Honey dehumidifiers/driers

[Hachi]

Anyone use them? any advice on brands / where to source? Make your own?

 

[fizzle]

It's ventilation, like a poorly built building.

Edit: tear it down!!!

 

[PeaBee]

Looked at the ones abelo offer but do not have the need to justify the lay out. Try to let the bees do the hard work regarding moisture % so dont get too many issues and if a batch is borderline i warm in appimelter and use domestic dehumidifier to lower humidity in honey room. Look good bits of kit if you have the volumes to justify it.

 

[oliver90owner]

I’ve never yet used a dehumidifier to reduce water content in honey, but I do use them to keep my workshop dry.

Cheap desiccant machines on ebay are a good source of non-runners. Any competent person can usually repair them at minimal cost. Only need a small draught-proofed room to carry out the honey water reduction. Nothing complicated, but you are not likely to make your own dehumidifier.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have an Abelo Supers heater which works brilliantly but before that stacking a few supers up over a fan heater with a dehumidifier in a small room worked but took longer

 

[enrico]

A bit off the subject but it is only in the last maybe ten years that I have had problems with high water content. Before that it was never an issue! Do you think that maybe the crops that bees go on now have higher water content in the nectar, maybe like borage, whereas these were much rarer crops a few years ago? Just wondered.

 

[oliver90owner]

A bit off the subject but it is only in the last maybe ten years that I have had problems with high water content. Before that it was never an issue! Do you think that maybe the crops that bees go on now have higher water content in the nectar, maybe like borage, whereas these were much rarer crops a few years ago? Just wondered.

Doubtful.

 

[Antipodes]

Anyone use them? any advice on brands / where to source? Make your own?

Try gumtree UK for a good price on a rarely used machine, perhaps just a few years old.....a condenser one. They heat the air in the room too.

 

[Hachi]

Decided to build my own. The price of shop bought ones are ridiculously expensive which, probably explains why no one has used one or even owns one.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

i use a food dehydrator which seems to work well...

 

[oliver90owner]

i use a food dehydrator which seems to work well...

Care to describe? I used a vacuum pump and silica gel (or sometimes conc sulphuric acid) to dehydrate radioactive counting samples, back in the last century.

 

[Erichalfbee]

i use a food dehydrator which seems to work well...

.....I presume you take most of the shelves out and do a few jars at a time?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Decided to build my own. The price of shop bought ones are ridiculously expensive which, probably explains why no one has used one or even owns one.

Do share, Ian
I'd love to see what you've done

 

[elainemary]

I have an Abelo Supers heater which works brilliantly but before that stacking a few supers up over a fan heater with a dehumidifier in a small room worked but took longer

Dani, can you share a bit more about this please. I would like a bit of kit that can keep heather honey supers warm before extracting. Can’t justify a large warming cabinet and don’t have the diy skills to build one.
Looking on line this super heater takes just one super, does it warm quickly? Just wondering if it would be suitable for a stack of 10 supers to process (warming one at a time). Or is it designed more for addressing crystallised combs?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You can stack up the supers on it

 

[Cuckmere couple]

.....I presume you take most of the shelves out and do a few jars at a time?

i have a Hendy food dehydrator with 6 shelves and if i leave two in, i can get 2-3 large mixing bowls of honey in. This provides a good surface area of honey for the dehydrator

it is very easy to set an accurate temperature and the whole thing, with extractor fan, is designed to lower water content.

I set it around 35-40 and leave for a few hours and it got some 19.5% down to 18 in a few hours.

will post a picture shortly....the larger version may take a honey bucket, i have the small one.

obviously we dont want large amounts of honey requiring this so this capacity worked for me and was able to do 3/4s of a honey bucket in one go.

Also, works well as a food dehydrator and is great for apples, mango slices etc.....

 

[Garry R]

Would this do the trick inside an old freezer?

Home Dehumidifier & Air Purifier Portable Auto-Off Function, Tank Cap is 500ML | eBay

 

[Cuckmere couple]

Here

 

[Erichalfbee]

i have a Hendy food dehydrator with 6 shelves and if i leave two in, i can get 2-3 large mixing bowls of honey in. This provides a good surface area of honey for the dehydrator

it is very easy to set an accurate temperature and the whole thing, with extractor fan, is designed to lower water content.

I set it around 35-40 and leave for a few hours and it got some 19.5% down to 18 in a few hours.

will post a picture shortly....the larger version may take a honey bucket, i have the small one.

obviously we dont want large amounts of honey requiring this so this capacity worked for me and was able to do 3/4s of a honey bucket in one go.

Also, works well as a food dehydrator and is great for apples, mango slices etc.....

Thanks for the explanation At least I was on the right track.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

Thanks for the explanation At least I was on the right track.

yup...i asked on here ages ago and nobody seemed to have used them but as we had one, thought we'd try it and works well

but as i say....i dont usually spin unless under 19 but if on the edge i use it just to make sure!