Brew day

I decided since everyone loved my last beer I would brew some more. I am doing the same as last time, it is an India Pale Ale but it is on the fence between IPA hops taste and pale ale hops taste. It is really good.

I am also trying my hand at a hefeweizen. I found a recipe that I thought would be nice and got everything together. I decided to use liberty hops. It comes in a packet like this:

Here is a picture of the malt and the first hopping together in the wort that is about to start boiling again:

This is the yeast I am using:

Yeast comes in several forms, but the dry form keeps longer.

Above is a picture of the IPA I am making.... It is bubbling away. It should be ready in about 2-3 weeks. The hefeweizen I am making should be ready in about the same time.... 100 bottles of beer is what I am making.

On a side note, I had a helper (Mac) who was nice enough to lend a hand on the IPA and bottle 3 different versions of my mead. He bottled my chocolate blend, pina colada and plain meads. He did a fantastic job from cleaning and prepping all the way through filling and corking. I have to give him a big thumbs up! Thanks Mac!

Bee Tree Cutout

I got a call today from a gentleman who had cut down a tree and found a hive of bees in it. He wanted to keep the bees and become a beekeeper. My role was to sell him a full hive of equipment and remove the bees and place them into it. I am also to assist him in the future with some questions and how to inspect the hives.

Walking to the tree I noticed this bee foraging... I figured I would snap a pic real fast.

All of our stuff was loaded onto a trailer to be brought into the woods to get the bees.

The tree was quite large. The gentleman would not go anywhere near it without my spare suit on.

 You can see the enterance here:

We guessed at where the bees were and where the comb went... The bees were all in the other half like we anticipated and this was all empty comb with some honey reserves still in it.

I cut out some brood and pollen and honey and placed it in a hive body. I brushed and smoked the bees down into it. We found the queen and made 100% sure she made it into the hive. I put the hive there to get the returning bees. I am comming back tomorrow night to move the hive to the guys house.