DorsetB
House Bee
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2009
- Messages
- 276
- Reaction score
- 3
- Location
- Dorset/Hants
- Hive Type
- Dadant
- Number of Hives
- 10 + assorted nucs
Buy an aquarium heater, one where there is a temp. controller on the top. you want a 250W-ish one.
Set to lowest setting. Increase as required once you get the hang of how quickly/slowly it works.
Get a piece of white pvc pipe (the drain stuff, 1 1/4 or 1 1/2", not used obviously) and a stop end to suit, cut pipe so it is slightly longer than the heater.
Fill closed pipe with water, put heater in it, check it all works - at no point must the heater not be immersed in water, as it will crack the glass.
You obviously now need to make the appropriate hole in the honey - last time I did this, I actually ended up using an auger on a brace and bit - think hole slightly bigger than pipe, drilled slowly.
Insert pipe into honey, will end up being about 18" long, fill pipe with water, turn on, and cover.
It is a slow process, then again you won't overheat the honey. *Check the water level* constantly and don't fire things up just before bedtime, do it first thing in the am, so you can see how much water evaporates.
I can't remember how many days it took me, but it did work, and there also comes a point where you can start breaking the honey up or scooping it out from the top, then again, I "only" had some 60kgs to deal with.
Set to lowest setting. Increase as required once you get the hang of how quickly/slowly it works.
Get a piece of white pvc pipe (the drain stuff, 1 1/4 or 1 1/2", not used obviously) and a stop end to suit, cut pipe so it is slightly longer than the heater.
Fill closed pipe with water, put heater in it, check it all works - at no point must the heater not be immersed in water, as it will crack the glass.
You obviously now need to make the appropriate hole in the honey - last time I did this, I actually ended up using an auger on a brace and bit - think hole slightly bigger than pipe, drilled slowly.
Insert pipe into honey, will end up being about 18" long, fill pipe with water, turn on, and cover.
It is a slow process, then again you won't overheat the honey. *Check the water level* constantly and don't fire things up just before bedtime, do it first thing in the am, so you can see how much water evaporates.
I can't remember how many days it took me, but it did work, and there also comes a point where you can start breaking the honey up or scooping it out from the top, then again, I "only" had some 60kgs to deal with.
