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So there I was on friday, last delivery of the first run (was doing network pallets), which was a medium sized cattle crush to a farm just up the road.....
I ring the number on the notes, explain what I've got and get the directions (some farms can be damned hard work to locate, even if they are on the A2Z/google maps). I turn off the road and as the track turns left I spot about 25 or 30 bee hives.
Get to the farm, "Junior" piles off to get the tines for the front loader, "Senior" appears so I hit him with "who's are all the hives at the bottom of the lane ?" only to get a "Why ?".
I explain about my penchant for mead making and about raw honey being better than processed etc.
"Oh, do you want some honey ?" says Senior and I suspect you can work out the reply.
He nips back down the farm house and I'm thinking that if he has 3 or 4lb, I could knock out a gallon.
He returns with a bucket full of jars of honey - which I suspect is a TVM from the bloke who owns the hives for being allowed to pitch the hives in the bushes off the road.
17 jars in total, and I've just spent the afternoon pouring them out into buckets from the honey wholesale place up the road. 4.4 kg plus the the "jar washings" (just warm water), and that was only done as the farmer said that the "bee bloke" likes to get his jars returned if possible (probably as they must have been freebies).
Not a bad blag for a gobby git like me eh !
Pic attached.
The honey is very sweet with a light flavour, even though it's a good golden colour. So at the moment, the jar washings has been moved to a DJ and I've blitzed 2lb in a pint of water to add and bring up the gravity, which will be measured once it's all at room temp.
If this reads like it's being typed with a tone of smug satisfaction, it is
. It's got to be between £20 and £25 worth of honey free. I'm hoping it'll end up as a nice, strong, lightly flavoured traditional. I haven't decided what yeast yet, though that's a coin flip between K1V and D21 (the late Brother Adams yeasts of choice). Plus as the D21 will go to 16% ABV and the K1V to 18% I'm thinking that I'll do a gallon of "Sack" mead that will end up somewhere in the 16% + area and I'll back sweeten to about 1.020 or so 
I ring the number on the notes, explain what I've got and get the directions (some farms can be damned hard work to locate, even if they are on the A2Z/google maps). I turn off the road and as the track turns left I spot about 25 or 30 bee hives.
Get to the farm, "Junior" piles off to get the tines for the front loader, "Senior" appears so I hit him with "who's are all the hives at the bottom of the lane ?" only to get a "Why ?".
I explain about my penchant for mead making and about raw honey being better than processed etc.
"Oh, do you want some honey ?" says Senior and I suspect you can work out the reply.
He nips back down the farm house and I'm thinking that if he has 3 or 4lb, I could knock out a gallon.
He returns with a bucket full of jars of honey - which I suspect is a TVM from the bloke who owns the hives for being allowed to pitch the hives in the bushes off the road.
17 jars in total, and I've just spent the afternoon pouring them out into buckets from the honey wholesale place up the road. 4.4 kg plus the the "jar washings" (just warm water), and that was only done as the farmer said that the "bee bloke" likes to get his jars returned if possible (probably as they must have been freebies).
Not a bad blag for a gobby git like me eh !
Pic attached.
The honey is very sweet with a light flavour, even though it's a good golden colour. So at the moment, the jar washings has been moved to a DJ and I've blitzed 2lb in a pint of water to add and bring up the gravity, which will be measured once it's all at room temp.
If this reads like it's being typed with a tone of smug satisfaction, it is
. It's got to be between £20 and £25 worth of honey free. I'm hoping it'll end up as a nice, strong, lightly flavoured traditional. I haven't decided what yeast yet, though that's a coin flip between K1V and D21 (the late Brother Adams yeasts of choice). Plus as the D21 will go to 16% ABV and the K1V to 18% I'm thinking that I'll do a gallon of "Sack" mead that will end up somewhere in the 16% + area and I'll back sweeten to about 1.020 or so
Gotta love this hobby
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