Addition of honey during primary

[The_Dutch]

Hey guys so I wrote a post about a mixed berry one and before I went big with the batch I did a one gallon test:

3 lbs honey
24oz mixed berries
1/2 orange sliced
1 small clove
Lalvin KV-1116 yeast
Staggered DAP nutrient
OG 1.120

So I made this and realized (like everyone said) that berries take up a lot of room. Well I don’t want to sacrifice the headspace/final yeild. But at the same not I don’t want to add water and dilute abv. So I am wondering this:

If I rack it in a week or so could I add some honey and water to top off? If so how much I don’t want the end result to be too sweet? I’ve read that 1 lb honey is good for .032 sg so I was thinking of adding a lb and mix it with water to fill the carboy?

 

[Shine0n]

You can mix water /honey to your desired abv and add, just remember it will continue to ferment.
For a better fruit flavor you could add said fruit to secondary.

A rule of thumb I've learned is to ferment in a bucket for primary so when I degas and add nutes it doesn't end up blowing out the small top of a 1, 3, 5 gallon carboy which I've done. Lesson learned the hard way.

This is not me telling you what to do but this is what I do, start fermentation in a bucket and at a larger volume than final volume for aging. This eliminates having to add marbles or the like to keep headspace minimal while ageing.

I also use a bucket for a shott period during secondary so when I add my fruit in a brew bag I can easily remove it after my desired flavor is achieved which is usually not longer than 10 or so days.

Then I can rack into an appropriate sized carboy and put under airlock and not need to worry about low headroom and oxidation while aging. I can also keep some extra for topping off when racking, that's the reason for a larger volume in the beginning than I need.

Good luck

 

[SKBugs]

I do pretty much the same as ShineOn and have found it to be much much easier to manage.

 

[madscientist451]

ShineOn pretty much covered it, I'll just add two things: get a mesh bag from your homebrew store for your fruit and, most mead makers use a blend of nutrients not just DAP.
Here's a mead nutrient calculator, there are others available:
https://www.meadmaderight.com/tosna.html