Measuring honey....
- Thread starter Boogaloo
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Also, I use the buckets below for my emergency food supply. You spin the lid on top and it locks in. You have to squeeze the red tab and turn in order to unlock. After i loaded these things up with food I threw in some oxygen depleting tablets and the vacuum inside the buckets caused the sides to suck in. So the seal is good on the lid. Maybe a good alternative to the standard buckets and lids. (Except the cost.)
http://preparetoday.com/store/index.php/shop-by-category/storage/super-pail/superpail-5-0-g.html
http://preparetoday.com/store/index.php/shop-by-category/storage/super-pail/superpail-5-0-g.html
your five gallon bucket holds roughly sixty pounds of honey. Low moisture honey such as mine has four to six pounds more. It is a mess and I recommend you get it over with at once and break it down into known quantities. Then make a batch in the five gallon bucket to salvage the honey on the bucket. a gallon 12 pounds a quart 3 pounds. An empty distilled water jug works admirably for the gallon. If it solidifies set it capped standing in the dishwasher and a couple cycles will reliquify if needed. Since you should have no money in the container, you can cut and peel it off and add the appropriate amount of water which will melt the honey with a judicious application of a little heat or patient mashing. I heard someone working for the effect of having a layer of honey on the bottom of the brew bucket. Why not a lump standing in the middle? Just thoughts on honey. I know absolutely nothing of value on fermenting--yet
... I haven't found a good source for lidded 3-gal buckets I'd trust since my bulk food store's supplier started using crappy lids on buckets which are a slightly different diameter from all my good lids. And hey, 3-gal buckets come free with the $93 of honey.and most of my older 3-gal buckets have started to get scratched and stuff, one of them has already been designated "vinegar bucket" and two more are going to be on fruit collection detail only, from now on...
Our independent donut shops sell 3 to 4 gallon buckets with lids for a buck fifty each. These previously contained fillings and are food grade. Sometimes it takes a while for the blueberry smell to come off.
Check it out if you have non chain donut shops there.Costco bakery department also has them, I got one for free a few years ago, but haven't tried since.
My method is simple. In an aproximation 1 gallon is about 12 pounds. I have a 1 gal plastic container meant for juice or something. I then sanitize this and a ladle. I just ladle it out until the gal container is full then dump in my brew pot. I do heat up the water some in the process but not boiling. While I am mixing it in I also put the warm water in the remainer of the plastic pouring container and swish it around, repeat until I have cleared the contianer. Yes there is a bit of heat, not much, and I may leave a little tiny bit behind.
How do I not spill? Well, I tilt the lip of the container over my honey bucket, I use 42 pound buckets. And then wipe the little residue off the lid. Now this does mean that I need to go through the 42 pound bucket as in 6 months it does crystalize leaving me to plan the next batch with warm water and stratigically mixing in water to thin it out enough to get out of the honey bucket but, I usually have 2-3 batches to go in a week or two so it's no big deal.
I suppose I could invest in more high tech but why? 1 gal per 4 gal of water is a fine ratio for sweet mead. I do sometimes backsweeten later. But then 1/2 of the gal container is 6 pounds. So it's all good.
The best option is not to overthink it and enjoy the process. I find ladling out the honey brings all sorts of great smells and excitement knowing that soon it will be fermenting.
Matrix
How do I not spill? Well, I tilt the lip of the container over my honey bucket, I use 42 pound buckets. And then wipe the little residue off the lid. Now this does mean that I need to go through the 42 pound bucket as in 6 months it does crystalize leaving me to plan the next batch with warm water and stratigically mixing in water to thin it out enough to get out of the honey bucket but, I usually have 2-3 batches to go in a week or two so it's no big deal.
I suppose I could invest in more high tech but why? 1 gal per 4 gal of water is a fine ratio for sweet mead. I do sometimes backsweeten later. But then 1/2 of the gal container is 6 pounds. So it's all good.
The best option is not to overthink it and enjoy the process. I find ladling out the honey brings all sorts of great smells and excitement knowing that soon it will be fermenting.
Matrix
I do pretty much the same thing. I purchased 4 different honey size containers from my local bee keeper (1 lbs, 3 lbs, 6 lbs, 12 lbs [gallon]). After using the honey to make several batches I cleaned out the containers and now reuse them to measure out honey from larger containers.
Now I only purchase 1 gallon and 5 gallon containers and pour them off into the smaller ones for measurements. It's like a giant sized measuring set.
I always aim tor an SG as well, however weighing or measuring first gets you close and I fine tune from there
