I recently found that I have spelled this blog with an extra L in the name. I have therefore generated a new blog with the correct name and I will continue writing here. Link to new blog by clicking the blog name below
mandag den 31. marts 2014
tirsdag den 25. marts 2014
Recipe 1,2 and 3: Time for bottling :o)
Sunday, it was time to bottle the meads. I had purchased 1L flasks and stoppers in Ikea since this was the cheapest I could find. The volume is somewhat large, but it keeps the number of bottles to a minimum.
All bottles was rinsed in hot water before use. Notice the bottle in front. You can see the mark from the sticker Ikea uses. The glue does not come off easily. I usually manage by soaking the glue in dish-washing soap and then I can easily wash off the glue. But for some reason I had to rub with frying oil to get the glue off and then wash the oil off with soap.
I put the mead on the table to keep them elevated for the filling of bottles. Recipe 1-3 is seen from right to left.
All bottles was rinsed in hot water before use. Notice the bottle in front. You can see the mark from the sticker Ikea uses. The glue does not come off easily. I usually manage by soaking the glue in dish-washing soap and then I can easily wash off the glue. But for some reason I had to rub with frying oil to get the glue off and then wash the oil off with soap.
I put the mead on the table to keep them elevated for the filling of bottles. Recipe 1-3 is seen from right to left.
Recipe 1, the cyser, has a beautifully red color and considering the trouble I had clearing it, it is now crystal clear.
Artistically clear :o). Notice the reflection of the table in the surface of the mead.
I filled one bottle with 1 kg of water as a 1L mark and then I was ready to start filling bottles with just a simple siphon. But a little bit of precipitate was found on the bottom, and I was very careful not to disturb this layer.
When getting close to bottom of the carboy I need a bit of help with the bottle filling, which my wife did with utmost scrutiny and care
The final result: 40 bottles of 3 different meads
It is going to be a great summer
Recipe 1: The cyser (apple mead): Beautiful rosé/brownish color.
Recipe 2: The sack mead (just honey): Clear yellow color
Recipe 3: The melomel of elderberries: Deep red color - almost not allowing light to pass
Weighing the hive (continued 6) - Short warm period....
I have continued the weighing of the hive. During the short warm period the bees got really active. But then the weather changed and and a colder and more rainy period. The weather has been like this ever since.
These changes in weather are clearly visible in the weight loss of the hive
In the graph of the total weight of the hive a small drop is seen and then the slope becomes identical to the slope during the winter. This becomes much clearly visible in the graph "Weight loss per day" where the bees for a short period of time used about 135 g/day and then went back to 39g/day in the following cold period.
When the queen starts to lay eggs, the temperature in the hive has to be within a narrow window around a temperature of about 35oC. But I interpret this as the bees just had time to look around before it got cold again and the queen did not start laying eggs. Hence, the bees could go back into the winter cluster and wait for warmer weather allowing a wider temperature span around the cluster.
During the warm period I did see the bees collecting pollen and I also put water out for the bees so they can digest the stored sugar. The stone is just to give them a place to land. So now it just time to wait for the weather to change, and for the queen to start laying eggs.
These changes in weather are clearly visible in the weight loss of the hive
In the graph of the total weight of the hive a small drop is seen and then the slope becomes identical to the slope during the winter. This becomes much clearly visible in the graph "Weight loss per day" where the bees for a short period of time used about 135 g/day and then went back to 39g/day in the following cold period.
When the queen starts to lay eggs, the temperature in the hive has to be within a narrow window around a temperature of about 35oC. But I interpret this as the bees just had time to look around before it got cold again and the queen did not start laying eggs. Hence, the bees could go back into the winter cluster and wait for warmer weather allowing a wider temperature span around the cluster.
During the warm period I did see the bees collecting pollen and I also put water out for the bees so they can digest the stored sugar. The stone is just to give them a place to land. So now it just time to wait for the weather to change, and for the queen to start laying eggs.
mandag den 10. marts 2014
Weighing the hive (continued 5) - wow, now something is happening
Yesterday I did yet another weighing of the hive - 22.22 kg. In the graph it looks like just a slight deviation on the graph
But if you calculate the daily weight loss, it becomes quite apparent that something has happened. The weight loss is calculated as an average daily weight loss since the last weighing. If the time between weighing is long (several weeks) the results will be a poor guide to the activity in the hive. For practical reasons I do not expect to do measurements much more than once a week. The last point is an average of 6 days.
But if you calculate the daily weight loss, it becomes quite apparent that something has happened. The weight loss is calculated as an average daily weight loss since the last weighing. If the time between weighing is long (several weeks) the results will be a poor guide to the activity in the hive. For practical reasons I do not expect to do measurements much more than once a week. The last point is an average of 6 days.
So what happened? Spring is on it way at it has been quite warm for the season. The bees are very active and while studying them I found that numerous bees were bringing home pollen. There is still not much flowers to live of so being active still means that the bees consume much more than they can bring home. But if the weather stays like this it will be a very early start of the season
The bottom of the hive was cleaned - not much was found - interestingly enough I found that several spiders had spend the winter below the bees. Nice and warm and protected from the bees by the bottom metal plate :o).
I lifted the frames a bit one by one to get an idea of how heavy they are. There are 10 frames in the hive and counting from the entrance, plate 1 and 2 were a bit heavy (pollen) 3-6 were quite light with 4 and 5 being the lightest. Frame 7-10 were all quite heavy (food stock). So for sure the bees have at least 5 frames of food (2 too much). I did not remove them since a turn in weather will put a stop on the activities and the bees will have to live of the stored food. But if the temperature stays well above freezing I will have to remove some frame to free space for the new generation of bees.
And last but not least.... I mowed the lawn (!?!). Not kidding - lawn moving 9 of March - must be a record. This was also Alexanders first visit to the garden :o). He is now almost 5 months
mandag den 3. marts 2014
Weighing the hive (continued 5) - very consistent results
Today I did yet another weighing of the hive: 22.86 kg. Plotting this with the previous data I get a steady 39,1 g/day - or 40 g/day in round numbers.
I am looking for a significant change in slope that will indicate that the bees have become active. Then it is time to check the hive from the inside.
søndag den 23. februar 2014
Recipe 1,2 and 3: Meads take up CO2
An interesting little observation.
After adding CO2 to the meads yesterday, the airlock was filled with fresh water and attached to the carboys. The water levels in the two chambers were equal.
Within a short time the meads began to generate a small vacuum shifting the levels of the airlock. This must be an uptake of CO2 in the meads. I thought the meads would be saturated by CO2, but apparently not. This will also push pH down a bit.
After adding CO2 to the meads yesterday, the airlock was filled with fresh water and attached to the carboys. The water levels in the two chambers were equal.
Within a short time the meads began to generate a small vacuum shifting the levels of the airlock. This must be an uptake of CO2 in the meads. I thought the meads would be saturated by CO2, but apparently not. This will also push pH down a bit.
Recipe 1,2 and 3: Final tasting
This weekend I decided to do the final adjustments to my meads.
Recipe 1: Cyser
This mead has been covered in dark plastic for quite a while now. When I removed the plastic I was surprised to see that it had almost turned black (?) - Not sure that was a good sign. Opening the 20 L volumetric flask, I was a little hesitant to smell it. But to my surprise it just fantastic :o). I took a sample and found that when the light paths was reduced, the mead had a very pleasing dark golden color. A thin layer of precipitate was found on the bottom so now it is even more clear. pH was measured with strips to about 4. So looks good. The taste was the best surprise. The stinging acidic taste was almost gone, and the sweetness of the honey is not overpowering the the acidity. All in all, I have much more hope for this mead now. Since this mead did not ferment to very low sugar and has killed any attempt to be re-started, I am not worried that it will start up again later. Bisulfite/sorbate was therefore NOT added - hope I will not be proven wrong (again) on this.
Recipe 2: Sack mead
The mead is very clear and with only a week yellow color. pH was measured to just above 4, again with strips. It does not have much initial taste but still an acidic aftertaste. Not as pleasant as my cyser but then again I should probably not have tasted this mead after the cyser.
Recipe 3: Elderberry Melomel
This is my experimental mead. It is very strong tasting and has clear red color, which is less intense than for example a red wine. It is quite acidic tasting but pH is up between 4 and 5. I think the alcohol is quite high so it should be well protected against microbial growth despite the high pH. The taste of anise that I added several times was gone - again. Perhaps the anethole (which is responsible for the fragrance of star anise) is not stable in the acidic alcoholic solution? Not sure of the degradation pathway though.
Finally I covered all 3 meads with 5 L CO2 each from the reaction sodium bicarbonate/citric acid as described earlier.
.... and then it was time to clean up..... In the near future I think I will by myself a pH meter .........
Recipe 1: Cyser
This mead has been covered in dark plastic for quite a while now. When I removed the plastic I was surprised to see that it had almost turned black (?) - Not sure that was a good sign. Opening the 20 L volumetric flask, I was a little hesitant to smell it. But to my surprise it just fantastic :o). I took a sample and found that when the light paths was reduced, the mead had a very pleasing dark golden color. A thin layer of precipitate was found on the bottom so now it is even more clear. pH was measured with strips to about 4. So looks good. The taste was the best surprise. The stinging acidic taste was almost gone, and the sweetness of the honey is not overpowering the the acidity. All in all, I have much more hope for this mead now. Since this mead did not ferment to very low sugar and has killed any attempt to be re-started, I am not worried that it will start up again later. Bisulfite/sorbate was therefore NOT added - hope I will not be proven wrong (again) on this.
Recipe 2: Sack mead
The mead is very clear and with only a week yellow color. pH was measured to just above 4, again with strips. It does not have much initial taste but still an acidic aftertaste. Not as pleasant as my cyser but then again I should probably not have tasted this mead after the cyser.
Recipe 3: Elderberry Melomel
This is my experimental mead. It is very strong tasting and has clear red color, which is less intense than for example a red wine. It is quite acidic tasting but pH is up between 4 and 5. I think the alcohol is quite high so it should be well protected against microbial growth despite the high pH. The taste of anise that I added several times was gone - again. Perhaps the anethole (which is responsible for the fragrance of star anise) is not stable in the acidic alcoholic solution? Not sure of the degradation pathway though.
Finally I covered all 3 meads with 5 L CO2 each from the reaction sodium bicarbonate/citric acid as described earlier.
.... and then it was time to clean up..... In the near future I think I will by myself a pH meter .........
lørdag den 15. februar 2014
Weighing the hive (continued 4) - my results are spot on!
Just found this PDF on from 2007 (DCA Aarhus Universitet). They have measured the weight of their hives in exactly the same way as I have done this winter, so the results can easily be compared. On page 2 you find the weight loss to be very close to the 40 g that I have also observed. Also, they observe that the weight loss is approximately linear, just like I do.
Link to PDF
Link to PDF
Weighing the hive (continued 3) - spring is coming, slowly
It is now the middle of February and time for another weighing. Going to the garden you can feel that the spring is coming. The first spring flowers are already here, snowdrops and winter aconite.
Now, back to the bees. The mass of the hive was today 23.4 kg, and plotted into the graph, the use of food is still pretty constant - about 40-41 g/day as indicated by the slope. So it does not look like the bee have collected anything from these first flowers.
In my last entry I estimated that for the winter the bees would need about 10 kg of food to sustain the colony throughout the winter.
But what does an empty hive weigh. I have an extra (identical) box with bottom, so I filled it with 10 plates with wax, and tied it up with the same band as the actual bee hive. That amounts to 6.7 kg.
When exchanging the plates with some from last year which was fully built and a bit of honey in, it weighed a total of 10.8 kg.
A bee weighs 0.1 g, give and take, so a winter hive containing less than 10000 bees, the bees alone will not even weigh 1 kg.
All in all, with only a little honey and a colony of bees the hive the critical mass of the hive would probably be say 10 kg and the bees would starve. Since the bees in a winter cluster are not very mobile and probably would not find honey at the very ends of the of the hive, the mass should never come below 12 kg
With 10 kg of food for the winter the minimum mass to start the winter with is about 22 kg, so give a bit extra the hive should weigh minimum 25 kg by the end of October.
I started the winter with 31 kg, so I will probably have way to much food left in the hive by March. I am expecting to remove 2-3 full plates so that there will be space for breeding in the early spring. What a waste of Apivert....
In my last entry I estimated that for the winter the bees would need about 10 kg of food to sustain the colony throughout the winter.
But what does an empty hive weigh. I have an extra (identical) box with bottom, so I filled it with 10 plates with wax, and tied it up with the same band as the actual bee hive. That amounts to 6.7 kg.
When exchanging the plates with some from last year which was fully built and a bit of honey in, it weighed a total of 10.8 kg.
A bee weighs 0.1 g, give and take, so a winter hive containing less than 10000 bees, the bees alone will not even weigh 1 kg.
All in all, with only a little honey and a colony of bees the hive the critical mass of the hive would probably be say 10 kg and the bees would starve. Since the bees in a winter cluster are not very mobile and probably would not find honey at the very ends of the of the hive, the mass should never come below 12 kg
With 10 kg of food for the winter the minimum mass to start the winter with is about 22 kg, so give a bit extra the hive should weigh minimum 25 kg by the end of October.
I started the winter with 31 kg, so I will probably have way to much food left in the hive by March. I am expecting to remove 2-3 full plates so that there will be space for breeding in the early spring. What a waste of Apivert....
søndag den 2. februar 2014
Weighing the hive (continued 2)
Once during January and here at the end of the month I measured the mass of my hive again. January has been a cold month (danish standards) and the average temperature was significantly different than for December.
Based on this I expected the use of food to increase during the past 2 weeks of January as a consequence of the the decreased temperature - but this was apparently not the case
As shown in the graph the loss of mass of the hive is pretty much constant from end November till now - no temperature dependence at all for the range -5 C to 5 C.
Considering the errors of the measurement:
- not super accurate suitcase scale used
- wet / dry hive (snow removed)
..then I would say that the use of a linear regression line is pretty valid.
As can be read from the slope the mass loss has in average been 42 g per day. In even numbers that is:
= 300 g/week or
= 1250 g/month
So for 5 months, November,December, January, February and March it totals to 6.25 kg as an absolute minimum. With the initial drop in mass of about 3 kg the hive should have about 10 kg of food available before winter, i.e. more than 4, or lets say 5 full frames of food reserve as an absolute minimum. when using a 12x10 box with 10 frames (warm built) as winter hive.
I am wondering if similar data is available for other hives. This would give an idea of how much variation can be expected. Otherwise I will probably do the same next year to see if I can repeat the results.
Based on this I expected the use of food to increase during the past 2 weeks of January as a consequence of the the decreased temperature - but this was apparently not the case
As shown in the graph the loss of mass of the hive is pretty much constant from end November till now - no temperature dependence at all for the range -5 C to 5 C.
Considering the errors of the measurement:
- not super accurate suitcase scale used
- wet / dry hive (snow removed)
..then I would say that the use of a linear regression line is pretty valid.
As can be read from the slope the mass loss has in average been 42 g per day. In even numbers that is:
= 300 g/week or
= 1250 g/month
So for 5 months, November,December, January, February and March it totals to 6.25 kg as an absolute minimum. With the initial drop in mass of about 3 kg the hive should have about 10 kg of food available before winter, i.e. more than 4, or lets say 5 full frames of food reserve as an absolute minimum. when using a 12x10 box with 10 frames (warm built) as winter hive.
I am wondering if similar data is available for other hives. This would give an idea of how much variation can be expected. Otherwise I will probably do the same next year to see if I can repeat the results.
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