Bochet honey spirit/brandy

[goose eye]

find you a bee club mite be able to find a menter that will help you out but if you buyin best thang to do is get a nuc. you 30 + day ahead of a package. this aint a bee keepin class but with a nuc you got a layin queen with a package they aint even got drawn comb for the queen to lay in.

so im tole

[Jimbo]

It can be done cheaper than that. Especially if youre handy in the workshop, but its still not cheap to get started.

Yes beekeeping isint for everyone. One risk in neighborhoods is you could get blamed for every bite a child gets, regardless if its a bee, hornet, wasp, yellow jacket or whatever. In general honey bees dont sting. You really gotta irritate em to come at ya like that. Its a last ditch death move for them. My neighborhood is 2 acre lots and still got one neighbor said my bees moved into the siding on his house and he wanted me to come get them the hell out. When I went and looked it was yellow jackets.

I tolerate stupid people so my apple trees can get a good pollination and my apple brandy barrel full.

+1 on goose's nuc suggestion.

[Fuk]

And again Jim is right where it comes to tastes and opinions

Yea i guess that's how you start, jus go with your instincts
a few problems i got is i don't enjoy the taste of liquor but i guess i gotta try grabbin some top shelf shit (i've had bomb whiskey before but i've been drunk as shit everytime i've had the chance ) and train my palate like jim said
maybe some brandy would be easier to start with cause of the "wider cuts" stated.
isn't it quite often that, with whiskey, some cuts you add dont taste/smell right but will add to the flavor profile in a good way?,and if thats the case maybe this is a skill you can hone but never master.
also don't good whiskey stillers often cut out some tails and keep some of the cuts behind them (and it sounds like prolly vise versa with heads)?
I will always love the high proof neutral-even if you have to cut it for the party I love being the guy with the most potent drug in the room, and especially if it's the most potent anyone in the room has ever seen! tellin them i won't let them try it w/out cutting it first just makes me feel like more of a badass.
but i love art especially when the final product is something that alter's minds and brings people together the way drugs like alcohol do. i gotta admit it seems like; with the natural uncertainty, and the variable wait time to confirm you even one-upped your last concoction,it's a skill that (without being born into it) would take me a lifetime to get any good. but maybe I'll be able to teach my son and make it a part of my family
it's always been something i wanted to try my hand at, but (like drawing) i've always felt with my starting point being such low talent maybe it ain't worth my time. But with my understanding of the science behind the art maybe it'll put me ahead of the game i suppose i'll never know til i try right

as soon as i find the time and cheddar imma start something idk what maybe dive right into whiskey ?
sorry about the long post y'all have inspired me, i'll always be a scientist before an artist it's just the way my mind works, but the art i produce will truly be mine and that appeals to me

[bcboyz86]

Well since dropping $500+ on a honey factory doesn't seem financially practical for me right now, I guess ill just wait till I get my tax refund to go buy 3 gallons of honey to try out my mead...

[goose eye]

where you getin that 500 number. you can probaly pick up a established hive from someone for 200. first thang is requeen an that be about 25. get you a vail for bout 50 a smoker for bout 30. a small pry bar at lowes for 8 .get you a beginin bee keepin book for 30. get your dr to write a scrip for a epi pen 10 an there you have it. you in a neighborhood make there flight patern up before they fly out. plywood in front of entrance will make this so.
like the man said when he was brung a bee that stung the ole boy. he looked it over an said that aint my bee.

so im tole

[Jimbo]

hahahahaha funny Goose! I tried to tell him below 175 for an established hive with new queen from my bee supply, just need a couple more boxes added. epi pen, so im tole I should get one hahaha

[Dnderhead]

i set out a empty hive on the lee side of a apple tree,near a blackberry patch,,the next year i had bees..it mite be hit or miss? but worked for me.

[Jimbo]

A hive makes a damn fine home. Them scout bees from a swarm find that and its home sweet home

[goose eye]

Try lemon grass oil

So im tole

[bcboyz86]

Well I got $500 from a website, but didn't look any further into it. I probably could have found another place cheaper, but talked myself out of the whole idea before I got too involved in it. I think at my current neighborhood and how much time/effort I would be putting Into it, I wouldn't be reaping enough reward. Plus I get kina bored with hobbies sometimes and wouldn't want to get bored with having bees and then still have bees flying around.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Hey guys,

Just an interesting note for anyone wanting to distill mead:
Make many small tails cuts to find the honey taste.

I just ran about a gallon of feints (from birwatchers) with about 4.2 L of Cyzer (Mead made with apple juice and honey) that was to dry and too acid to drink, and I'm up to jar 9, the second jar of tails (around the 3.2 L mark @ around 86%).
Tasting when i changed the jar, i got a really clear and pleasant beeswax/honey type taste coming through - I'm not looking to catch it especially this time, but if i were setting out to make a honey spirit making many small cuts in the early tails might help you find what you are after Honey-wise.

[Jimbo]

Good tip thanks. I'll remember that.

[Craisogaenus]

Sorry guys for not posting on here much recently just been caught up in Uni work. Also to taste I don't really remove that many of the heads either, this is due to honey having basically next to no pectin so a lot of the lower BP compounds aren't produced in the same quantity as fruit and grain washes. Yeah I leave quite a bit of tails in too.

[bcboyz86]

So from a first time maker of mead, how do you distinct what's heads/tails from the rest? Is it just like with every other wash and use the taste/smell method, or because its going to age for a long time use regular methods for cutting, but be a little more generous than stringent? It's going to be a long time/money commitment to make some mead, and I want to make sure to do it right.... Also, what proof do you store it to age for the year? Just what proof it comes off the still at, so as to save storing space, or dilute it down first then toss it in the basement till next spring? And I would guess after a year possibly flavor it with some honey, maybe vanilla to taste at that point, or could you toss that stuff in at first, then let it marry together with all the flavors for the year?

[frozenthunderbolt]

So from a first time maker of mead, how do you distinct what's heads/tails from the rest? Mead is the honey wine, not a distillied spirit, In fact I dont known of a term specificaly for for spirits made from mead. As far as the question goes; make cuts on a honey spirit like you would anything else, smell and taste each sample (after diluting and perhaps heating) and keep what seems good. Is it just like with every other wash and use the taste/smell method, or because its going to age for a long time use regular methods for cutting, but be a little more generous than stringent? It's going to be a long time/money commitment to make some mead, and I want to make sure to do it right.... Also, what proof do you store it to age for the year? If you plan to age it white then I would suggest under 50% for safety reasons, if you want to oak it (i would use a very little bit of dark toasted oak if it were me) then i would probably age at about 55% to try and pull the maximum sweet falvours from the woodJust what proof it comes off the still at, so as to save storing space, or dilute it down first then toss it in the basement till next spring? And I would guess after a year possibly flavor it with some honey, maybe vanilla to taste at that point, or could you toss that stuff in at first, then let it marry together with all the flavors for the year? I think the plan to leave it a good while first is good (on or off oak) then break it up into different bottles and try a few different treatments. IE on bottle with some honey, one with some vanilla, one with both and leave one plain; get the best of all worlds

[TOAD]

I tossed some toasted oakand regretted it the very next day. I didnt over oak it but to me the honey and wood combo was a huge mistake. Just my opinion.

[MDH]

Oak is not trustworthy to solve all defects. I recently had to toss a batch of Roasted Rye whisky that turned out tasting like tails when I added oak to it. Originally it tasted like rye crackers and fudge, now it was more like sipping on the inside of a cardboard box with a hint of wet dog hair.

Fail.

[Jimbo]

There's tons in HD on proper oaking so I dont want to get into too much detail, but are you guys charring and then soaking your oak overnight in water first? Thats really important to leach out tannins and crap (distilleries do this before a barrel is filled with hooch too). The water will turn black and taste like shit in 24 hours. Then rinse it off and toss it in.

My 2 cents after much trial and error on oaking is stay away from end grain (barrels, sticks, cubes, chips, in that order) dont overoak (10-14 gr per fifth, its seems too little, its not), give it a light char all around (I use a propane torch) and soak it overnight first.

[GimmieCrackedCorn]

I was just browsing through the forums here, clicked on the new posts tab and stumbled across this post. It's quite the coincidence because I am, right now at this very moment, distilling a Bochet Mead. I had 4.5 gallons of mead, I transferred one gallon over to a one gallon glass jug, put an airlock on it and stored it away. The rest has been in my boiler since 9 A.M. this morning. I'm cooking it very low and slow and all I can say is every 200ml I have taken off would win a gold medal just on smell alone. I am very pleased with my results right now. So, if anyone is pondering whether or not it's worth it, in my opinion it is.

[Jimbo]

I'm cooking it very low and slow and all I can say is every 200ml I have taken off would win a gold medal just on smell alone. I am very pleased with my results right now. So, if anyone is pondering whether or not it's worth it, in my opinion it is.

Sounds great. Cant wait to try this myself!

[GimmieCrackedCorn]

I'm cooking it very low and slow and all I can say is every 200ml I have taken off would win a gold medal just on smell alone. I am very pleased with my results right now. So, if anyone is pondering whether or not it's worth it, in my opinion it is.

Sounds great. Cant wait to try this myself!

Yea, I would highly recommend it. After reading a few other posts on here about the whole oaking thing, I'm a bit worried. I ordered a couple barrels about 3 weeks ago that I'm waiting on and one of those barrels was specifically for this mead. But now I'm a bit worried that the oak will ruin it?

[Craisogaenus]

Again sorry guys for not being on here that often recently, Yeah the result is amazing however to get even more flavour next time I am going to caramelise some more honey and put that in there aswel, makesure to put boiling water through your pipes after you're done to get rid of the sticky residue as not to contaminate further projects. Hopefully getting a grant to pay for two new 300 litre stills (one reflux and one alembic) to start up a business so hope all goes well And yes as a specialty batch I will be making this one me thinks .

[Craisogaenus]

It's quite strange, I was worried no one wanted to reply to this post as it took ages for any replies and then they boomed! So thanks guys for taking an interest!

[bcboyz86]

Ya! I'm really Interested in making some mead. Just wish I had the cash flow that would let me buy some damn honey! Maybe I should just go raid some honey pots...