.theshanty.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}