Flow Hive - more info

[Tom Bick]

It's clear some honey is running down the face of the comb. Conveniently the frame is sitting on a slightly bent board of some description creating a channel and it's possible to see the drips from this channel dripping into the jar. It's obvious what will happen to this honey that runs down the face of the comb if extracting straight from the hive.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sorry JBM. No cling film. Multiple tries allowed by the way so feel free to have another go at winning the bottle.

can't be bothered to watch the video TBH - not closely anyway

 

[Tremyfro]

The flow frame stands on a "v" shaped piece of correx and it is sloped from the back to the front. There is some honey on this board which is also running into the jar.
Or you could just tell us what you see and think is happening....and save us from feeling blind and thick.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Tell you what, for a bit of fun, there's a free bottle of plonk to the first person who can explain why the test rig set up in the video isn't flooding honey everywhere!

I have no idea, but the flow frame forum FAQs say that there should be "About three kilos (6.5 lb) per frame". So why doesn't the honey from that one frame, which looks almost completely capped, fill even one jar? Maybe the other side wasn't capped?

Not sure if it's a 2lb jar in the video, but it certainly looks bigger than UK 1lb ones.

 

[Karol]

OK I'm going to cut this short because what I had hoped would be a bit of fun is at risk of back firing and it wasn't my intention to annoy anyone.

Congrats Tom, you win the bottle for coming close. PM me your address and I'll send you the bottle of wine. Just let me know if you prefer white or red?

So my take on the video clip:

Freeze the clip at exactly 0.15 mins. You'll see the gulley created by the corex board. You'll also notice that the corex board runs counter grain. The only way you can achieve a straight fold counter grain is by reverse cutting the corex board and if you look closely, you'll see slits in the board at the fold that makes the gulley that conveniently act as drains for the leaking honey.

Fast forward and freeze the clip at 4.00 mins. Look closely and you'll see loads of honey spilling out from uncapped and torn capped cells in a thin hardly visible sheet/wall of honey that then pools underneath the flow hive frame i.e. into the gulley formed beneath the flow hive frame. Look closely then at the camera angles used especially the offset from vertical on upright of the shelf unit. If you compensate for the vertical you'll see that the corex board and shelf unit that it sits on have a reverse incline (i.e. flowing away from the jar). The flow hive frame is then tilted forward by the 'supporting' clamp to keep it horizontal if not at a slightly positive incline (you'll notice that the frame sits clear of the corex board at the rear but deflects the corex board at the front). You'll also notice a strip of wood along the whole length of the shelf supporting the corex board which also acts as a channel preventing the honey oozing forward into view. Whilst I agree Tom there are a few drips of honey from the outside that make it into the jar I contend that the majority of the leaked honey flows away from sight.

So in essence, honey does stream out of the sides of the flow hive frame but this is cleverly hidden from view by channelling the leaking honey into the corex gulley and pooling it under the corex sheet away from view and away from the jar.

Tremyfro - my apologies! It was never my intention to cause upset. I don't however like seeing people being taken in so didn't feel I could stay quiet on this subject.

 

[Finman]

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If that is true, it should work so, that I uncap the frame and then I put it upside down and honey comes out over night. Cell is a little bit slanting.

My speed is in extracting 200 kg in 3 hours. I wonder how many kilos that system makes.

If I need 2 empty comb boxes to the hive, and those boxes are full, how can I empty 20 frames? Otherwise bees stop foraging and swarm.

 

[Tom Bick]

OK I'm going to cut this short because what I had hoped would be a bit of fun is at risk of back firing and it wasn't my intention to annoy anyone.

Congrats Tom, you win the bottle for coming close. PM me your address and I'll send you the bottle of wine. Just let me know if you prefer white or red?

Cheers Karol and there's me thinking I never win anything but I will save you the trouble as it was a bit of fun so you can keep the wine.

You obviously studied the video a few times and spotted way more than I did. I don't know if it was significant or not but the frame from memory was mostly capped wet. It could be more frames are capped wet in Australia but if capped dry it's not hard to imaging more cappings been disturbed during extraction and even more honey running down the face of the comb.

It won't be long now and all the frames that have presumably arrived in the country will be filling up with honey and we may start to hear cheers or groans, providing that is they ever come out of the cardboard box they arrived in

 

[Tremyfro]

Oh no...not annoyed....and I agree you can see honey on the cortex sheet. I am as interested as others in how this works. I guess all will become clear when people harvest their honey this winter in Australia. I am sure if it causes a lot of honey to be lost in the hive we will soon know about it.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Be interesting to see if the honey runs out through the open mesh floors of those that use them, and the robbing it will set off if that does happen.

 

[For want of a better word]

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If that is true, it should work so, that I uncap the frame and then I put it upside down and honey comes out over night. Cell is a little bit slanting.

My speed is in extracting 200 kg in 3 hours. I wonder how many kilos that system makes.

If I need 2 empty comb boxes to the hive, and those boxes are full, how can I empty 20 frames? Otherwise bees stop foraging and swarm.

Finman... this is a drip system

200kg in 3 hours... is that time from removing frame from colony to bottling.. or uncapping / extraction / filtering???

Perhaps you need a bigger centrifuge?

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

Finman... this is a drip system

200kg in 3 hours... is that time from removing frame from colony to bottling.. or uncapping / extraction / filtering???

Perhaps you need a bigger centrifuge?

Yeghes da

At same time I
- uncap
- extract
- filter

What happends then:

- Return empty combs to hives and take another dose of 200 kg. About 10-15 boxes

- sieved honey into 400 kg steal container
- air bubbles and small rubbish rise to surface. Catching them with grease paper

- mixing soft set seed and mixing
- miging
- mixing
- mixing
- crýstallization
- honey into 25 kg buckets
- crystallization
- heating
- mixing different honey aromas
- airbubbles and foam rise up. Catching them with grease paper
- bottling
- crystallization
- jars into boxes
- labels
- delivering

perhaps bigger extractor help nothing

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[For want of a better word]

Obviosly the miging takes up a lot of your time!

Mytten da

 

[Finman]

Obviosly the miging takes up a lot of your time!

Mytten da

Have you ever made soft honey? Seemingly not. Your questions are so odd. Sieve and then bottle.

I have made soft honey 48 years.

If you need any help, please contact me.

 

[Finman]

Obviosly the miging takes up a lot of your time!

Mytten da

Not lot but several times.

It must be mixed so often that it will become soft.

I mix the whole summer's yield, that it becomes aromatic.

Rape honey is my biggest yield, but is tastes like sugar syrup, if I do not mix it with other honeys.

Rape yield is normally 60 kg/hive.
Fireweed yield has very mild aroma too, and yield is usually 90 -120 kg/hive.
And raspberry honey, mild and often 50 kg/hive, if hives' build up is early enough.

Big yield needs big mixing, you know. Blessed are those who does not mix. Only one honey type.
.

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[For want of a better word]

Mixing... twas a typo

My soft set or seeded honey is the best in the South West1
Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

Mixing... twas a typo

My soft set or seeded honey is the best in the South West1
Yeghes da

Stirring or what ever movementation

 

[For want of a better word]

Stirring or what ever movementation

Clockwise with a Thornes stainless steel screw at exactly 16 RMP whilst adding the seed and slowly reducing the temperature to exactly 16 degrees C before bottling.

Nos da

 

[Finman]

Clockwise with a Thornes stainless steel screw a

Made in China however. And clock too.
.

 

[For want of a better word]

Made in China however. And clock too.
.

I wondered why it was going rusty!

Nos da

 

[Finman]

I wondered why it was going rusty!

Nos da

More than his master's pants ?

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