How do you manage gunge when warming stored honey?

[Amari]

I extracted the summer crop in mid August and passed it through a fairly course sieve into 30lb honey buckets. I now wish to prepare soft-set honey by mixing one bucket of summer honey with half a bucket of spring honey (partly OSR), after warming to 35C. After mixing and stirring I will pass through a finer sieve into the bottling tank.

On opening the buckets from the store room I found that the now-set spring honey is topped very little scum/gunge, however the summer honey has a thick 3-4mm layer of hard white 'lard'. I thought it might be easier to scrape it off before warming rather than warming then skimming the gunge off using cling film.
The amount of gunge is more than I remember from previous years. Grateful for your thoughts and advice. If I don't do anything the jarred honey is likely to be covered by a layer of gunge.
1st pic: Summer honey with, on the left, a scraped area revealing the 'lard' below.
Pics 2 & 3: Attempting to scrape off the lard

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

warm it overnight, your 'gunge' will turn into a creamy foam, skim it off with a large spoon, stir honey them mix both

 

[ericbeaumont]

After mixing and stirring I will pass through a finer sieve into the bottling tank.

Yes, warm it overnight, skim off the crust - nearly all should come out if you're careful - pour through a double strainer and mix from that bucket.

 

[Amari]

Thanks. I'll report back

 

[WoodenBeam]

It’s only set froth Amari. I used to scrape off with a spoon (when set hard) but now like already said, just warm & put through a filter.
I’ll filter the bulk liquid into a tank, allow to settle & cool. Remove layer of froth with cling film & then introduce set from the previous batch. Creamer is then switched on & left to do its business.

 

[Curly green finger's]

If you get your honey level upto almost the top of your siv when your warming then all the white beekers honey will settle in your siv, you can then literally just lift the suv of the bucket/settling tank, if there’s any remaining beekeepers honey/wax left remove once cooled with cling film.

I think Lawrence has a video somewhere thought it was a good idea, one I’ve adopted.

I do also scrap the top off buckets if I’ve extracted straight into buckets without a filter then feed that to the bees in a feeder, all that’s left is flake wax generally.

 

[Amari]

Thanks for all your advice. I jarred today after warming the the two buckets @35C for 18 hours and did my best to cream off all the top layer. The honey looks good in the jar with minimal scum/froth on the surface. I sell my honey at the gate and don't strive for show-bench perfection and it's years since I've had a jar returned.
BTW, the couple of black specks in the pic were on the outside of the jars!

 

[Murox]

Oh my, I can virtually smell your honey, the image look so inviting.

 

[alancooper]

I extracted the summer crop in mid August and passed it through a fairly course sieve into 30lb honey buckets. I now wish to prepare soft-set honey by mixing one bucket of summer honey with half a bucket of spring honey (partly OSR), after warming to 35C. After mixing and stirring I will pass through a finer sieve into the bottling tank.

On opening the buckets from the store room I found that the now-set spring honey is topped very little scum/gunge, however the summer honey has a thick 3-4mm layer of hard white 'lard'. I thought it might be easier to scrape it off before warming rather than warming then skimming the gunge off using cling film.
The amount of gunge is more than I remember from previous years. Grateful for your thoughts and advice. If I don't do anything the jarred honey is likely to be covered by a layer of gunge.
1st pic: Summer honey with, on the left, a scraped area revealing the 'lard' below.
Pics 2 & 3: Attempting to scrape off the lard

The overnight froth is good “beekeepers” honey.