capped supers - how long can you keep before uncapping?

[Buzzo]

Hi,
ive a few capped supers - how long can you keep before uncapping?

Thanks


B.

 

[Ely]

It depends on the type of honey contained. Some honeys crystalise extremely fast, mainly Spring honeys like Dandilion and rape. You would want to extract straight away if taken off the hive. Summer honey you can get away with a longer. Wouldn't they be last years supers? I'd imagine they have crystalised.

 

[drex]

How long is a piece of string?



Depends on type of honey in them. It will crystallise at different rates, and if set you will not be able to extract. If still liquid may need warming to spin it out. If kept cool and dry, possibly no time limit. Because of the problems I extract all of mine as soon as it comes off, and store in honey buckets from which is easier to process. You may end up feeding it back to your bees

 

[Buzzo]

thanks- should have added , supers removed late September.

 

[Ely]

I doubt you can extract in that case. It doesn't stop you from scraping the honey off onto some hot toast though if you don't mind chewing the wax. Other than that, save it for feeding the bees when they need it.

 

[drex]

If supers came off late September, did you do an autumn varroa treatment, if sso with what? I see you are down south so might be OK to leave any treatment so late

 

[ericbeaumont]

how long can you keep before uncapping?

I extracted a few stragglers last week; combs came out clean. Extracted others late last year and 5% was left as crystallised. Depends on nectar source, as said.

Try this method if you want to clear them in spring.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Same here I’ve extracted super frames this last week some ivy mixed which were crystallised around the edges and summer honey in the middle runny and well capped .
Also had to melt some out of the cells at 45c in a water bath .

 

[enrico]

Just uncap them and put them in a super above a crown board with a hole in in spring. One at a time is best because they clear one frame at a time completely rather than bits of all the frames! They will take the honey back down into the hive. To do that they seem to redigest it and it becomes runny again to take off with the spring crop.

 

[Sutty]

Would it be feasible to put granulated frames in a warming cabinet at 40C to liquify it and enable extraction?
I've never done it but can't see why it wouldn't work!

 

[drex]

Doubt whether 40 would be high enough if really set solid. It would reduce the viscosity of honey that is liquid though. Keep the time as short as possible. I
would just feed it back

 

[Sutty]

My 12kg buckets liquefy when held at 39-41C for 48hrs

 

[ericbeaumont]

uncap them and put them in a super above a crown board with a hole in in spring

Make sure there's no flow, or bees will refill, crownboard or not.

Roger Patterson's method (link above) of putting the box under works because bees don't like it below, whether a flow is off or on.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Would it be feasible to put granulated frames in a warming cabinet at 40C to liquify it and enable extraction?
I've never done it but can't see why it wouldn't work!

40c isn’t warm enough you could leave the frames in the cabinet @ 40c over night then increase temp to 45c for a few hours .
Ivy is a pain to extract even at 45c ( I know we aren’t talking of ivy specifically)

 

[ericbeaumont]

how long can you keep before uncapping?

Forgot to mention: storage conditions will determine the moisture % and I recommend you check combs randomly with a refractometer. Although 20% is the point at which honey will ferment and by law must be labelled Bakers', I have found that anything above 19% will eventually go, and save the worry by blending with, say, a 15.

A de-humidifier works wonders while boxes are in storage. Start the stack on a couple of blocks of timber and set each box at 45 to the next to allow the air to circulate. Make sure rodents cannot access the room.

 

[Antipodes]

Forgot to mention: storage conditions will determine the moisture % and I recommend you check combs randomly with a refractometer. Although 20% is the point at which honey will ferment and by law must be labelled Bakers', I have found that anything above 19% will eventually go, and save the worry by blending with, say, a 15.

A de-humidifier works wonders while boxes are in storage. Start the stack on a couple of blocks of timber and set each box at 45 to the next to allow the air to circulate. Make sure rodents cannot access the room.

Even when capped, as these are?

 

[ericbeaumont]

Even when capped, as these are?

Yes.

 

[pete_allotments]

I’m coming back to an earlier thread.

I’ve read this thread, and understand roger’s method for cleaning wet supers.
As a 2nd year keeper, I have a small number of wet supers stored over-winter.

When should I put the wet supers under the brood? Is it too early at the moment?
Should I also put a super above the QE, so the bees have space to store the recovered honey? Should I put newspaper below the empty super, so the bees can go into the space when required?

Thanks for any advice with this issue.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

Haven’t finished last years yet, seventy blossam & eleven Heather still to sort out. They are stored in the extracting room which is around 25c constant.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I’m coming back to an earlier thread.

I’ve read this thread, and understand roger’s method for cleaning wet supers.
As a 2nd year keeper, I have a small number of wet supers stored over-winter.

When should I put the wet supers under the brood? Is it too early at the moment?
Should I also put a super above the QE, so the bees have space to store the recovered honey? Should I put newspaper below the empty super, so the bees can go into the space when required?

Thanks for any advice with this issue.

When you say wet supers, I take it you mean supers that have been extracted and stored wet?
no need to nadir them - just put one on top of the QX when the flow starts and they need more space