Alden Leatherman wrote:
 
> I just extracted about 230 pounds of honey from my
> two hives on Saturday, Aug. 30.  The honey seems
> very thin and I am afraid it is of too high of a
> moisture content.  I extracted 2 supers of
> uncapped honey but kept it separate from the rest.
> The rest was at least 95 percent capped.  I live
> in south central Michigan, near Lansing.
>
> Why and how does this happen?  I thought that with
> capped honey it was safe to assume it is "ripe".
> Is there some way to control for this?  Where can
> I puchase a hydrometer for measuring moisture
> content?  Anyone else having this problem?  At the
> moment I am thinking I may need to sell to a large
> scale operation who could mix my honey with lower
> moisture honey.
 
Just a couple of thoughts:
If you are bringing in your honey and immediately extracting it,
remember that the hive temnperature is maintained at about 96F.  At
this temperature honey will be quite runny, so the thinness seen at
extracting might not necessarily be related to moisture content.
Honey that is capped as fully as yours is should easily be OK,
expecially if you keep honey from the uncapped supers separated.  By
now the honey should have cooled down to room temparature, so you can
easily evaluate these comments.
 
Actually, at the end of the main honey flow the honey in combs should
be fully ripened whatever its degree of capping.  Check on your honey
from the open cell supers and see if it is now similar to the main
harvest.
 
As far as instrumentation:  Generally a refractometer is used to get a
direct reading of % water.  These are rather expensive items,
available from bee suppliers for something over $200.  It would seem
to me that a hydrometer designed for heavy liquids should do the job
as well, but I am unaware of such a device.  Does anyone know of one?
 
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA