# weight of honey



## LT

Can someone help me with the weights of honey. I am wanting to get labels to put on jars. What is the weight of a pint jar? What is the weight of a quart jar? Your help is appreciated.


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## taipantoo

The label on the last jar of honey that i purchased says:

"Honey is sold by weight. 1 Cup = 12 oz."

I needed to research this for my mead.
The recipe calls for 10 lbs. which equals 13 1/3 cups.

Hope this helps.
Tai


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## JohnK and Sheri

A pint is 1.5#, a quart is 3#. I would suggest purchasing a scale so you know how full to make the jar to equal those weights.
Sheri


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## okb

Just curiously wondering how many people sell a 16oz. jar of honey as 1#. Also how many are calculating 40#s in a full 5 gallon bucket?

Honey is heavier than water and is sold by weight here.


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## JohnK and Sheri

Sold by weight here too. A 5 gal pail is 60#, I try not to sell too many of them. They are too heavy for me.
Sheri


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## sqkcrk

I believe that liquid honey has to be sold by weight, legally. But comb honey does not. So, get a scale and see how much honey you can get into a pint or quart jar and get labels made. But don't leave alot of air space between the honey and the lid. Your customers will like it better if they aren't buying air.


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## trapper_dave

*Pints and quart weights*

Just my 2 cents worth. I don't think that I have ever seen a mason quart hold 3# unless you fill it right to the brim. I have weighed a lot of different styles of jars. I label the jars at 2.9# and 1.4# for pints. But I would say that usually there 2.95# in a quart without overfilling it. I like to leave about 3/8 inch head space. The pints however are really actually close to 1.4#. You will figure out exactly what is in the jars when you sell to penny pinchers because they will make you! But of course their money spends just as well too.


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## trapper_dave

*One more thing*

Another interesting thing is that if you weigh your pails immediately after extracting the honey and then weigh them several months later you will notice that they have gotten heavier by a little bit. (maybe 1/4 pound)

The bee books say that this is because the honey absorbs moisture. What is the moral of the story? Use the best pails you can find with the CORRECT lids.


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## Ross

I don't find anything in Texas law that requires that honey be sold by weight.


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## Joseph Clemens

If my memory is still holding, a few years ago, I crushed and strained a little more than two five-gallon pails. One of those pails, not even filled to the brim weighed more than 90 pounds. It granulated almost immediately. Of course, my memory may be slipping.


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## blammer

Here is the easy version!

take what the jar says for volume and multiply by 1.4 to get the wt for honey.

IE a 12 oz jar times 1.4 is 16.8.

so your 12oz jar is now 16.8 oz by WT or 1 pound .8 oz of honey.


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## Origonhives

After reading this thread and some other sources, it seems that the weight of honey vs. volume varies a bit depending on several factors. A fairly common practice is to use water weight/volume as a reference. "A pints' a pound the world around". I agree that a pound of honey is very close to 12oz liquid measure. If you are extracting fully capped comb is that the maximum weight possible? often there is some un-capped cells how important is that to the total weight/volume? As "Trapper Dave" mentioned, honey absorbs water. This would make a given volume weigh less. As I have observed, honey is sold by the beekeeper by weight and to the consumer by the container. The price of the honey is abstract. Let me apologize for the amount of words in this. I visited this thread after having several glass of mead with a brewer friend who wanted to know how much honey he would need to make five gallons of mead. I told him I would try to help him and he said he would give me some of his batch.


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## gmcharlie

If you buy actual honey Jars, they are sold by the weight of HONEY in them.... not volume or water weight. IE a 1lb honey jar only holds 12 oz of water....(roughly)


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## sqkcrk

okb said:


> Just curiously wondering how many people sell a 16oz. jar of honey as 1#. Also how many are calculating 40#s in a full 5 gallon bucket?
> 
> Honey is heavier than water and is sold by weight here.


How many full 5 gallon buckets of honey can I buy from you at 40lbs? I'll pay you $80.00 per each.


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## sqkcrk

gmcharlie said:


> If you buy actual honey Jars, they are sold by the weight of HONEY in them.... not volume or water weight. IE a 1lb honey jar only holds 12 oz of water....(roughly)


Honey is heavier than water ya know.


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## odfrank

Ross said:


> I don't find anything in Texas law that requires that honey be sold by weight.


My county in California requires the net weight on the jar.


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## RudyT

My memory from reading rules last winter in Virginia is that honey weight needs to be on the jars in English (pounds and/or ounces and also in metric (grams), and that an underweight jar of honey makes you subject to Federal fines -- I think Mann Lake catalog has a helpful ounce to gram table on one of the pages with labels. 
I think even sideliners, if selling to the public, need to be sure to be the stated weight.


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## sqkcrk

odfrank said:


> My county in California requires the net weight on the jar.


That's od frank, he must not have checked w/ his Dept. of Weights and Measures?


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## jim lyon

It's been a few years since I filled pints (or quarts) but seems like its pretty tight getting a pound and a half into a pint jar. Typically a pound of honey has a volume of around 11 1/2 fl. ozs. Of course the variables are honey moisture and temperature.


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## sqkcrk

jim lyon said:


> It's been a few years since I filled pints (or quarts) but seems like its pretty tight getting a pound and a half into a pint jar. Typically a pound of honey has a volume of around 11 1/2 fl. ozs. Of course the variables are honey moisture and temperature.


Specifically why honey is sold by the pound and not the volume measure.


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## jim lyon

Agreed but specifically to what the OP asked, if I had to guess at a weight for a label on a pint jar, it would probably have to be 23ozs. I just don't think it's feasible to get 24 ozs. Into a standard pint jar. Probably be best for LT to experiment with his specific jars and honey.


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## beeman2009

We fill ours to a reasonable level. We get 21 oz in pints & 43 oz in quarts. As has been stated, weights will vary slightly. Weigh yours and see what you get.


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## rtoney

When I first weighed mine out it was 10 for 1/2pint 22 for pint and 44 for qt so I have just stayed there. They may get a little from time to time but I am satisfied with that.


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## Eaglerock

The thing about honey is that it is not uniform. There are many different types of honey and they all weigh different amounts per volume so the only real way to sell it is by volume.... and the only real way to know how much honey to add to a mead recipe is to actually weigh out the honey! Yup, grab a scale and weigh out exactly what you need. That said, I have never made mead. 16 oz of honey aka one pound jar... is volume not weight.

If you take a measuring cup and put 8 oz of flour, in one 8 oz of sugar in another and 8 oz of honey in another... all will weight differently... volume, not weight.


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## jim lyon

Eaglerock said:


> The thing about honey is that it is not uniform. There are many different types of honey and they all weigh different amounts per volume so the only real way to sell it is by volume.... and the only real way to know how much honey to add to a mead recipe is to actually weigh out the honey! Yup, grab a scale and weigh out exactly what you need. That said, I have never made mead. 16 oz of honey aka one pound jar... is volume not weight.
> 
> If you take a measuring cup and put 8 oz of flour, in one 8 oz of sugar in another and 8 oz of honey in another... all will weight differently... volume, not weight.


I think you are confusing fluid ounces which is a measure of volume with ounces which is a measure of weight. 16 ounces of anything=1 pound.


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## Eaglerock

jim lyon said:


> I think you are confusing fluid ounces which is a measure of volume with ounces which is a measure of weight. 16 ounces of anything=1 pound.


No I was stating that there is a difference... when I sell a 5 gallon pail the weight may differ.... Raw honey they bought 2 months ago weighed more and that was their complaint as the one they bought last week weighed less. The one they bought 2 months ago was raw and they had to heat it to bottle it. They kept coming in and asking me what they could do. This time I heated it for them and now they are upset. I can't help them... it is what it is. They are a block away and are using my honey to compete with me in there store/restaurant.. lol


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## Eaglerock

jim lyon said:


> I think you are confusing fluid ounces which is a measure of volume with ounces which is a measure of weight. 16 ounces of anything=1 pound.


Also... a pound of feathers and a pound of gold is both a pound, but the volume we know is way different. 

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."- Andy Rooney I love your quote!


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## Joe Mel

It is not too much wait. You can easily know this by google.


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## Eaglerock

Joe Mel said:


> It is not too much wait. You can easily know this by google.


Wait for?


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## Rader Sidetrack

I'm pretty sure that Joe meant "weight".


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## minz

As mentioned I cannot seem to get 3 lbs of honey into a quart mason jar but I can get 6 lbs into a half gallon mason jar. Maybe it is head space? Jar brands?


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