Drying honey on a string

[paus]

I read several years ago that Jim dripped honey from a bucket to dry it.  I got to thinking if the honey drips slower it dries much faster.  I am dripping honey from a bucket with strings in the holes in the bottom of the bucket, it takes a few seconds to reach the end of a 6' string.  So far, I am happy as this seems to be working.  Stay tuned for the results.

[BeeMaster2]

Paus,
Sounds like a good idea. The string will help control honey from blowing out of the collecting bucket especially with a six foot drop. I have had a lot of drip movement with just 18 inches of drop.
Jim Altmiller

[JurassicApiary]

Keep in mind that this is not a one size fits all solution.  A drying room with a dehumidifier will greatly speed this up, however, if trying to dry it using ambient air (even with a traditional fan for circulation) in very humid localities (such as where I live in Hawaii) it will actually absorb moisture from the air due to high humidity (even indoors... my Relative Humidity (RH) is at 76% as I write this) instead of evaporating off moisture, thereby increasing the moisture content instead of reducing it.  If I recall, ~60% RH is the general swing point.  Below ~60% RH and most honeys will act hydrophilic and evaporate moisture.  Above ~60% RH and it will behave hygroscopic and absorb moisture from the air, setting it up for spoilage.

Wishing you a speedy drying of your honey, paus.

[The15thMember]

Good info, Jurassic.  In my climate, during the summer at least, this would definitely make my honey runnier.    But it sounds like a simple solution for increasing surface area if you can dry honey in your ambient climate.

[paus]

All correct thoughts.  I am drying in my Greenhouse/ sunroom the temp is in the high 90s during the day.  My concern is that some of the honey is very thick, so maybe its to dry

[JurassicApiary]

All correct thoughts.  I am drying in my Greenhouse/ sunroom the temp is in the high 90s during the day.  My concern is that some of the honey is very thick, so maybe its to dry

Well I've never seen that end of the spectrum (too dry) at my location, ha.  If you're concerned it's turning out too dry, perhaps don't run the last part of it through the drying process, batch it all back together and the two mixtures will balance out to a happy medium.    Do you have a refractometer to determine its actual moisture content? 

[paus]

I used my refractometer and some of the dried showed as low as 16 mostly was 17 and 18.  The drying process can be controlled by the length of the string and the uncontrol able variables such as humidity , temp and air currents.  I just got through  hand squeezing several frames that would blowup in the extractor.  There will be more as I get into more boxes that were in the freezer.  Hard work but very rewarding.  Has any one used a Baume' ,scale specific gravity hydrometer to test honey and is this an accurate indicator of moister in honey.

[Ben Framed]

Has any one used a Baume' ,scale specific gravity hydrometer to test honey and is this an accurate indicator of moister in honey.

I haven't Paus.

Phillip

[JurassicApiary]

Has any one used a Baume' ,scale specific gravity hydrometer to test honey and is this an accurate indicator of moister in honey.

I have not.  This short writeup gives a really clear explanations as to why honey refractometers are best for measuring moisture in honey vs other types (although it doesn't specifically compare it to a hydrometer):

https://virginiabeekeepers.org/resources/Documents/BRIX%20(1).pdf