Gravity way too high

[taleman]

I decided to make a mead today. I bought 12 lbs of keez beez honey. Which I get directly from the bee keeper. The honey is sold by 6 lbs in 1/2 gallon carboys.

So its 12 lbs (1 gallon) that i bought to use. Normally i expect to have a gravity of 1.08 - 1.09. This time I bought "Citrus Honey" (Normally I buy Wildflower honey.).

I heated it to 170 F (2.5 gallon must). Added water to get it to 5 gallon. Took a sample and let it cool to 67 F for a hydrometer reading. It went beyond the scale of my hydrometer 1.170.

Did I not mix it well? Is the honey really just that sweet? I Did notice a lot of sediment start to settle even though I haven't pitched any yeast. Pollen maybe?

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi taleman, by calculation, this should not be more than 1.100 (probably closer to 1.096) . If you have a refractometer and if the beekeper can give you a tiny sample you can check the SG of the sample (suitably diluted) . Is it possible that your sample was not random and you took it from a part of the must that had more honey than was typical...

 

[taleman]

Hi taleman, by calculation, this should not be more than 1.100 (probably closer to 1.096) . If you have a refractometer and if the beekeper can give you a tiny sample you can check the SG of the sample (suitably diluted) . Is it possible that your sample was not random and you took it from a part of the must that had more honey than was typical...

Definitely possible. I'll try and get another sample.

 

[Drewed]

Yea, I agree with Benardsmith. Something is off there. Citrus honey shouldn't be that much sweeter. Was it really crystallized of something?

I tend to run at 3lbs per gallon, and you are at 2.4 lb/g. Check your hydro in tap water. See if you are around 1.000. Not that I've ever hear of a hydrometer go bad to the light side, but its an easy check.

 

[taleman]

Yea, I agree with Benardsmith. Something is off there. Citrus honey shouldn't be that much sweeter. Was it really crystallized of something?

I tend to run at 3lbs per gallon, and you are at 2.4 lb/g. Check your hydro in tap water. See if you are around 1.000. Not that I've ever hear of a hydrometer go bad to the light side, but its an easy check.

Mixed it and took another sample ~18 brix. Much more reasonable.

 

[bernardsmith]

More reasonable but that seems a little low -

 

[taleman]

More reasonable but that seems a little low -

I'm rolling with it. 5.5 gallons must with 12lbs of honey. 18 brix seems close. I'm just worried about getting a good reading for 1/3rd sugar brew. And for the final gravity.

 

[BeerSmith]

Drop the refractometer (at least for mead) - I've found that high gravity meads require a hydrometer to get an accurate reading. The refractometer equations don't seem to work well for high gravities.