Is it possible to tell how quickly honey will crystallise?

[warts]

Trying to work out EXACTLY what my bees are bringing into the hive is far from simple (for me, at least). I see a vast variety of colours of pollen following on from the OSR flow.

Therefore, when extracting, is it possible to predict how likely honey is to crystallise soon?

I would like to do some cut comb on the latest batch of honey I have taken off, but slightly worried it may turn into something akin to denture breakers.

Please note, used to mainly getting OSR honey and not a great deal beyond that, so normally let the bees have the majority of it. However, this year there seems to be an abundance of extra honey, so think there is more than enough for both parties. The point I suppose I am trying to make here is that I am not used to this (hopefully) non mono culture crop



Much appreciated in advance

Sally

 

[enrico]

Cut comb is something I would save for future years when you know what your honey in your local area does! I have some that sets like fudge, some. That stays really soft and some that never sets at all. Any of those would be fine, the trouble with OSR is that it ends to see any honey that goes into the frames afterwards so you may find it goes too hard for cut comb whatever their forage. Test it on yourself for next year noting the times you took honey off etc. and what was in flower. That may help
E

 

[warts]

Thanks Enrico. A trial seems a very good idea. I only want a few anyway (family and friends), so a pilot test seems a good way forward.

Thanks again

Sally

 

[Sean.]

I would put a frame in the fridge wrapped in cling film to see what time frame if any it takes to crystallise.

 

[user 6228]

buy a polarimeter to work out the fructose glucose fraction
a refractometer to work out the water content, then get hold of the solubility tables for fructose glucose solutions.

simples

 

[enrico]

buy a polarimeter to work out the fructose glucose fraction
a refractometer to work out the water content, then get hold of the solubility tables for fructose glucose solutions.

simples

SIMPLES

 

[Erichalfbee]

I would like to do some cut comb on the latest batch of honey I have taken off, but slightly worried it may turn into something akin to denture breakers.


Sally

Polyhive who used to post here did nothing but cut comb. I remember him saying his customers were OK with crystallised OSR comb.
PS Yes, here it is
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=428100#post428100

 

[Cazza]

Polyhive who used to post here did nothing but cut comb. I remember him saying his customers were OK with crystallised OSR comb.
PS Yes, here it is
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=428100#post428100

Clive de Bruyn also sells OSR cut comb and said people are happy with it and many prefer it to runny cut comb.
Cazza

 

[warts]

Hi Sean - I am assuming a cut comb trial would do the same job as a full frame (Me and family and friends will have the rest so no waste). Is this a real time test or does the cold slow down the process, (and if so, is there a formula to work out real time). Sorry for being a bit dim here!

Derekm - well, I haven't heard of a polarimeter, and sadly I do like gadgets...so I may have to invest in one if not too expensive. Though I may be back to work out what I am actually doing with it. Simples or not ;-)

Ericalfbee & Cazza - good to know that some people like OSR cut comb. And thanks for the link to the thread Ericalfbee. Oddly enough, when extracting earlier in the year I found a patch of OSR that had crystallised in the frame. I decided to have a play with it (AKA closer inspection), and found that I could pop the contents of each of the cells out. They were all neatly hexagon shaped, and tasted sorted of sugary fudge like. Very nice. I decided to keep them as alternative sugar cubes because they looked so good. However, they didn't last long...soon got eaten.

Regards

Sally

 

[itma]

I read somewhere of a heather honey man who, to get round the short heather season, used to get his comb (for cutting) drawn on the OSR flow, and then extract it (gently - radial extractor, IIRC) and store it until his heather season, when he put them back on the hives ready to be filled with his 'real' crop.

 

[itma]

I don't know of any formula to calculate setting rate. It should also depend on things like the fineness of filtration (thus the availability of crystallisation nucleation sites).


The temperature for fastest crystallisation is actually around 12C - rather warmer than ordinary fridges should be! However, you may find a cold cellar or somesuch that gives you that sort of temperature.

 

[oliver90owner]

Derekm is on the right path.

Dodgy just relying on glucose:fructose ratio as sucrose content might make a difference, especially if there is winter stores in it.

Putting it in the fridge is not a lot of good either. If you want a fast answer, you leave it at close to 14 degrees Celsius, for maximum granulation rate.

The othef thing that affects granulation rate will be pollen in the honey. Filter it all out and there will be no particles around which the first crystals form.

Most florals are good, worst is OSR and ivy. But there may be some odd ones and the wadjamacallits - non floral tree honeys - yeah, the honeydews; they don't generally granulate easily either, I think.

RAB

 

[warts]

Hi Itma & Rab

So from what you are saying, filtering seems a good (fairly simple, for me) area to focus on to reduce / delay crystallisation, ie if I cannot easily measure / monitor it, then I can at least attempt to delay it.

Thank you both

Sally

 

[itma]

Problem is that filtering out pollen is an industrial process (high pressure needed) - its used on supermarket honey. And the pollen, and the lack of industrial processing, is part of the appeal of our 'craft' honey.

Crystallisation is not a 'fault' as such. It is reversible by gentle warming.

But if you have a honey that wants to crystallise, you can give it simple (well, simple-ish) bit of processing to give you a smooth "soft-set" (not allowed to say 'creamed' anymore) honey.
Even letting it set solid and then warming it to fully redissolve the crystals seems to slow recrystallisation. And no, I don't know why!