# "Whole hive" mead



## damdaman (Jan 15, 2013)

This idea comes from the book _Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers_ by Stephen Harrod Buhner. The book is overall a difficult read (except for the chapter called _Alcohol: Aqua Vitae, the Water of Life_, which covers the common mythology across the globe surrounding the discovery of fermentation and how, until recent western practices of isolating alcohol from its "whole food" source, i.e. distillation, alcoholic beverages were considered healthy, strengthening, and healing), but has a lot of great ideas in it. The book generally changed the way I looked at my homebrew and set me on the course to learning more about making homemade wines, meads, etc.

For example, once I learned about the health benefits of yeast, I no longer leave the sediment in my bottle-conditioned brews in the bottle. I've started to look at perfectly clear beers and wines (with some exceptions, sometimes the aesthetic of a perfectly clear wine is too much to resist) with the knowledge that the perfect clarity comes at the price of removing a lot of the "whole food" ingredients (yeast above all else) that actually add some nutrition to the drink, as well as possibly containing unnecessary additives to clear it that may or may not be healthy for you.

At any rate, back to the idea of "whole hive" mead. This is based on the theory that original mead-makers would cut down a whole hive and boil the whole thing, rather than trying to isolate the honey. There are a ton of things that would end up in the whole hive mead produced this way that isn't in our modern meads where we just add the honey (also note that wild bees would collect pollen from many different flower sources, diversifying the nutritional content of the honey they produce, so I only use wildflower honey in my meads now).

The main ones of these are:
- bee pollen
- propolis
- royal jelly
- bee venom

Assuming the hive remnants and dead bees are then strained out before fermentation, all of the above would probably have been introduced into the must during the boil. Here is a brief description of these ingredients and their healthy/nutritious properties:

*bee pollen*: Along with propolis and royal jelly, this product is actually sold in health food stores as a supplement. Bee pollen is the pollen collected from flowers by the bees and brought back to the hive. The bees mix the collected pollen with some digestive enzymes and other secretions when they collect it, and there is some evidence to suggest that bee pollen (as opposed to plant pollen - which is the pollen before it is collected by the bees) is more nutritious. It is certainly higher in protein than honey, thus providing a nutritional boost to the bees' diet that honey doesn't provide.

*propolis*: Propolis is the result of a resinous substance gathered from trees by the bees and used mainly to hold their hive together. The gathered resin is mixed with the bees' own pollen, wax, nectar and enzymes to make the final propolis mixture. The propolis mixture is anti-viral and anti-bacterial, protecting the hive from infection (a trait that honey and other bee products share). According to the book, "Propolis has more bioflavonoids than oranges... and contains all the known vitamins except vitamin K and all the minerals needed by the body except sulphur."

*royal jelly*: Royal jelly is the only food the queen bee eats. Again, quoting from the book: "Royal jelly has remarkable effects upon the queen bee. Born no different from other bees, her life is extended from the usual six weeks that most bees enjoy to live years.... The queen lays approximately 2,200 eggs each day (200 times her body weight), more than 2,000,000 in her lifetime - a feat no other creature on Earth equals."

*bee venom*: I'm not sure if there's any way to obtain bee venom for use in a whole hive mead, but the book does discuss it as a powerfully healthy medicine, and would presumably be present in some quantity in the ancient whole hive mead as the bees would pretty pissed off that their hive was being carried off and thrown into a boiling pot of water.

I am not including links or sourcing material (other than the book I'm discussing), the book itself is heavily footnoted and anyone interested in the research about the healing/nutritional properties of bee/hive products can google it easily enough.

So back to the whole hive mead. I used the recipe in the book as a framework and made the following batch:

5 gals water
12 lbs. *raw* wildflower honey
2 oz. propolis
2 oz. bee pollen
2 oz. royal jelly
Pasteur champagne yeast

I didn't boil mine, preferring to try and keep as much of the enzymatic activity alive as possible, I warmed the water to approximately 130*, just enough to properly dissolve the honey. The propolis, bee pollen and royal jelly were added during cooling. Make sure the undissolved solids from these ingredients make it into the fermenter.

A note on nutrients: I did NOT use yeast nutrient or energizer in this batch. The whole hive ingredients all contains significant quantities of vitamins, minerals and protein (nitrogen) that honey is lacking in. The mead fermented dry with no problems.

I never racked, and bottled while the mead was still cloudy and before it was fully dry, about 1.004, hoping it would carbonate slightly and finish in the bottles, which it is doing.

I was a little worried about the propolis in particular, as it has a very weird smell and I was concerned it would add an odd flavor to the finished product, but it really doesn't. The mead is very tasty, even unaged, although it has the appearance of lemonade (cloudy), I take that as a good sign for this project, after all, if the concept is correct, that cloudiness is nutrition. My girlfriend is loving it as well, in fact, we're drinking the young mead so fast I'm going to have to put the 2nd case somewhere hidden so we can let it age.

I'm sure some people will disagree with some of what is said here, but I'm enjoying drinking something that I can feel good about putting in my body, instead of thinking of anything with alcohol in it as "bad."

I encourage anyone with an open mind about such things to read the book, as you'll learn a lot.

Thanks for reading!


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## mixmasterroz (Jan 15, 2013)

Great read. Thanks! You may be person that can answer my mead question. I currently have my FIRST 6 gallons of mead fermenting in carbouy as the primary. Its almost a month in and there is still a ton of bubbles moving towards the top. There is very little foam and the must at the bottom is less than a 1/4 inch thick. I know mead can go a year but I'm concerned its moving too slow on the ferment. About 60-62 degrees. Any helpful advise would be greatly appreciated.


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## Pumpkinman (Jan 15, 2013)

Did you take a reading with a hydrometer? A mead is a Honey wine, the process is going to be similar. 
Did you take a beginning SG reading? 
what is the SG now?
If it is still fermenting after a month, I would move it to an area that is warmer, say 70-75°.
I think you mean that the sediment or Lees is 1/4 inch thick on the bottom of the carboy, once it is fermented to dry, I would rack it off the sediment, into a clean carboy and put an airlock on it.
Plain meads can age for a year or more, while the sweeter Melomel are sometimes ready in just a few months.


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## mixmasterroz (Jan 16, 2013)

Awesome thanks. I didnt get a initial sg reading (ugh). After reading your message I did move it to a warmer spot. I'll check the SG reading and like you said once it's dry ill rack it off to a new carboy and go from there. appreciate your help


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## mmadmikes1 (Jan 16, 2013)

I just rack a raspberry mead that took over a year to ferment dry. This has never happened before but I have become a patient man making meads. I still wonder what the benefits are after fermentation. Chemicals change during the processes and just because it was good to start with does not mean it maintains its properties. Chemistry is far more complex than than the author is giving it credit.1+1 does not equal 2 in chemistry


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## seth8530 (Jan 16, 2013)

damdaman said:


> This idea comes from the book _Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers_ by Stephen Harrod Buhner. The book is overall a difficult read (except for the chapter called _Alcohol: Aqua Vitae, the Water of Life_, which covers the common mythology across the globe surrounding the discovery of fermentation and how, until recent western practices of isolating alcohol from its "whole food" source, i.e. distillation, alcoholic beverages were considered healthy, strengthening, and healing), but has a lot of great ideas in it. The book generally changed the way I looked at my homebrew and set me on the course to learning more about making homemade wines, meads, etc.
> 
> For example, once I learned about the health benefits of yeast, I no longer leave the sediment in my bottle-conditioned brews in the bottle. I've started to look at perfectly clear beers and wines (with some exceptions, sometimes the aesthetic of a perfectly clear wine is too much to resist) with the knowledge that the perfect clarity comes at the price of removing a lot of the "whole food" ingredients (yeast above all else) that actually add some nutrition to the drink, as well as possibly containing unnecessary additives to clear it that may or may not be healthy for you.
> 
> ...



Thumbs up for not boiling the honey! Boiling and mead should practically never be mentioned in the same sentence. 

My only concern is the SG that you bottled it at and the lack of stabilization. Wine and Mead can ferment all the way down to .990 if the conditions are right. I am slightly concerned that fermentation could pick back up in your bottles and possibly explode them. Especially considering you kept the sediment.

How long have yours been in the bottle?

BTW congrats on the mead!!


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## damdaman (Jan 16, 2013)

mmadmikes1 said:


> I just rack a raspberry mead that took over a year to ferment dry. This has never happened before but I have become a patient man making meads. I still wonder what the benefits are after fermentation. Chemicals change during the processes and just because it was good to start with does not mean it maintains its properties. Chemistry is far more complex than than the author is giving it credit.1+1 does not equal 2 in chemistry



Absolutely, the fermentation changes things for sure. And the author is of the opinion it actually enhances many of the nutritional/medicinal properties, and I've no reason to doubt him. Everything I've learned about yeast and fermentation lead me to believe he could be correct.


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## damdaman (Jan 16, 2013)

seth8530 said:


> Thumbs up for not boiling the honey! Boiling and mead should practically never be mentioned in the same sentence.
> 
> My only concern is the SG that you bottled it at and the lack of stabilization. Wine and Mead can ferment all the way down to .990 if the conditions are right. I am slightly concerned that fermentation could pick back up in your bottles and possibly explode them. Especially considering you kept the sediment.
> 
> ...



True... I put it in champagne bottles though. I'm not sure how many gravity points of pressure they can hold but I'm pretty sure it'll be ok. It's been bottled for about 3 weeks and the carbonation level is fairly high but not as intense as store-bought champagne.


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## seth8530 (Jan 17, 2013)

What I would do before you drink your next bottle would be to let it go flat and check the SG.I believe you are in risky territory, as I also do not know how much pressure I champagne bottle can hold... I will try and see if I can find something.


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## Deezil (Jan 17, 2013)

It was in a thread a while back... i think champagne bottles can handle 7 atmospheres? 8 atmospheres of pressure?... It had translated into PSI but i cant remember what thread it was...... Maybe someone will come along who remembers that same thread..


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jan 17, 2013)

Dman, you are missing out on a lot of nutrition by not including the larva, they also have special blends of worker and royal jelly that you might be missing in your formula. WVMJ


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## seth8530 (Jan 17, 2013)

Ok, some thinking on my part right here. According to this chart if your SG ONLY drops down to 1.000 you would of added the equivalent of 5 oz's of priming sugar per gallon with a sg of 1.012.

http://www.brsquared.org/wine/CalcInfo/HydSugAl.htm this is the chart I used.

Now putting this data into this calculator I get 10 volumes. ( using extrapolation)
http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
The HIGEST of carbonated beers might get 4.5 volumes, with this setup you could potentially hit 10 volumes or more. I am not inclined to think that even a champagne bottle can safely handle that. 

My recomendation is pour it in a carboy, let the sg stabilize and either add sorbate + sulfite. Or if you really don't like that let it sit for quite a while until you are sure it is stable then try and re-bottle it. 

At the very LEAST let it ferment down to below 1.000 then you might try and put it back in the champagne bottles.

Be careful, bottle bombs can be quite dangerous.


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## damdaman (Jan 18, 2013)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> Dman, you are missing out on a lot of nutrition by not including the larva, they also have special blends of worker and royal jelly that you might be missing in your formula. WVMJ



Perhaps... I'm not sure of any reliable source for bee larva though...


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## damdaman (Jan 18, 2013)

seth8530 said:


> Ok, some thinking on my part right here. According to this chart if your SG ONLY drops down to 1.000 you would of added the equivalent of 5 oz's of priming sugar per gallon with a sg of 1.012.
> 
> http://www.brsquared.org/wine/CalcInfo/HydSugAl.htm this is the chart I used.
> 
> ...



I appreciate the concern, I took a reading on an opened bottled today and it had dropped to 1.000, and was bottled 3 or 4 weeks ago.

I read somewhere that your normal 2/3c of priming sugar for 5gals of beer raises the sg by .003, so a .004 carbonation seems fine to me... but maybe there's more to the math that I'm not figuring out.

Either way, I was hoping this thread would be more about the discussion of whole hive mead in general rather than the specific batch I made.


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## Deezil (Jan 18, 2013)

It sounds like an interesting concept indeed, but as winemakers it seems we sometimes get sucked into the details 

Although the sustainability of it though... Might have been difficult, once upon a time


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## Pumpkinman (Jan 18, 2013)

Manley, I believe that most "normal" champagne bottles can handle 6 atmospheric pressure.


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## mmadmikes1 (Jan 18, 2013)

Keep them real cold and that will help a lot. I aint putting no larva in my mead, Hell I heat the honey to 120 so as to get the wax to float and skim it off. I aint skimming off little worms


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## Pumpkinman (Jan 18, 2013)

I agree, no worms in my mead...lol


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## seth8530 (Jan 18, 2013)

damdaman said:


> I appreciate the concern, I took a reading on an opened bottled today and it had dropped to 1.000, and was bottled 3 or 4 weeks ago.
> 
> I read somewhere that your normal 2/3c of priming sugar for 5gals of beer raises the sg by .003, so a .004 carbonation seems fine to me... but maybe there's more to the math that I'm not figuring out.
> 
> Either way, I was hoping this thread would be more about the discussion of whole hive mead in general rather than the specific batch I made.



I understand, it would of been really interesting to be able to compare this to an identical mead that did not have all the goodies added back into it. It could drop below 1.0000 so please be careful, but most of all enjoy your mead. ( :


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jan 18, 2013)

With the popularity of top bar hives continuing to rise you would only have to ask for connections in your local beekeepers group to find some top bar keepers. They cut the entire comb off of the bar to harvest the honey. On our list this summer is a simple old fashioned true raw comb mead, except I will add my favorite yeast and a little nutrients, I wouldnt want to risk loosing a batch of mead just in the name of being primitive. No heating required, the wax will clump up on the bottom, heating would be much worse than not heating it by dissolving it. WVMJ


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## damdaman (Feb 6, 2013)

Just an update on using only hive products as yeast nutrient on different batches. I started 2 batches; 1 high OG pyment (using frozen organic grape juice concentrate), 1 triple-berry melomel (i.e. dragon's blood). I used no commercial energizer or nutrient. No oxygenation after pitching. No rehydrating the yeast before pitching. No additions of any kind after pitching. I used approximately 2oz of bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis per 5 gallons to act as nutrient.

All 3 batches fermented dry.

The pyment went from 1.120 to 1.006 in 17 days using 1 packet of pasteur champagne yeast. The triple-berry melomel went from 1.092 to 1.002 in 17 days using one packet of ec-1118.

I'm very excited by these results, in the past getting my meads to ferment dry was a huge production involving staggered nutrient additions and whipping oxygen into the must on a daily basis. This was simple, easy and (if you believe the principle behind it) results in a healthier beverage. All my meads are going to be whole hive from now on.


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## Downwards (Mar 21, 2013)

Very interesting. Wonder if the other ingredients added some "yeast nutrient" if nothing else..


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