March, 1910. 



American T^ee Journal 



to many. My aim is to give the most 

 simple method by whicli any apiarist 

 may be able to make honey-vinegar with- 

 out putting himself to any inconvenience, 

 or making elaborate preparations. 



Let me first say that I have not found 

 it profitable to make honey-vinegar on 

 an e.Ktensive scale. It could, no doubt, 

 be sold at a handsome margin if suffi- 

 ciently advertised. But each family uses 

 so little of this condiment that the adver- 

 tising of it must be carried on by firms 

 who handle other merchandise of the 

 same kind — spices, oil, tea, coffee. If 

 we cannot make a special advertising 

 plan, we must be content with a local 

 sale among our neighbors, who, when 

 they ascertain the high grade of our vin- 

 egar, will gladly pay us from 25 to 40 

 cents per gallon for it. Each apiarist 

 can, in the course of a season, readily 

 sell two or three barrels of it at least. 

 If you give it special attention you may 

 sell more. The main advantage of it 

 is that you can in this manner dispose of 

 a quantity of inferior honey at paying 

 figures. 



The first thing to bear in mind is, that 

 in order to change a sweet article into 

 acetic acid (the acid of vinegar,) it is 

 necessary for that sweet to pass first 

 through an alcoholic fermentation. Both 

 the alcoholic and the acetic may be car- 

 ried on at the same time, but the one 

 must always have the precedence, and 

 the more thorough this fermentation is, 

 the more thorough will be the other. It 

 is also necessary to know that if the 

 amount of sweet is too great — great 

 enough to produce more than 14 percent 

 of alcohol in the liquid— the time will 

 come when the alcohol produced will 

 destroy all ferment, both alcoholic and 

 acetic. In that case the honey-water 

 would be sweet — alcoholic and acetic at 

 tlie same time. This would make a poor 

 article. It is therefore well to make 

 the honey-water just sweet enough, and 

 not too sweet. It is also well to give the 

 alcoholic fermentation full headway be- 

 fore inducing the acetic to begin. 



.\ pound and a half of honey in a gal- 

 lon of rain-water is about the best pro- 

 portion for vinegar. But if you were 

 simply to mi.x the two, you might meet 

 the conditions I struck at my first at- 

 tempt. Mixing water with honey, in 

 about the proper ratio, and knowing that 

 plenty of air was needed, I put the mix- 

 ture into earthen jars holding from 4 to 

 10 gallons each, and left it to take care 

 of itself. I succeded in having only a de- 

 caying fermentation. My honey-water 

 became ropy and insipid, and refused to 

 sour. Ropiness is a disease of liquids, 

 viscosity, which allows them to run in a 

 thread, as a glutinous substance. My 

 father, who was then living, and was 

 better informed than I was, but had had 

 no hand in this proceeding, asked me to 

 read a little French treatise on the mak- 

 ing of wine vinegar. Later I read sev- 

 eral scientific descriptions of the manner 

 of changing sweets into alcohol, and I 

 readily perceived where I had failed. 



The European scientists, especially the 

 German and the French, have handled 

 the question of honey-wines, honey-vine- 

 gar, and mead, in all their phases. This 

 question of decaying honey-water has 

 been explained by them. They tell us 



that in gathering the honey from the 

 blossoms the bees also gather (mechan- 

 ically and without purpose on their part) 

 many different germs found on plants 

 and in the air. So honey brought in 

 from the fields contains all sorts of 

 germs. It is for us to develop those 

 germs which will serve our purpose if 

 they thrive, and destroy the others or 

 prevent their spread. The honey on 

 which I failed did not contain any germs 

 suitable to start the alcoholic fermenta- 

 tion. As to the acetic, its germs are so 

 thoroughly scattered through the ambi- 

 ent atmosphere that it is usually not 

 necessary to produce it artificially, but, 

 as I said before, the alcoholic fermenta- 

 tion must precede the acetic ; the germs 

 of vinegar will not feed on sugar. 



When you have decided on the quanti- 

 ty of vinegar you desire to make, you 

 should secure good barrels. Iron-bound 

 barrels are the best, provided they do 

 not leak. If they were to leak you will 

 remember that nothing rusts iron like 

 vinegar, and in a little while the iron 

 hoops would be eaten through. Wooden 

 hoops are very good, hut are more apt 

 to get out of place. The barrels must 

 be free from musty smell. An empty 

 whisky-barrel or a syrup-barrel of good 

 quality will do. A cider-barrel will do if 

 it has not been allowed to remain open 

 or unwashed after emptying. Perhaps 

 it will be as well to say how to keep a 

 barrel clean after emptying it. 



After emptying a barrel which has 

 contained either sweet cider, hard cider 

 or claret, rinse it thoroughly with plenty 

 of water. If residues or dregs stick to 

 the bottom, you will readily remove 

 them by taking an old piece of cistern 

 pump chain and rolling the barrel about, 

 after having inserted the chain through 

 the bung-hole. To make it more easy to 

 remove, tie the end of it to a string 

 passing through the bung-hole. Then 

 let the barrel drain dry, burn a little 

 brimstone in it, and bung it tight; it will 

 remain sweet until you are ready to use 

 it again. For vinegar purposes, if the 

 barrel is thoroughly dried, it will not get 

 moldy or musty, even if not brimstoned. 

 If the barrels used had a musty smell, 

 when employed for vinegar, no decent 

 housekeeper would accept any of it for 

 a gift, let alone paying you a good price 

 for it. 



Select your honey; honey-dew will do 

 as well as any. Use one and a half 

 pounds for each gallon desired. Put it 

 in a boiler and heat it to about 180 de- 

 grees, taking care not to scorch it, which 

 would give it a molasses taste. This 

 also would injure its sale, for the taste 

 of caramel is very persistent. Mixing it 

 with water will avoid burning. The heat 

 is for t.he purpose of destroying all 

 germs. Of course you may use it raw, 

 and accidentally secure the alcoholic fer- 

 mentation at once. In that case you take 

 some chances. Once the alcoholic fer- 

 mentation is started, however, there is 

 little to be feared of anything else, and 

 the vinegar fermentation will soon fol- 

 low, if the air be not excluded. 



If the honey used is unripe, it will 

 take more of it for the same quantity 

 of vinegar, since it is more aqueous. 

 Dihitcd honey-water, secured by wash- 

 ing of cappings and of vessels having 



contained honey, and in which the pro- 

 portion of honey is not exactly known, 

 may be tested for this purpose, by the 

 use of a fresh egg floating in the liquid. 

 If the egg sinks, there is too little honey. 

 The portion of its shell showing above 

 the surface of the liquid should be about 

 equal in size to a dime. A little more or 

 a little less does not matter. Chas. F. 

 Muth used only a pound of honey to the 

 gallon of water ; some persons use 2 

 pounds for the same measure. Half 

 way between the two seems to me the 

 best proportion for a good, strong ar- 

 ticle. 



The temperature at which vinegar 

 makes best is, according to some Euro- 

 pean authorities, about 86 degrees Fahr., 

 or 30 C. But the .exact temperature is 

 not of importance, so that it does not 

 fall below 70, especially during the first 

 or vinous fermentation. To start the 

 fermentation readily, the honey-water 

 should be put warm into the barrels, 

 somewhere below 100 degrees. Then 

 add some fruit-juices that have not been 

 boiled, grape-juice preferred. But 

 cherry, raspberry, or other juices in con- 

 siderable quantities will readily start 

 the action, say a gallon or more to the 

 barrel. 



At first, if the weather be warm, there 

 will be quite an effervescence brought 

 about within two or three days, and the 

 barrels would best be not quite full, say 

 within 5 or 6 inches of the bung. The 

 fermentation is very active when once 

 started and if you left the barrel 

 bunged you might have an explosion. 

 In making claret, as we do not wish to 

 allow vinegar fermentation, we protect 

 the bung-holes of the casks with a sand- 

 bag. An inexperienced man, in making 

 claret, dropped the bungs into bung-holes 

 of two large 600 gallon casks, thinking 

 that the gas would lift them to escape. 

 But the moisture formed over the liquid 

 in the first few hours swelled the wood, 

 the bungs held and the heads of those 

 casks, 2 inches in thickness, were warped 

 out until the liquid could make its es- 

 cape. So be sure that the barrel is open. 

 If you are after vinegar, plenty of air 

 will be acceptable, and the acetic fer- 

 mentation may begin very shortly after 

 the other. A very fine brass or tin 

 strainer, such as they use on milk-pails, 

 will keep out flies and gnats, which are 

 readily attracted. Ordinary wire-screen 

 is too coarse, and, besides, would at once 

 deteriorate from the gases which escape. 

 iTo be Continued.) 



Planning for the Coming Bee- 

 Season 



BY J. C. FR.\NJ<. 



The season of the year is here when 

 plans for the coming summer should be 

 well matured. A large part of the suc- 

 cess of the season depends upon the 

 planning, and thought given to it. While 

 it is true that no amount of planning can 

 make up for poor execution, it is also 

 true that the most diligent efforts can 

 not atone for lack of forethought. 

 Planning for the coming season should 

 be done in the light of knowledge of 

 previous years, and that gained by ob- 

 servation of the work of others. The 



