This blog is moving - but not far

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

Mead Of Life

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.

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.

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.

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

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.