5 gallon batches...15lbs honey + 4 or 5 gallons water?

[rockittear]

So I know the general rule of thumb for making mead is 3 lbs. of honey for every 1 gallon of water/must, 15 lbs. for a 5 gallon batch...
I looked it up and 12 lbs. of honey equals roughly a gallon
So would that make a 5 gallon batch actually 12-15 lbs. of honey mixed with 4 gallons of water?

I started my first batch a week or so ago with 15 lbs. of honey and 5 gallons of water. Does that make it a 6 gallon batch? I understand that won’t be my final yield, I’m asking because of abv concerns.
My OG wasn’t as high as I expected and I’m thinking it’s because I have a gallon too much water. I’d like to mix some honey to some water and add it to my batch to increase the gravity but my fermenter is 6.5 gallons so I don’t have much room to add more water. Maybe my best bet is to just add some honey directly to the batch and stir?

 

[Maylar]

So would that make a 5 gallon batch actually 12-15 lbs. of honey mixed with 4 gallons of water?

Yes. The rule of thumb is that 3 lbs of honey (about a quart) and the balance of water to a gallon gives you about 1.105 worth of sugar and 14% ABV when fermented dry. Honey varies a bit from this, so I always start out low and measure the specific gravity as I incrementally add honey until I get to the starting level I want.

But yes, you have to figure the volume of honey as well as its weight when figuring out a batch size.

 

[CKuhns]

In addition to what @Maylar described - If you want to raise your SG and have limited space then yes your best bet is to just add honey.

If you have a 6.5 Gallon fermenter then you really don't have a lot of room. As the ferment takes place you will likely get some Krausen (Foam) and need space for that too. You could add the honey to your desired OG and split some out into a separate vessel to ferment if you have too little room then add it back after losing some volume due to racking. OR you could just let it go and see how it turns out.