Marbling in soft set honey.

[Curly green finger's]

Morning I make quite a bit of soft set honey with different types of honey , natural , seeded blended etc how to get rid of marbling ?? This is what I do and it works well
Firstly set your water bath to 45c /50 c
Once jars have been filled straight away drop them in the water bath for 5/15 mins the warmth brings the bubbles to the surface and gets rid of the marbling effect here’s photos of before and afterwards, jar had 8 mins in the water bath .

 

[Erichalfbee]

I get marbling if I haven’t been rigorous in stirring. It happens when you jar the honey before it’s ready.
Putting it in a water bath will work because you melt the honey a little.
15 minutes at that temperature is often enough time for me to get cloudy jars clear.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Also the air bubbles that are in the honey from jarring warm up and rise which stops the marbling .

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Nothing whatsoever to do with air bubbles. Dani is right, combination of not stirring it in properly to ensure an even mix and bottling it too early.
Often confused with frosting which happens when the set honey contracts a little and comes away from the glass walls of a jar - a sign of good quality naturally crystalised hone (which is when it happens mostly) but frowned on a bit when showing.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Nothing whatsoever to do with air bubbles. Dani is right, combination of not stirring it in properly to ensure an even mix and bottling it too early.
Often confused with frosting which happens when the set honey contracts a little and comes away from the glass walls of a jar - a sign of good quality naturally crystalised hone (which is when it happens mostly) but frowned on a bit when showing.

Bottling two early it’s been sat in buckets for weeks also loads of bubbles in soft set heather honey what’s the marbling : nothing to do with mixing properly more possibly to do with heat and air bubbles why when you jar up it’s thick stuff it layers itself in the jars air gets trapped between these layers .
I’ll just find a video

 

[Curly green finger's]

Validate message!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I fill my jars so that the top sits just under the honey gate and it’s done quickly so the honey goes into the jar in one lump with only a little trickle to top up. I keep it warm.
It doesn’t matter how long it’s stored in a bucket if it’s not stirred properly.
I don’t know what you’re doing wrong.
I’ve just had a look at a Swienty machine filling soft set and there’s not a jot of marbling
Is your honey warm? It doesn’t look it. Perhaps if you warmed it before you jarred instead of after?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Both videos above one honey is warmer than the other both created marbling maybe up the temp of the honey and the natural heat would bring the bubbles to the surface .
Possibly the jars are to far away from the honey gate I do use another bucket most of the time.

Anyway it still works by warming the jarsit in the cabinet or water bath.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Possibly the jars are to far away from the honey gate I do use another bucket most of the time.

No possibly about it. Look at the narrow stream of honey in your first vid. It must take you ages to fill the jars then add fifteen minutes in a water bath?
My advice to beginners making soft set is to stir thoroughly even if you have to spend two days doing it. ( How long is honey stirred in an automatic creamer? ) Keep your honey warm and jar from a short distance.

 

[alancooper]

Nothing whatsoever to do with air bubbles. Dani is right, combination of not stirring it in properly to ensure an even mix and bottling it too early.
Often confused with frosting which happens when the set honey contracts a little and comes away from the glass walls of a jar - a sign of good quality naturally crystalised hone (which is when it happens mostly) but frowned on a bit when showing.

Your comment “bottling too early” - deciding when to bottle is particularly with critical with Ivy soft set. If left too late it looks OK in the jar but in time it rapidly becomes difficult to use (hard but not obviously crystallised).I do it when it it is still soft enough to jar easily rather than risk it being difficult to pour without trapping air pockets. It never “marbles” (as in the Curly images post) but I sometimes get minor frosting (your indicator of high quality soft set honey).
My decision making is the result of trial and error over the past few years. I cannot imagine how I would define too early or too late usefully to someone without them being present during the production process.
Do you have advice on an Ivy soft set timing decision indicator? How do you do it?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do you have advice on an Ivy soft set timing decision indicator? How do you do it?

No - I always leave the ivy on for the bees

 

[Curly green finger's]

No possibly about it. Look at the narrow stream of honey in your first vid. It must take you ages to fill the jars then add fifteen minutes in a water bath?
My advice to beginners making soft set is to stir thoroughly even if you have to spend two days doing it. ( How long is honey stirred in an automatic creamer? ) Keep your honey warm and jar from a short distance.

The honey was warmer in the second video I stopped and warmed the first bucket in video 1 it was filling a lot quicker what temp ?
With the paddle I probably don’t spend enough time 2 days yeah alright

 

[WoodenBeam]

Our set Honey will spend A full cycle in an Abelo creamer - 99hrs being agitated every hour from memory. Warm filtered liquid in, a previous set Honey added as a seed.
When jarring it is an opaque liquid that is then left to set in the jar. The end product is a set Honey but easily spoonable out of the jar. Depending on the properties of the Honey we may get some frosting after a time and also contraction away from the edge of the jar - your water bath idea I’ll probably have a play with out of interest.
The Honey in your videos is certainly far more viscous than ours. If you have an issue with consistency in the jar resulting in marbling possibly try warming to a higher degree and lowering the viscosity.

 

[drex]

I am with Dani. For bottling my honey is warmed to about 30 degrees. Jar held just under the tap and tap wide open to start. I could fill 3 jars in the time you fill one.
I use an electric drill to stir my soft set, twice a day, while it is setting. No stirring while in warming cabinet pre jarring

 

[Amari]

Interesting replies. Do all/many/none of you pundits posting above warm the jars before running in the honey? I usually do but have not conducted a comparative trial to see if warming reduces frosting etc.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Most of the time my jars get a dunk in the water bath , I’ve been experimenting this morning and moving the honey gate closer to the jar has helped also honey temp was 25c I have some warming through now and it’s set at 30c so I will jar it on Thursday/Friday once it settled for 24/48 hrs

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do all/many/none of you pundits posting above warm the jars before running in the honey?

never done it, usually bottle the soft set at around 15°C and the jars at room temperature

 

[Erichalfbee]

I bottle mine as soon as it’s mixed properly, warm and leave to set in the jar

 

[Antipodes]

Is soft set honey the same thing as creamed honey and soft candied honey?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes