Filtering Honey

[andy-glide]

Tried to filter my main main season crop but it will not go through the Th~~~s nylon filter.

Have pre-warmed the honey to 48C, should I have set the temperature higher?

Do need to filter the honey as currently it has a dull grey appearance.

 

[Queens59]

Photo link not working...

 

[Mike a]

If you help it through using a spatula initially it may help, if it has sizeable bits in it then put it through a kitchen strainer first but I wouldn't recommend heating any more or any higher temperature wise.

HMF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxymethylfurfural

 

[Finman]

-
In that temperature honey start to get melted wax taste.

Sieve stuff throught tights. Look first that texture is dense.
Then put greaseproof paper on the surface of honey. Air foam and tiny partickles stick onto paper. Then lift paper off.

 

[Chris58]

I use a piece of muslin in a metal sieve - works a treat. Never heated it though!

 

[Arfermo]

You have heated it more than enough. Any more and you will render it unsaleable and it will then only be suitable for baking in cakes and whatnot and it will be unlikely to regranulate - which is the best indicator of good quality honey.

Extract through S/S double strainer (or nylon if preferred for economy). I then strain through the finest nylon net curtain material I have been able to find in a local haberdasher into a bucket with a valve on it for bottling. After settling for a couple of days and slight warming if necessary to make it good and runny, clear and clean - perfect result.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Tried to filter my main main season crop but it will not go through the Th~~~s nylon filter.

If you're trying to make the honey go through one of their '200 micron rated straining cloths' (which will filter out pollen) before first putting it through a double strainer it's likely to get clogged very quickly. But I can't imagine that's what you're doing.

Have you tried running anything else through your strainer to see what happens? There could be a fault in the mesh.

If you've already strained your honey and are trying to pass it through the finer filter, it'll work better if the filter is suspended somehow (tied/fastened across the top of a bucket?) so gravity will help the honey through. If the filter cloth is resting in a sieve the honey is likely to sit there for ages.

 

[Finman]

.
If honey has much crystals, no fine sieve will work.

.

 

[Cazza]

I bought a vacuum pump gadget which I have been using for the past 2 years.
As I need to free up my kitchen asap and cannot leave things to drain for long, this is perfect for me and very quick.
Cazza

 

[Tom Bick]

Tried to filter my main main season crop but it will not go through the Th~~~s nylon filter.

Have pre-warmed the honey to 48C, should I have set the temperature higher?

Do need to filter the honey as currently it has a dull grey appearance.

I only ever coarse filter my honey so dont know if the cloth you are trying is fine. But if so I would think that its a case of putting the honey through a number of filters to eventually get down to a fine filter so as to stop it blocking easily with larger particles.

 

[andy-glide]

Not at all sure how to rectify the problem.

Honey was pass though a double sive when extracted but now looks as per the attached photo.

Could I treat it as per creamed honey perhapse and add some seed to control the crystal growth?

As it stands product is not fit to sell to open to suggestions.

Ignore the air-bubles in the jar only put it in there so I could show others the problem.

 

[oliver90owner]

Just to avoid a couple of misapprehensions . A 200 micron mesh will not filter out much pollen -the vast majority of pollen grains are sub this size. However, big T do supply other mesh sizes. 75 microns is often used to remove most pollen (for showing, mainly). Not sure what processors use to remove everything (to prevent granulation in the jar, of unpasteurized honey) but it is likely somewhat finer than75 microns.

This honey appears to be partially granulated and I wonder how long it was maintained at 48 C and whether it was stirred while at that temperature. Honey takes some time fot the whole bucket to become fully liquefied and any remaining crystals would immediately blind off the filter mesh.

RAB

 

[itma]

Tried to filter my main main season crop but it will not go through the Th~~~s nylon filter.

Have pre-warmed the honey to 48C, should I have set the temperature higher?

Do need to filter the honey as currently it has a dull grey appearance.

The photo does look as though it has started to granulate.
It doesn't sound like you held it at temperature to redissolve crystals, rather that you just tried to 'loosen' it a bit.
Granulating honey won't go through a fine filter. Because the crystals clog the filter!

My suggestion is that you take a sample - exactly like your your jar - loosen the cap and put it in a pan of water up to its neck. Then put it in a really low oven for an hour or so (stir it a couple of times) and then hopefully it will clear.
And you will then know that you have a fast-granulating (perhaps clover-rich or maybe part OSR) honey, needing appropriate treatment before jarring.

 

[Hombre]

If you bring it back to it's liquid state, be sure to do the job properly. If you subsequently find that there is a lot of honey that stays in the filter cloth, then it's high moisture content honey that has gone through and the remainder is still not liquified.

Carefully put the filter cloth and the crystals in a plastic or glass bowl in the microwave and give it a bit of a blitz. When it has all passed through the cloth, then your honey filtering is complete and premature fermentation is less likely to be a problem.

 

[tresallier]

At what mesh size would 'strained' honey become 'filtered' honey?