Specific Gravity Question

[PDonn63]

Yesterday I began a one gallon Melomel. I started with the juice of 5lbs of pears and 4oz ginger root (ran them whole through a Juiceman), then added 3lbs of Mesquite honey and 1/4tsp Irish moss. I brought that slowly to a boil and skimmed the film off of the top. Once cooled to room temperature, I added it to a one gallon jug, tossed in the nutrient and energizer, and topped off to the neck with bottled water. After mixing all of this together, and before adding the yeast, I took a gravity reading. It came out to 1.099. To me this seemed pretty low, especially because I was shooting for a sweeter melomel, and the Gotmead calculator said it should read around 1.320. I measured it again three hours after pitching the yeast just to make sure, and it read the same. I tested pure water to make sure my hydrometer wasn't off, but it read exactly 1.0.

Does this seem like a reasonable reading given the amount of sugar in the melomel?

 

[JamesP]

I get 1.131 from the Calculator, but it is difficult to determine what sugars you would get from 5 lb of pears. Unless the Mesquite honey is only around 73% sugars, the reading should be over 1.099

 

[PDonn63]

Right, I forgot to un-check the third sugar for another calculation I was doing; It jacked the specific gravity way up. I got the same output you got. As for the honey, I used the Trader Joe's brand Mesquite. I found online that its 16g of sugar per tablespoon, but I threw away the container with the total volume information, so it might be hard to do a sugar content calculation.

 

[kudapucat]

Right, I forgot to un-check the third sugar for another calculation I was doing; It jacked the specific gravity way up. I got the same output you got. As for the honey, I used the Trader Joe's brand Mesquite. I found online that its 16g of sugar per tablespoon, but I threw away the container with the total volume information, so it might be hard to do a sugar content calculation.

Hmmm 16g/14.7ml = 16/20g Sugar by weight is therefore > 75% I can't be bothered thinking abut sugar by volume at this point!
I too thought 1.3 ridiculously high.
I'd think that your pear juice had a SG not very high, so it brought the whole must down.
Hindsight is the most annoying of human features, but It would have been good to have an SG of the honey after dilution, and the pear juice prior to adding it to the must.

I will always make my must, and measure the gravity prior to 'topping up' with water. then I top up to the appropriate gravity.

 

[YogiBearMead726]

Sorry this isn't on topic, but next time you can probably skip the boiling and Irish moss addition. Neither really does much for mead, though they are useful for making beer.

As to the SG, it seems reasonable that it's around 1.099. Before factoring in the pears (which btw doesn't work the same way when the fruit is juiced...the calculator is thinking in terms of whole fruit, not the juice), I get an SG reading of 1.108. Now, if some of this liquid is at a lower SG, as the juice should be, you're essentially diluting the must, though not as much as with pure water.

Without an SG reading, it's hard to say exactly what the pears added, but I wouldn't fret over it. You can always add more pears.