Our Honey Was Tested

Yesterday, I brought our honey to the Hobby Beekeepers' Monthly Meeting. Jim an experienced beekeeper was testing honey using a refracometer. This tool measures the water content in honey.

I had a reading of 16.4! To be called "honey" the moisture content has to be lower than 18.6. Incidentally, the honey bees know when to cap their honey at exactly 18.6! We don't know how they know but they do.

Having a lower moisture content prevents fermentation, thus spoiling.

This is a honey refractometer

The eye piece is on the left, and the honey receptacle on the right.


Then a very small amount of honey is place on the blue pad.


Then like in chemistry lab, you place the plastic top down on top of the droplet, flattening it on the viewing window.



I then look through the eyepiece with the instrument held up toward the light, focusing by twisting the dial near the eyepiece until the chart can be read. There you'll see the good or bad news. The chart indicates the moisture level which you want to be at about 18.6% or less.

This is the scale that one has to read through the eye piece!