How to decrystallize

[Lone]

Hello,

We've had a cold winter and 1/2 a bucket of honey which was on the verandah has become solid.  The other couple of buckets are not so bad but a bit thick too.  I have a glass cage I should have kept it in at the start of winter, but only put it in today, out in the sun.  Do you think this will turn it back to an edible (I like runny honey) liquid state, or is there some other way?  I tried first sitting the bucket in a bin of hot water, but this did not help. How do cold winter folk store honey?  Should I put the builders to work making a thermostatically controlled honey shed for next winter? 
Our houses are not insulated here, and we are not experts on heating houses.  A lot of times it has been colder inside than out.

By the way, the glass box was given to me when I bought my first bee gear, and he said I would find out how much I'd need it in winter.  Now I know why.

Lone

[bernsad]

Should I put the builders to work making a thermostatically controlled honey shed for next winter?

Yes, great idea! You should however have them build you a prototype in a cooler climate to ensure it works. I have a little space in the backyard here in Melbourne that should be adequate to test your design, Lone.  :-D

By the way, the glass box was given to me when I bought my first bee gear, and he said I would find out how much I'd need it in winter.  Now I know why.

That was a lucky gift; wish I had one. You can make a honey heater if you need to. It's based on a large, insulated box with light bulb in it to generate heat. Some of them have a thermostat in them to regulate the temp. a bit. I think if you look in the equipment section of this forum you will find discussions and perhaps plans to make one. I've been thinking about it but I haven't had the need just yet.

[Kathyp]

i keep my extra in 5 gallon buckets.  they get solid too. when i need to soften it, i just stick the whole bucket in a sink of hot water or even the bath tub.  it takes a couple of water changes sometimes, but when it's where i can poor or scoop, i take what i need out and warm the smaller container in hot water.  since i don't want to cook the honey, i heat water, take it off the heat, put the container in and let it sit.

i don't know how much honey you are storing, but an old refrigerator with a light bulb or something like that will keep jars of honey at a pretty good temp.

i don't mind if mine crystallizes, but i don't like it when it's a rock!

[danno]

If your only talking about a few buckets use a old frig or chest freezer.   I used to use a freezer with a digital thermastat set to come on at 85 and shut off at 90 and a heater.  Some use a couple of light bulbs.  A friend used to use a coil of 1/2 soft copper  and run hot water through it while it rest on top of the honey.  It would just melt its way to the bottom.   It wont liquify the bucket but will make it easier to get it in smaller container that are easier to handle.   These can be made or bought from beer making supply houses.  They are called wort chillers.   Here is a example
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/compact-8-copper-immersion-wort-chiller.html
these companies also sell the digital thermistats
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/johnson-digital-temperature-controller.html

[D Coates]

Danno is dead on.  Use an old chest freezer and you don't have to worry about decrystalizing again.  I kick the heat up to 105 F to get buckets back to a liquid state.  The bottom 15% will normally stay gritty but as soon as I transfer it to the bottling bucket it mixes it all up and the crystals are gone within a day.  You can keep your bottles in there too though I take them out when I'm kicking the heat up to liquidate a bucket.  I use 3 light bulbs and normally keep the warmer around 95 degrees F.

[Nico]

D Coats,
What is the wattage of your light bulbs? I had a 60 watt 240v system I used on  my home brew.It has an air cond thermostat set at 27/29 degree C. Would this be adequate?
Nico

[AllenF]

I like to set mine in the attic for a day or two when the sun is shinning. 

[Lone]

Yes, great idea! You should however have them build you a prototype in a cooler climate to ensure it works. I have a little space in the backyard here in Melbourne that should be adequate to test your design, Lone.

Berny, Nico is one of my builders and I pay him very well in mandarines.  You might be able to con him.  I spoke to my mother in Melbourne yesterday and it sounds like our nights have been colder than there but the days a bit warmer.  Some years the minimum temp all winter here is 16 C.

Kathy and Danno, I have 5 gallon buckets too and I guess I'll have to scoop it out into smaller containers to get it back to liquid.  Or find an old chest freezer. Prevention is definitely better than cure, although when la nina goes away I guess the winters won't be as cold as this one.

Nico, if I take the homebrew out will there be room for any of our honey?  Are you coming to the bee meeting on sunday?  It's the AGM so we will have to have a rep there.

Lone

[D Coates]

D Coats,
What is the wattage of your light bulbs? I had a 60 watt 240v system I used on  my home brew.It has an air cond thermostat set at 27/29 degree C. Would this be adequate?
Nico

I use 75 watt as they are what I have on hand and in bulk but I've used 60's too.  If what you've got is like the digital thermostat that Danno has the link to it should work fine.  Mine involved a bit of electrical work that took a little time to figure out but it's pretty much the same thing.  This is the one I got http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/RANCO-Electronic-Temperature-Control-3ZP77?Pid=search.

[hardwood]

Put it in the trunk of your car for a few warm days.

Scott

[Nico]

The thermostat I have is pressure operated (sensing coil on bottom).Lone I have not made home brew for years,I need a small freezer to use for the cabinet.I have not seen any mandarins(I dont meen chinese type,fruit type )
I am going north with family this week-end,I may not make meeting ,I have put in an apology if I am not there.
I changed over the hive stand yesterday,the uncapped honey in top super appeared crystallised in some areas,possibly from the cold weather.Not too many hive beetles five on one frame and only two in one trap.
Regards
Nico

[danno]

The nice thing about the temp. controller that I posted the link to is it can be used to heat or cool all in the programing.  I use it to keep honey from crystalizing.  I reprogram in and heat our green house in spring.  I reprogram it to cool and lager beer in a small chest freezer.  It can also be programed to turn a freezer into a frig for the times that I get to crazy brewing

[Lone]

Well, apparently someone threw an old chest freezer in the gully the other day, and there is also one in front of the tractor, so between us we might get prepared for next winter, Nico.  We did get some reptile heaters for the chicken box when they stopped selling incandescent globes, if I can find where we put them.

Nico, you know you have to help yourself here.  The mandarine trees are out the back, but we all raid them when we feed the chooks so you have to hurry.  I guess we'll have to see if the honey in the frames liquifies too before we extract, or else we can swap those ones down into the brood box or something.

From now though the weather will be hot enough to cut granite with a butter knife, so we won't have to worry about special honey storage for a while yet.  Thanks everyone for advice and ideas..and please keep it coming.

Lone

[cinch123]

I discovered an easy trick for decrystallizing honey. Put it in your oven with just the oven light on for about a day. The oven gets up to about 100 degrees but not more.

[danno]

The chest freezer I used was big and held 12- 5 gallon buckets.   I used a small electric heater with the Johnson digital controller.  The heaters needs to be modified to do this.   The internal thermistat needs to be by-passed.  To do this just open it up, cut the 2 wires that go in and out of the heat adjustment knob and wire them together.  This will make the unit run continually.  My honey house is unheated so in winter stays about 20 F.   Once the 12 buckets got up to 90 degs the heater only ran 45 seconds per hour.

[Lone]

The internal thermistat needs to be by-passed.  To do this just open it up, cut the 2 wires that go in and out of the heat adjustment knob and wire them together.

Am I glad my thermostatically controlled honey house builder Nico is a refridgerator electrician.

Lone   :th_thumbsupup:

[Lone]

Cinch, I am guessing the honey would be bottled in glass jars?

Lone

[D Coates]

I discovered an easy trick for decrystallizing honey. Put it in your oven with just the oven light on for about a day. The oven gets up to about 100 degrees but not more.

It works but be VERY careful!  My wife didn't know I had done that.  She turned on the oven to 350 and burned 5 pounds for honey.  For those of you who haven't cleaned a mess like that up, it's stinky, sticky and overall awful and it cost me $500 for a new burner.  I quickly made my chest freezer honey warmer after that screw up.

[bernsad]

The internal thermistat needs to be by-passed.  To do this just open it up, cut the 2 wires that go in and out of the heat adjustment knob and wire them together.

Am I glad my thermostatically controlled honey house builder Nico is a refridgerator electrician.

Lone   :th_thumbsupup:

No fair, that's cheating! The rest of us just have to wing it. :-D