this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
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Homebrewing - Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider
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Quick and diry guide to fermenting fruit - cider and wine
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I'm not a pro brewer, but have some mead brewing experience. Mead requires quite a bit of patience for it to really become good. Honey doesn't have good nutes for the yeast, so it can produce a lot of more volatile compounds. If you have questions feel free to reach out!
I will be making mead when I get honey. Now I am in contact with beekeeper and probably will get some bits of honey/wax mix residue from honey extraction (don't know how to call it in English).
Is there any difference compared to only honey? I would dilute it to my liking and pitch yeast and nutrients.
No there shouldn't be any big differences! The wax or other items should just drop out as you are fermenting, or will float to the top where they won't be an issue if you rack it. I would try to removed any big chunks or any dead bees. Also your english was perfect! That's what I would call it too.
Some beekeepers call it caps (in Czech) because it literally caps the honey in comb.
It is quite common way to make mead - it doesn't have many uses so it is cheaper than honey.
Oh, I understand what you meant now! You're not using honey with bits of wax and residue, you're using the honey and wax residue from the harvest process. Hmm, I'm not sure how well that would work out, but please post some photos of the process you use as I am quite interested!
I would imagine the mixture you're referring to would taste a bit like chewing on a honeycomb, so a bit of propolis flavour in there, might shine through a bit medicinal as a first thought. That doesn't mean it's bad though.
Do note that the beeswax content might give you some issues with clarity since it's not really soluble in the alcohol amount your usual mead has and you may end up with funky floaters.
Nice one on getting it straight from the beekeeper! I'd be curious to find out what using the mixture you've got there yields.
I plan it on fall so in about year I will make update.