[physicsdudereturns]

Everywhere I see the estimate of 12 lbs per gallon of honey. Those trying to be more precise say 11.7 lbs per gallon. My experience seems to have been a bit less than 11.7 per gallon; may be closer to 11.5 or under.

We also fill 12 oz bottles with honey and sell it as a pound of honey. A bit of quick math: if 12 oz honey == 1 lb of honey, then 1 gallon == 128 fluid oz honey == 10 2/3 lb per gallon.

Am I missing something? Are we shorting our customers when we fill a 12 oz bottle and tell them it's a pound of honey?

Of course I can always weigh this out myself, and will when my back-ordered 12 oz bottles arrive so I can tare them and weigh them again when they are full. But I think it is important to point out that by standard rules of thumb we may be cheating our customers just a little bit if we fill 12 fluid ounce bottles without weighing a few to be sure of what they weigh.

 

[little_john]

Everywhere I see the estimate of ...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'everywhere' - but do bear in mind that when working with gallons, pounds and ounces, that there are dual systems in place: Imperial & US with fluid measure, Avdp & Troy with weight - and that these are NOT equivalent. Perhaps there's a case for working in Metric to prevent any confusion ?
LJ

 

[rwlaw]

Anytime I’ve looked at the honey bears label it just states 12oz, not weight. So I always took it as the industry geared them as a volume gig.

 

[DanielD]

You need to forget about volume and just weigh what you are selling to have the proper labeling. When a jar made specifically for honey has a given oz. specification it means the weight of honey it will hold. That said, I took a 16 oz honey jar and it holds 11 fluid oz. of water filled to the level of an actual 16 oz of honey.

 

[Western]

We use a 16oz glass bottle, filled just to the base of the cap gives us 1lb of honey weighed. Tare of the jar with lid is .51# This average has held true for the last two years with light or dark honey, so our 16oz filled jars weigh 1.51ish.

 

[crofter]

A 12 fluid oz. container will hold a bit over 16 oz. by weight of honey. Honey is approx 1.4 times heavier than water. Honey is sold by weight not by fluid ounces.

 

[JTGaraas]

Honey weighs more than water. Water is the standard for determining the capacity of bottles/jars/containers. So a “12oz” bottle should actually read “12 fluid ounces” - the volume for that quantity of water.

If a “honey bears label . just states 12oz”, it is stating weight, not volume.

Unless your state requires sale of honey by weight, you can sell it any way you want, but be accurate on your label. I am confident you will not be successfully sued by any honey buyer paying for a “12oz” bottle that actually contains slightly more than 16 ounces of honey.

 

[Fusion_power]

Density of honey determines weight per unit volume. I've had honey that was a few ounces over 12 pounds to a gallon in a very dry year with @15% moiisture. Most honey marketed today has 17% to 19% moisture and will go a tad less than 12 pounds to a gallon. I sell by the quart which I fill to hold exactly 3 pounds of honey. I also sell squeeze bears that hold 1 pound of honey each.

 

[odfrank]

Mann Lake honey container boxes are sold marked with honey weight.
Commercial jars are sold marked with water weight.
A slight difference in the level containers are filled to can make a surprisingly big difference in their weight.
I have weighed the containers I sell empty and full, and sell a pint as 1.4 pounds and a quart as 2.8 pounds.
Twelve ounce hex jars weighed out as 7.2 ounce empty, 20.78 full, 13.5 ounce product weight full. I must be filling them to full. On a small scale it doesn't matter much but could cost a big packer a lot over time.
I sell about 30 five gallon buckets to about half dozen or more buyers a year telling them they are 60 pounds of honey. Most just load them up but two want them weighed.

 

[jnqpblk]

Ya definitely want what you say on the label to be "at least" the volume in the container.
Someone can rightfully hold you accountable if the contents is less than stated. You'll not likely have anyone complain about extra volume.
Honey weighs right at +-1 1/2 times the weight of water.
So a 12 oz (water) container would hold right at +-18 oz of honey. Calling it a pound would be OK.
But if you are going to be selling honey, it would be a wise investment to buy a simple yet accurate gram or oz scale that allows you to come up with an accurate weight, even though the container need not be filled to the tip-top.

And yes, when you are factoring the "16 oz honey" in the 12 oz container, you are missing those extra 2 ounces every time to get the 10+ pounds per gallon.

Honey containers are sold by honey weight, likely because someone figured out the extreme length required to explain the difference between water weight and honey weight and do so on the label. Just put honey weight, hey that works just fine!