filter mesh size?

[megadyptes]

In the last week or so I've extracted a handful of supers and am in the process of bottling it all up. Every know and then I see small black embedded in the jarred honey.

I'm putting the extracted honey through a double strainer that supposedly has a 1.5mm and then 0.5mm mesh sizes, and as far as I can make out, the mesh hasn't broken anywhere, nor did it overflow the strainer at any point.

Does anyone else see this sort of thing, or are you all using far finer mesh on your filters?

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Pollen ??

 

[megadyptes]

Pollen ??

Yes, if I'm being optimistic... Or the eggs of some beastie that has made the crown board it home if I'm being pessimistic...

 

[Eyeman]

In the last week or so I've extracted a handful of supers and am in the process of bottling it all up. Every know and then I see small black embedded in the jarred honey.

I'm putting the extracted honey through a double strainer that supposedly has a 1.5mm and then 0.5mm mesh sizes, and as far as I can make out, the mesh hasn't broken anywhere, nor did it overflow the strainer at any point.

Does anyone else see this sort of thing, or are you all using far finer mesh on your filters?

Those jars fly off the shelves first. Also those with honey scum on the top. Know your customers.

 

[masterBK]

Visible debris will go through 0.5 mesh. No good for show honey which should not have any visible to the naked eye bits in it.

 

[Poly Hive]

https://www.skylighter.com/blogs/fireworks-information/mesh-size-and-micron-conversion-chart

400 micron is good.

PH

 

[MerryBee]

i use a 200 micron strainer, sold by Thornes

 

[drex]

The finer the strainer the longer it takes for the honey to flow through. For general sales the Thornes stainless double strainer is good enough. Yes you can get the odd black speck, which tend to float and can be picked out with a spoon. However not had one complaint yet about any " black bits".
200 micron is for show honey and takes ages for the honey to run through, even if the honey is at body heat

 

[Barbarian]

I "candle" my jarred honey by holding it up to a daylight window and looking through the jar. Black bits are removed using a straw.
Placing my thumb over one end of the straw I gently insert the other end into the honey. When the honey end is just above the bit, I raise my thumb and the bit plus a little honey is drawn into the straw. Once the bit is in the straw, I clamp my thumb back on the straw and withdraw it from the jar.

 

[Poly Hive]

400 works very well indeed with a spin drier.

Gravity is far too slow.

PH

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Do some not filter at all.??

 

[bontbee]

I....Every know and then I see small black embedded in the jarred honey.

Could it be smuts from the smoker - I used to get them when I was too heavy handed with it.

 

[Poly Hive]

If the honey has particulates in it as in partially crystalised OSR then it will clog a gravity filter pretty quickly. Especially if the honey is cool.

When it comes to filtering honey warmth is your best friend if gravity is all you have.

PH

 

[masterBK]

As a judge I have tasted honey at shows with the distinct aroma and taste of smoke suggesting that some beekeepers must have smoked their bees out of the supers to clear them. Honey is a food and beekeepers should avoid contaminating it with possibly carcinogenic substances in the smoke. I also taste thymol sometimes in show honey and I bet it hasn't come from bees working the thyme flower!