"Dan Listermann" <dan@listermann.com> wrote in message news:<vfghoid6pus430@corp.supernews.com>...[color=blue]
> "Maurice St. Aude" <bludrgn@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
> news:346571bf5cf7c9276e1940a487d8ed60@free.teranews.com...
> Might[color=green]
> > I[color=darkred]
> > > suggest that the references sighting 42 are in error and that their[/color][/color]
> failing[color=green][color=darkred]
> > > my sanity test was justified.[/color]
> >
> > Hi Dan:
> >
> > I hate to disagree with you but here in the great white north (Ontario,
> > Canada) I get 42 on most of my honeys(Acacia, Basswood, Wildflower,
> > Thyme) -checked with my refractometer and verified with my hydrometer. I
> > suspect that the varience has something to do with the diference in local
> > honey composition.[/color]
>
> 46 - 42 = 4 points
>
> 4 / 46 * 100 = 8.7 % water. I deeply doubt that any sugar with that water
> content will still be liquid. Malted barley is , what, typically 4% water?
> Carapils even more.
>
> Weigh out a pound of cane sugar and add about three tablespoons of water. I
> am not sure it will be sticky, much less flow. I doubt that honey has
> magical properties that allow it to be a liquid with very little water.
>
> Dan Listermann
>
> Check out our E-tail site at [url]www.listermann.com[/url]
>
> Free shipping for orders greater than $35
> and East of the Mighty Miss.
>
>[color=green]
> >
> > "Dan Listermann" <dan@listermann.com> wrote in message
> > news:ve1o5caq1umr80@corp.supernews.com...[color=darkred]
> > >>
> > > Checking into water content of honey, the references I found said that[/color][/color]
> honey[color=green][color=darkred]
> > > contains between 17 to 21% water. My measured number worked out to[/color][/color]
> 20.65%[color=green][color=darkred]
> > > using 46 as 100%. It is highly doubtful that differences between sugars[/color][/color]
> are[color=green][color=darkred]
> > > going to produce anything like the difference between 36.5 and 42.>[/color][/color]
> Maurice[color=green]
> >
> >[/color][/color]



Cane sugar is almost pure sucrose. (99.9%) Honey is not. For the
sugar solution to get rid of that last little bit of water the sugars
need to form crystals. Now, for that to happen the sugar molecules
have to form nice neat structures. Pure sucrose does that easily it
is like making a brick wall. I think the highest concentration of
sucrose you can get in solution is something around 73%. After that
the sucrose in solution is just way to crowded and crystals will form.

Now, if you add some other sugars into the solution suddenly you have
a much different compliment of "bricks". Really it is analogous to
building a wall out of bricks compared to building one out of river
rocks, and you do not get to use mortar.

When you consider the water content of fairly pure sugars like corn
sugar which is dry and still has about 9-10% water in it, or even malt
extract which is fairly pure maltose, you will see solids form at much
mower concentrations than with somthing as complex as honey.

Now, with that being said, most honey you will find will get you
nowhere near 42 ppg. Generally it is around 17% water, but I do
believe it is possible to make a sugar solution that will stay liquid
at high (~90% sugar)concentrations.