honey in bulk

For those making mead and related drinks
bob3000

honey in bulk

Post by bob3000 » Tue Jan 14, 2014 4:46 pm

Anybody know a good place to buy honey in bulk for making mead? Raw unprocessed honey preferred.

Geezah

Re: honey in bulk

Post by Geezah » Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:41 pm

Find a local bee keeper.

Mr. Dripping

Re: honey in bulk

Post by Mr. Dripping » Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:16 pm

That would be your best bet.
Do a google search for your area; bee keeping is more popular than you'd initially think. I've discovered 2 groups fairly local to me when visiting places with my young lad over the past year......urban farms and nature reserves.

boingy

Re: honey in bulk

Post by boingy » Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:19 pm

You don't say where you are but find your local buzzy bee association:

http://www.bbka.org.uk/about/local_asso ... iation.php

fatbloke

Re: honey in bulk

Post by fatbloke » Wed Jan 15, 2014 12:27 pm

Depends where you are.......

The BBVA link has been posted so Google for Payne Honey Sussex...... they're more of an apiary supplier so not a mega range but enough to keep me happy......I believe their Sussex wild flower isn't raw but it's only cold strained/filtered....

Capn Ahab

Re: honey in bulk

Post by Capn Ahab » Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:25 pm

I contacted the local Bristol bbka and was told that most hobbyists are unlikely to produce enough to supply someone making mead using 5-8 kg at a time for 5 gallons. I was also told that they generally eat the good stuff and reserve the dregs for mead. Not the way I'd do it... I searched for raw honey online and then emailed a load of producers, one came back with a price of roughly 3 quid a kg (delivered) for non organic but unpasteurised unfiltered wild flower honey.

Capn Ahab

Re: honey in bulk

Post by Capn Ahab » Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:27 pm

Just checked and pretty sure it was honey supermarket littleover apiary

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alix101
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Re: honey in bulk

Post by alix101 » Wed Jan 15, 2014 3:47 pm

http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/honey-in-bulk/
Not sure how the price is but they appear to do bulk
"Everybody should belive in something : and I belive I'll have another drink".

chivelegs

Re: honey in bulk

Post by chivelegs » Wed Jan 15, 2014 3:58 pm

My other half is a beekeeper, and I may be able to give a little info here.
"Harvest" times vary according to the climate and what local forage yer bees can find. At the moment obviously there is no fresh honey available so any honey being sold would be from the autumn or late summer.
Spring harvest is blossom honey, and if you could get a bee-keeper to part with that, expect to pay more as it is highly prized due to delicate flavours. However, it wouldn't bee the worst idea to get in touch with any beekeepers in spring as they would be trying to clear stocks ahead of the Spring harvest.

There's a gap in production (again dependent on local conditions) in June and then main production begins in mid-late summer. After that, unless you can find someone whose bees has access to heather there will be little honey produced, and again heather honey can be sold at a premium.

Bottom line is though, most smaller beekeepers, if they are selling honey even as a sideline to a main business, probably won't be selling cheap, even in bulk. A couple of terrible harvests recently (although last year was good) along with the well-publicised problems affecting honey bees mean they would make far better money selling lots of individual pots rather than in bulk. Also, I wouldn't worry about using "The dregs" for mead, this only means it may not be clear enough for bunging in a pot with a pretty label due to tiny specks of pollen (or bits of dead bee...yes really!) but after the months needed to make mead, this would have settled out just fine.

Reminds me, I got stung by a bee the other week...












8 pounds for a jar of honey.

fatbloke

Re: honey in bulk

Post by fatbloke » Sat Jan 18, 2014 4:54 pm

alix101 wrote:http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/honey-in-bulk/
Not sure how the price is but they appear to do bulk
Well done posting the link.......it's a bit of a twat trying to post links with a smartphone......

ricardo

Re: honey in bulk

Post by ricardo » Sun Jan 26, 2014 4:00 pm

Smartphones a twats for everything !!
:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

fatbloke

Re: honey in bulk

Post by fatbloke » Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:10 pm

ricardo wrote:Smartphones a twats for everything !!
Except when it's all you have for mobile net connection so have to make do......

Anyway, I thought I'd post a link to this thread at Gotmead http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22608, because if anyone who needs some bulk honey, might find it worth while to look into the linked website (actually the Google translate link in the third post, as the original link is only in German).

Some of the prices listed are incredibly cheap, so I've already emailed the website company (Walter Lang in Bremen), as even with £20 or £30 shipping it'd still be worth my effort.........

Yes, some of the honeys they list aren't so cheap, but over all, they seem to be much more reasonable than the robbin' B'stards here.......

Capn Ahab

Re: honey in bulk

Post by Capn Ahab » Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:09 am

fatbloke wrote:
ricardo wrote:Smartphones a twats for everything !!
Except when it's all you have for mobile net connection so have to make do......

Anyway, I thought I'd post a link to this thread at Gotmead http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22608, because if anyone who needs some bulk honey, might find it worth while to look into the linked website (actually the Google translate link in the third post, as the original link is only in German).

Some of the prices listed are incredibly cheap, so I've already emailed the website company (Walter Lang in Bremen), as even with £20 or £30 shipping it'd still be worth my effort.........

Yes, some of the honeys they list aren't so cheap, but over all, they seem to be much more reasonable than the robbin' B'stards here.......
I went on that site yesterday to buy 25 kg orange blossom honey but it didn't give me a shipping option so I couldn't complete the order. Is that why you've emailed them?

fatbloke

Re: honey in bulk

Post by fatbloke » Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:24 am

Yes. According to their initial reply, they've only got the ordering page set up for German addresses at the moment.

Their reply was (medium English) said they can still arrange something so Im awaiting a further reply.......

Capn Ahab

Re: honey in bulk

Post by Capn Ahab » Tue Feb 04, 2014 11:39 am

Cheers fb. Keep us posted.

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