# Crushed comb, wax and honey to start mead



## Beeverly (Feb 14, 2020)

Has anyone started mead using the comb along with the honey? I'd really like to give it a try. I have some mangrove honey comb and rather than crush and strain, I would like to crush it a bit and then put it all into the fermenting jar. 
Thanks for any answers. 
Beeverly


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## Akademee (Apr 5, 2020)

Well wax doesn't dissolve in water, nor can any yeasts consume it for energy, so I'm not sure what you'd gain from it, other than the possibility of your finished mead tasting like furniture polish. Any room you have to make for the wax you could have used for more mead!


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

After my honey extraction, I rinse all my containers and tools with hot water and rinse cappings and indeed use the sticky waste water for making mead. Just crush thoroughly so the water and yeast can get to all the fermentables. I usually also put trapped bee pollen in my mead instead of the commercial yeast nutrient and energizer many mead makers use.


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## Beeverly (Feb 14, 2020)

Thanks to both of you for your replies. Somewhere, in some book or article, I had read about putting everything into the first brew so I was curious if anyone here has done that. 

I have fresh cappings now from a black mangrove honey extraction and I will do a rinse with hot water and use it for a new batch or two of mangrove mead. I plan to do that tonight. I had some wonky comb from that honey pull which is why I asked the question to begin with. 

Vance, how much pollen do you use per gallon? I plan to do that more as I have a bunch of pollen in my freezer. I did add 3 tablespoons to a one gallon brew a few months ago. It was a chamomile/raisin tea mead where I ended up splitting the original must because s.g. was too high. In the pollenated fermenter, it bubbled at 3 times the rate as the non pollenated, and it ended up a higher final gravity. OG was exactly the same, yeast was the same, etc. Plus, the pollenated tasted better at racking. 
Thanks again!


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I put a half a pound of pollen in a five gallon batch. Only downside is it gives the mead a yellow tint if that would bother you, It also puts a pleasant if distinctive flavor to the mead that may over power what you were aiming for. Now when I use my sweet waste water, I still pay attention to the SG! That is why the cappings must be thoroughly broken up!


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