Do bees love beer?

Hi.

I overheard someone saying bees drop around and say hello when they brewing. Is he off with the fairies, or are bees attracted by the sugar odours from brewing?

On the weekend I did my first all grain batch. Afterwards I put the grains into the compost heap. A few days after that found a bee hive in my back yard. Where they attracted by the grains?

This might not help the ever strained approval factor us married brewers struggle with.

Cheers

Crazy. You wouldn't typically see anything like that where I live.

That photo looks like a swarming event, which is somewhat random but does occur in the US as well. As I understand it, it occurs when a hive outgrows itself...some of the bees leave with a new queen and form a new hive...

Perhaps if we have any beekeepers lurking around, they can chime in, but I'll be that the grains and/or beer brewing had nothing to do with this.

Try brewing a bochet (boiled/caramelized honey mead) in the spring or summer though...it's definitely helpful to have an assistant for swatting away the interested bees!

I was going to say I know that wasps, (esp yellowjackets around my area) are attracted to that sweet smell, but I haven't ever had bees. Weird.

Do you have a bee keeper in the neighborhood? From talking to a friend that's a bee keeper he said its not totally uncommon for a hive to move. There are associations around that list members in the area. Check Google. If they are honey bees don't exterminate have a bee keeper relocate them.

Bees suck. I had to move to overnight mashing to boil early enough so they would not bother me. My exterminator told me most of the bees in our area are africanized and to try not to mess with them too bad. If I have a real vigorous boil going and its late enough in the day they freaking start swarming me. I usually have to start a smokey fire in my bbq to make them leave me alone. And there was always one or two dead bees in the wort. I understand they are vital creatures but back off my beer dammit.

Definitely a swarm and I'm certain there is someone close by that would love to gather it in. Had one a couple months ago in an old Weber grill, but they moved on.

I suppose it is spring here at the moment. I couldn't imagine trying to make a mead.

Yes they are honey bees. We called the local council and had a bee keeper come to relocate them. The little guys are now happy at his farm. Our chickens can now happily finish off eating my spent grains.

I had hoped for some honey from them but apparently a wild swarm like that might not make honey for a year or two. It would be cool to add your own honey to a brew.

jtejedor said:

Bees suck.

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Not boo bees.

jtejedor said:

Bees suck. I had to move to overnight mashing to boil early enough so they would not bother me. My exterminator told me most of the bees in our area are africanized and to try not to mess with them too bad. If I have a real vigorous boil going and its late enough in the day they freaking start swarming me. I usually have to start a smokey fire in my bbq to make them leave me alone. And there was always one or two dead bees in the wort. I understand they are vital creatures but back off my beer dammit.

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In your case, I think they are by all accounts looking for water. I'd fill up something with water and put it away from the brewing area.

EdgeBrew said:

Hi.

I overheard someone saying bees drop around and say hello when they brewing. Is he off with the fairies, or are bees attracted by the sugar odours from brewing?

On the weekend I did my first all grain batch. Afterwards I put the grains into the compost heap. A few days after that found a bee hive in my back yard. Where they attracted by the grains?

This might not help the ever strained approval factor us married brewers struggle with.

Cheers

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I'm a beekeeper. Yes they are a swarm as you found out. When swarming, they do not produce honey and are very mellow. I have collected swarms in shorts and t-shirt.

I have a beehive within ten feet of where I brew. I have never noticed an increase in activity while brewing. I would be willing to bet they are going for the water. Perhaps the sugars, but I have never noticed it.

To the beekeepers. When I saw a swarm all the bees were just clinging to each other. That to me meant that the top level of bees were supporting the entire colony on their backs. Are they a different or larger bee?

I had a dead bumble bee in my wort during my last batch...I removed it before I cooled and transfered to primary

No and it isn't really the weay you think about it. Think of a piece of honeycomb. Is all of the weight being born by the little square on the bottom or the top? No, it is spread out over the mass.

They are all hanging on to each other and moving around from the middle of the pile to the outside in order to maintain a certain temperature. It's like a big pyramid. That one rock at the base of the pyramid isn't supporting the whole thing is it?

jtejedor said:

My exterminator told me most of the bees in our area are africanized and to try not to mess with them too bad.

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Let me guess, don't mess with them too bad and call him immediately? Not messing with any flying stinging critter too bad is sage advice. The Africanized bee scare was seriously blown up to be a Hitchcock-like situation but actually they are only slightly more aggressive and slightly more likely to swarm than European honey bees. Exterminating honey bees of any kind is a serious affront on Mother Nature as far as I'm concerned. It's actually amazing how ignorant many people are of the importance of not just bees but basically any "bug". I'm not saying that you are, but it's definitely a subject worth educating oneself on.

BoomerHarley said:

No and it isn't really the weay you think about it. Think of a piece of honeycomb. Is all of the weight being born by the little square on the bottom or the top? No, it is spread out over the mass.

They are all hanging on to each other and moving around from the middle of the pile to the outside in order to maintain a certain temperature. It's like a big pyramid. That one rock at the base of the pyramid isn't supporting the whole thing is it?

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I think it's more like me holding on to a branch of a tree and 10 guys clinging to me.

Boomer,

Thanks for your reply. My wife will have ban me from brewing another day (nah she's good, even helps with it).

Beer,
Attached is the picture of last weekends amber ale that actually didn't start all of this commotion. I'm sorry for blaming you for the bees, beer.

bottlebomber said:

Let me guess, don't mess with them too bad and call him immediately? Not messing with any flying stinging critter too bad is sage advice. The Africanized bee scare was seriously blown up to be a Hitchcock-like situation but actually they are only slightly more aggressive and slightly more likely to swarm than European honey bees. Exterminating honey bees of any kind is a serious affront on Mother Nature as far as I'm concerned. It's actually amazing how ignorant many people are of the importance of not just bees but basically any "bug". I'm not saying that you are, but it's definitely a subject worth educating oneself on.

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I've dealt with africanized bees and non-africanized bees. It is not overblown. One of my hives got africanized last year. The difference was amazing and I almost gave up beekeeping because of it.

iaefebs said:

I think it's more like me holding on to a branch of a tree and 10 guys clinging to me.

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No, think of it more like you holding on to a branch while ten other guy are holding on to a branch. You each have people hanging from you, but they are spread out, hanging on to each other and everybody is linked. You are not directly supporting anyone. You and a bunch of guys are supporting those below you. Think of the stabilizers on a bridge. You know, the angular cross beams. They support thousand of tons and would not be able to without a whole bunch of them all working together. By working together (and you are talking about thousands of bees), the weight and energy is distributed.

Given the issues with bee colonies dying off I'm surprised people still talk about exterminating bees. A world without bees would probably be close to unlivable for many of us.

Tantalus said:

Given the issues with bee colonies dying off I'm surprised people still talk about exterminating bees. A world without bees would probably be close to unlivable for many of us.

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Um... We didn't. I had mine relocated. I have a tolder ( and soon to be a second one) that runs around the back yard.

Tantalus said:

Given the issues with bee colonies dying off I'm surprised people still talk about exterminating bees. A world without bees would probably be close to unlivable for many of us.

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Eh, Look around. Honeybees failing to exist would result in a world wide food shortage, no doubt. Since a majority of the fruit crops are pollinated by honeybees trucked in to pollinate for a week or tow, then moved to the next location/ season.

However there are all kinds of native bees that are doing great. They will continue to pollinate your garden, my garden, and most of the plants in the world. The large monoculture farms, not so much.

EdgeBrew said:

Um... We didn't. I had mine relocated. I have a tolder ( and soon to be a second one) that runs around the back yard.

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And that was awesome of you. I don't think anyone was insinuating that you had wanted to destroy the colony.

bottlebomber said:

And that was awesome of you. I don't think anyone was insinuating that you had wanted to destroy the colony.

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Thanks it's all good.

iaefebs said:

I think it's more like me holding on to a branch of a tree and 10 guys clinging to me.

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We frown on that sort of thing down here in Ohio.

Boomer I don't think they wanted water I brew pretty close to my pool I would think they would go there for water. I am of course no expert but they really seen to want the sweet wort. I swear to you I would see one bee hanging around, watch him fly off into the distance then be swarmed by like 10 of em maybe more. They would keep trying to get into the wort over and over again but the steam would drive them off. I never killed any of them I understand they have their place in nature but I don't want to get stung. I never saw them at night or real early in the morning though. Its funny but real early in the morning I might see one, I think to myself he must have been out partying all night.

You know it doesn't surprise me. This time of year in the desert, I am sure the wort is a delicious food source. I guess I have to rethink my original position. Yes, they would definitely be attracted to your brewing. But, if you plant enough flowers I think you'll be fine

On the DG course, any garbage cans that have beer cans in them are the ones with the most bees. Okay, that's all the garbage cans, but they seem to land on and in the beer cans the most of any trash. I see it at gas stations too. They fly into garbage cans with beer and soda cans even if the window washer buckets are full of plain water.

I spilled beer in my bag once and bees followed me all over the course, buzzing around my bag.

Save the beer! Kill the bees!
Save the bees! Kill the whales!
Kill the wasps! Save the beer!