oil seed ****

[mrbees2]

Hi. have just returned from holiday to find the fields on 3 sides are covered in oil seed **** - all flowering beautifully - on the fourth side of the garden we have the sea. As this is my first experience of OSR. I could do with some advice. I realise I must remove any capped honey and spin as quickly as possible - but after that I am a little unsure. 1. after spinning, if I bottle it, will it go solid. 2. If I dont bottle it right away is it likely to go solid in the plastic buckets I use. 3. will it taste alright - for the last two years everyone has raved over my honey - do not want to disapoint anyone.
4. creamed honey seems to be recommended , which involves heating and mixing with a bought jar of creamed honey. seems to be several methods of doing this - my problem is of scale - "use a 5 gallon pan to heat" seems to be my first problem. Any advice on creaming honey on a very small scale.
Thanks in advance.

 

[enrico]

Don't let it get to the capped stage totally. As soon as you can shake the frame and it doesn't drop out the take it off, spin it, leave for 24 hours, jar it and watch it set!! A microwave will always soften it to use........ Or cream it. Never done it so leave that advice to others. If you re use **** frames they will set other honeys more quickly too.
E
Oh and as an edit check supers regularly with that much **** they will fill a box in a few days...... Loads of work for you!

 

[herefordshirehoney]

I'm no expert but will be putting my bees by OSR - i found this - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gandboss/OldSite/BeeStuff/KissOSR/Kiss_OSR.htm

As for the taste the stuff i've had from local BKA members seems to taste good to me!

 

[herefordshirehoney]

Forgot to add C Wynee sell large containers cheaply to do this process in - best to get and old fridge from the tip and put a 60w light bulb in it to help the process from what i've read (or build yourself a warming box).

 

[moby]

If it goes solid in the bucket, put the bucket in the car for a few sunny says it will soon soften up

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Hi. have just returned from holiday to find the fields on 3 sides are covered in oil seed **** - all flowering beautifully - on the fourth side of the garden we have the sea. As this is my first experience of OSR. I could do with some advice. I realise I must remove any capped honey and spin as quickly as possible - but after that I am a little unsure. 1. after spinning, if I bottle it, will it go solid. 2. If I dont bottle it right away is it likely to go solid in the plastic buckets I use. 3. will it taste alright - for the last two years everyone has raved over my honey - do not want to disapoint anyone.
4. creamed honey seems to be recommended , which involves heating and mixing with a bought jar of creamed honey. seems to be several methods of doing this - my problem is of scale - "use a 5 gallon pan to heat" seems to be my first problem. Any advice on creaming honey on a very small scale.
Thanks in advance.

1. Yes, after a couple of weeks
2. Yes, after a couple of weeks
3. Yes, some love it, some less keen, but its all fine.
4. A warming cabinet is ideal. Imagine you may be able to get away with an oven IF it is accurate. Follow Rooftops posts on creaming, think there is also a vid. Creaming isn't essential, but if you don't it will become rock solid, or as Rosti ingeniously puts it "crystal honey" - not a bug but a feature!

 

[DarynWebb]

If you do microwave it loosen the lid's or remove them, I like the car Idea wonder if I could melt wax in the car?

 

[mrbees2]

Hi Moby - seems a good idea to put bucket in car for a while - BUT after that, will it go solid again ? Thanks

 

[Skyhook]

Get it off PDQ and into buckets, then the panic's over. Let it set like a rock, then 'thaw' it again and go through the creaming process- at least a couple of threads on here if you search.

I was dissapointed at first that it had less flavour than others, but it's grown on me.

 

[drex]

Extract and let it set in bucket - probably 24 hours. When you want to process it you must warm it in a warming cabinet - will take 24-48 hours depending on quantity, until it starts to turn runny. You can then cream it with a paddle a few times, or seed it with 10% soft set honey of your choice.

The links above and general searching on here helped me a lot last year and I produced honey that sold very quickly.

No 5 gallon saucepans come into it - direct heat, in fact to be avoided.

 

[peterbees]

Here are some tips on small-scale production of creamed honey. If you don't have heather honey any strong flavoured honey will do.
Making soft set blended honey......

My best-selling honey is made from a blend of oil seed **** honey and ling heather honey. I store the **** honey in 30lb buckets in a dark, cool barn from June until the heather honey is ready in early September.

I never bottle pure heather honey. The flavour is too strong for most customers, and there is a tendency for the honey to ferment in storage. Heather blend honey should keep for nine months without fermenting.

You will need:
A warming box, with two light bulbs to soften the **** honey.
A 100lb settling / bottling tank.
Two T horne’s pouring aids.
One T horne’s honey creamer.

Warm up two buckets of **** honey in the warming box, until it has the viscosity of porridge.
Early morning…..
Check that the settling tank tap is fully closed.
Empty the two buckets of **** honey into the settling tank.
Empty one 30lb bucket of freshly pressed heather honey into the settling tank.
Mix very thoroughly for a few minutes with a honey creamer
Cover the tank and leave until evening.

Early evening
Bottle all the honey.

If you leave the bottling overnight, the mixture may start to set. It will certainly be slower to bottle.

The honey should be stored in a cool, dark room or barn. I use blue mushroom boxes, which hold 15 x 1lb jars. I label the jars as I sell them. Sometimes the honey frosts in storage, and you can hide the frosting can under the label.