bottling honey

[pembroke]

How do you bottle your honey? I use a 5 gal. bucket with a gate valve and sometimes it leaks on the bottle as I'm trying to be careful not opening the gate very wide. what experiences have you had and how to correct? all suggestions are appreciated. Pembroke

[sarafina]

I bottle my honey with a 5 gal plastic bucket with a honey gate.

I set the bucket on the edge of my sink with the bucket about a third of the way over the sink.  I open the honey gate, fill the bottles, close the honey gate and when it quits dripping cap the bottle.  I don't have any drips on my bottles (well, rarely and then wipe them up).

What issues are you having?

[pembroke]

 Yes I use the 5 gal bucket with gate also and after filling the bottle with honey,shut the gate and it drips from the sides of gate onto bottle. Yes I wipe the bottles off  but, looking for a fool proof of NO DRIPS on bottle. Pembroke

[Kathyp]

there is nothing foolproof.

try closing the gate gradually as the bottle fills so that you are not cutting of one big glop.  also, warmer honey pours more easily.  drips happen.

[beee farmer]

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=990&idCategory=17

Drip free bottling... for a price if wiping a jar really bothers you enough.

[VolunteerK9]

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=990&idCategory=17

Drip free bottling... for a price if wiping a jar really bothers you enough.

I think I could stand to wipe a few drips versus paying 129.95.

[sarafina]

Yes I use the 5 gal bucket with gate also and after filling the bottle with honey,shut the gate and it drips from the sides of gate onto bottle. Yes I wipe the bottles off  but, looking for a fool proof of NO DRIPS on bottle. Pembroke

I do the same thing as kathy - start closing the gate as the honey gets to the top of the bottle to slow down the flow.  Then I turn the plastic screw a few times with the bottle still under it and that stops the flow altogether so you don't get drips on the outside of the bottle.  I usually only have a couple of bottles I have to clean up drips on and only because I got careless.

[pembroke]

thanks to all. I believe that I can wipe a few jars compared to what ML has to offer. Pembroke

[AllenF]

Keep a line of clean jars ready, when one is full, slide the second in the flow with no mess on the sides.

[Davepeg]

I have never did anything with honey that did not result in at least a few drops of the sticky stuff getting EVERYWHERE!  Part of the beekeeping process.

[sean]

i used to have the same problem with honey running down the sides of the bottle, however with experience that rarely happens. Start closing off the valve before the bottle is filled. When it is fully closed there is a little pause before it starts to drip, by then i have an empty bottle under it and the valve is being reopened. i can do a bucket of honey(24 750ml bottles) in under ten minutes like that

[Kathyp]

sean!!  where have you been?   :)

[Geoff]

Most of those drips and spills are " Finger Lickin Good".

[sean]

sean!!  where have you been?   :)

Been quite busy but i am back now. How have you been keeping?