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By-Tor

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Joined
Feb 16, 2009
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Location
Maricopa AZ
I bought some nice looking raw honey off of a guy on the street for my first batch of mead. He told me it was 5#, so I made the mead( 2 gal batch) and my OG was 1.068. I weighed the jar and it was 1#, so I was short a pound of honey. Can I add more honey in a couple of days? If so, how would I desolve it in the batch. If not, will I have a weak tasting mead?
 
Not much chugging going on at this point, what is the usual lag time? There is a bit of foam on the top though. I guess I'll just put another pound in once it gets going.
 
I bought some nice looking raw honey off of a guy on the street for my first batch of mead. He told me it was 5#, so I made the mead( 2 gal batch) and my OG was 1.068. I weighed the jar and it was 1#, so I was short a pound of honey. Can I add more honey in a couple of days? If so, how would I desolve it in the batch. If not, will I have a weak tasting mead?
Did you weigh the jar when it was full??? If not, then you might've indeed gotten 5 lbs of honey (thin honey, perhaps, but...)...hearsay at this point...and you bought off of a guy on the street??? Hopefully you mean at a farmers market or something, as opposed to some random guy on the street with a bottle of something. Just wonderin'....
 
Your using 2.5# per gallon which is pretty average. Sounds like he gave you 4 with that low OG. Did you mix and aerate really good before you took your reading it seems too low per pound of honey? I would add more, Im not a fan of low gravity meads myself. Try Rogues mead to see what I mean. What yeast did you use?
 
Did you weigh the jar when it was full??? If not, then you might've indeed gotten 5 lbs of honey (thin honey, perhaps, but...)...hearsay at this point...and you bought off of a guy on the street??? Hopefully you mean at a farmers market or something, as opposed to some random guy on the street with a bottle of something. Just wonderin'....

No, I didn't think to weigh it until after I saw the low OG. The honey was raw,cloudy yellow, with propolis and all the good stuff still in it, unheated and thick, I had to spoon it into the carboy. I bought it from a bee keeper in a rural area out here in AZ, typical honey pusher I guess but he did not have it inside his trenchcoat or anything. I added another pound just a minute ago, I hope it works!!
 
Your using 2.5# per gallon which is pretty average. Sounds like he gave you 4 with that low OG. Did you mix and aerate really good before you took your reading it seems too low per pound of honey? I would add more, Im not a fan of low gravity meads myself. Try Rogues mead to see what I mean. What yeast did you use?

I used K1-1116, started chugging faster almost immediately after adding more honey. Was chugging like a train last night, fairly short lag time.
 
Where he lives, I'm not surprised he found a beekeeper selling jars on the street. Maricopa was only admitted into the 21st century a few months ago. :)
Seriously, though, just outside of town are huge expanses of desert vegetation. And with our mild winters, AZ is a beekeeper's paradise.
Even here in phoenix you can still see huge swaths of cultivated farmland. And if you look at the right time of year, you'll see hives on the edges.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Home Brew mobile app
 
No, I didn't think to weigh it until after I saw the low OG. The honey was raw,cloudy yellow, with propolis and all the good stuff still in it, unheated and thick, I had to spoon it into the carboy. I bought it from a bee keeper in a rural area out here in AZ, typical honey pusher I guess but he did not have it inside his trenchcoat or anything. I added another pound just a minute ago, I hope it works!!
OK, OK....LOL....it just sounded a lil funny in your op was all :) I wouldn't think of weighing either, just the "guy on the street" made it sound a lil suspect. I have several leads on local honey here, just trying to find the time to contact them (I work 7pm to 7am, and am usually out of synch with the "normal world")
 
Yeah, working those hours would be hard to find a "honey guy on the street", I don't see them out on the streets after dark around here. Good luck though. My first mead is chugging after adding more honey, not sure about degassing or stirring, shaking, adding more energizer. But maybe I'll try if the experts suggest it.
 
Where he lives, I'm not surprised he found a beekeeper selling jars on the street. Maricopa was only admitted into the 21st century a few months ago. :)
Seriously, though, just outside of town are huge expanses of desert vegetation. And with our mild winters, AZ is a beekeeper's paradise.
Even here in phoenix you can still see huge swaths of cultivated farmland. And if you look at the right time of year, you'll see hives on the edges.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Home Brew mobile app


Maybe the honey came off the Pratt's farm just south of the casino? That's where my honey was coming from for a while till I met a guy out in Queen Creek that has orange blossom and lavender honey...
 
Maybe the honey came off the Pratt's farm just south of the casino? That's where my honey was coming from for a while till I met a guy out in Queen Creek that has orange blossom and lavender honey...

The guy I got it from was actually in Queen Creek, he said it was just dessert honey.

You're pretty close by, I may like to get in on your connection. Maybe you can get a good price on a bulk buy?
 
I found some pretty good deals on e-bay. Between 40-$50 a gal, wildflower and orange blossom. One of them $83.76 for 24 LB for wildflower, free shipping.
 
Maybe a stupid question but, did you add 2 gallons of water? Cuz then you would have more like a 2.4 gal batch which would lower your OG
 
Maybe a stupid question but, did you add 2 gallons of water? Cuz then you would have more like a 2.4 gal batch which would lower your OG

No, that's a good question and a testament to my inexperience. I used 2 gal of water but added .10# of honey the next day. I have no idea the OG after the addition.
 
Funny threat so far!

Make sure you look for honey from a farm or True Source honey. Honey is a world traded commodity and much of the stuff that slips in from China is cut down with high fructose corn syrup or other crap. Now who would want to make 'mead' out of that?
 
Man - talk about the 'mean streets'! Bootleg honey? I've had guy's approach me with weed, weapons, sunglasses, watches, ancient stone carvings ... but HONEY?? Your neighborhood must be way upscale :)

People APPROACH you with these things? Man, where do you live? A... a buddy might want to move. :fro::D
 
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