1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUtlE. 



836 



HONEY VINEGAR. 



VALUABI^E HINTS ON MAKING. 



TN the April 1st No. of Gleanings, 1887, page 267, 

 M there are two articles on making- honey vine- 

 ^l gar. I have made and sold honey vinegar for 

 ^ the last four or live years, but I have never 

 used good salable honey in its manufacture. 1 

 sell about 100 gallons per year to my neighljors, and 

 the reputation of my vinegar is such that some of 

 my customers have driven out to my apiary, three 

 miles from Brandon, rather than buy vinegar at 

 the stores. 



When I read the articles mentioned, I noticed 

 that there was quite a difference of opinion be- 

 tween the two authors. Since then I have been 

 experimenting. 1 built what I call my vinegar- 

 factory. It is not a very large or pretentious build- 

 ing, but it is able to turn out 200 gallons of No. 1 

 vinegar in a season. The size of the building is "jxT 

 ft. high on the south side, and 6 ft. on the north, 

 with sjied roof sloping to the north. Roof and sides 

 are all painted dark brown. There should be no 

 shade to prevent the sun from shining on the build- 

 ing all day long. The sides are made of shiplap, 

 which gives plenty of ventilation, and is bee-proof. 

 There is a window 2x7 ft., extending across the 

 south side 4 ft. from the bottom. The building cost 

 about $6.00. On the inside there is a shelf 2J inches 

 wide, 1 ft. high, on which to set three barrels so 

 that their tops will be even with the bottom of the 

 window, and to permit the vinegar being drawn 

 through faucets near the bottom of the barrels. 

 The shelf is supported on stakes driven in the 

 ground. There is a door in the north side, wide 

 enough to admit a barrel. The barrels are covend 

 with a piece of cheese-cloth, and on that a cover is 

 made of thin boards. 



For convenience in describing operations we will 

 number the barrels in the vinegar-house 1, 2, and 3. 

 I generally have about a barrel of partly made vin 

 egar in the fall, which I keep in the cellar during 

 the winter. In the spring, when the weather be- 

 comes warm, I put about half of this in barrel No. 

 3, one-third in No. 2, and the remainder in No. 1. 

 When I have any waste honey or washings from 

 honey-cans, or candied honey soaked from combs, 

 it is put in No. 1. I test the sweetened water in 

 No. 1 with the 35-cent hydrometer. When it sinks 

 to 11 on the scale it is about right when it is not 

 soured, and contains about 2 lbs. of honey to the 

 gallon. If the sweetened water is soured some, the 

 hydrometer should sink to 8 or 9. Good vinegar 

 tests about 3 on the scale of the hydrometer. When 

 that in No. 3 becomes good vinegar, it is drawn off 

 and put in the cellar, and that from No. 2 is trans- 

 ferred to No. 3, with enough from No. 1 to fill the 

 barrel about half full. No. 2 is filled half full from 

 No. 1. To obtain the best results, the barrels 

 should be kept about half full. If the vinegar in 

 the cellar is kept cool, and the barrels bunged tight, 

 mother will not form on it, and it will keep almost 

 any length of time. One pound of honey will make 

 one gallon of vinegar, as good as most of the cider 

 and white-wine vinegar that is sold; but to make 

 strong No. 1 vinegar it requires 2 lbs. of honey to 

 the gallon. Most of the honey that I use for mak- 

 ing vinegar is the thin honey which I skim from 

 the top of my extracted honey directly after ex- 

 tracting. 



Friend Bingham, in his article, says: "I have 

 beautiful candied honey evaporated from such 

 vinegar as I have made and used exclusively in my 

 family for the past 12 years, so you can get your 

 honey out of such vinegar in case you should want 

 honey more than vinegar." 



I have evaporated honej' vinegar, but I can get 

 nothing but a very strong acid as the result. I 

 think it is generally understood, that thi; honey is 

 changed to alcohol, and then the alcohc'l to vinegar. 

 Now, is it a fact that the acid can be changed Ijack 

 to honey? Will some of the friends who under- 

 stand chemistry enlighten us on this subject? 



Brandon, Iowa. G. D. Bi-ack. 



Friend B., your suggestions are exceetl- 

 ingly valuable. If even half of the amount 

 of vinegar which you mention could be sdki, 

 it would doubtless pay myiiy of us to have 

 a vinegar-factory, as you term it. I suppo.se 

 that any vacaut room frontiiig the south 

 could be arranged to answer the same pur- 

 pose.— Your term " shiplap " is something 

 not familiar to us. Will you explain the 

 word, and give us drawings if neces^ary ? 

 1 can not very well see how you get plenty 

 of veniilation without admitting bees, un- 

 less you have the openings covered wilh wire 

 cloth. At the Columbus centennial we saw 

 jars of vinegar made fruin honey, that looked 

 as clear as pure water. Their price was 20 

 cts. tor a two-pound bottleful. Your sug- 

 gestions in regard to using the hydrometer 

 are certainly a move in the right diieclion. 

 There is then no guej-swork about it at all. 

 The centennial folks agree wilh you exactly 

 in regard to ihe amount of h^ney needed 

 for a gallon of the best vinegar; namely, 

 tv\o pounds to the gallon. Perhaps the vin- 

 egar that friend Bingham spoke of. that 

 Could be boiled down so as lo jirodiice honey 

 again, was not perfectly turiietl to vinegar. 

 In fact, 1 have seen honey vinegar \\itli so 

 much sweet about it ihat it made very lair 

 lemonade when dissolved in aglass of water. 

 This kind would very likely produce honey 

 when boiled down ; for scalding maple s>riip, 

 preserves, and other things that have become 

 slightly acid, will expel the acid and make 

 it pure sweet again. 



^ ^ 



WHY SOME BEE - KEEPERS PREFER 

 BLACKS TO ITALIANS. 



JAMES A. GREEN SUMS IT AI>L UP. 



fNTlL three or four years agx) it seemed that 

 the superiority of the Italians over the com- 

 mon bee of our country, variously known as 

 the black, gray, brown, or German bee. was 

 conceded by nearly all who had given them 

 a fair trial, especially in the production of honey as 

 a business. Within that time, though, some of our 

 most prominent honey - producers have declared 

 that they prefer the German race to any other race 

 in its purity, while admitting that a cross between 

 it and the Italian is an improvement. Some of 

 their reasons for this preference are old, while oth- 

 ers are the result of new conditions by which all 

 bee-keepers are not influenced. Those who are not, 

 may do well to consider these reasons before decid- 

 ing to follow the example of their possessors, suc- 

 cessful though they may be. 

 In the first place, I believe that nearly If not 



