Pre-warming honey before filtering

[idg]

Do you prewar honey before filtering? If so, to what temperature? Obviously I don’t want to get into the realms of melting wax!

 

[Murox]

The standard double strainers/sieves are normally adequate to remove unwanted debris from the honey. Filtering after that requires finer meshes and will remove some of the goodies from the honey.
WARM honey flows more easily.
There is no requirement to heat honey to any particular temperature other than to pasteurise it.

I have always dealt with honey either in a warm greenhouse or conservatory. If your honey has got "cold" just place it in a warm atmosphere (20 - 22 degrees) for 24-48 hours beforehand.

 

[Finman]

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There are 35C degrees in beehive. That temp is enough to keep honey quick running.

20C is really low.

I use 300 W heater under the extractor that honey is warm when I pour it into sieving system.

Before extracting I heat the supers overnight to 30-34C. Above that combs starts to break. That is optimum temp when I uncap the combs with electrict knife.

 

[oliver90owner]

Wax does not melt until over 60 degrees Celsius! That is HOT, not warm! 40 Celsius is sufficient to filter through a 200 micron filter, as long as there is not a lot of suspended solids in the honey.

If this honey is crystallising, it will need to be heated sufficiently to liquidise it. That will be a particular temperature between 40 and 50 degrees. Pasteurisation takes place by heating the honey to around 85C for a very short duration.

I always warm the honey before filtering, if it is cold. Why? Because it won’t filter at a sensible rate, unless under pressure.

 

[Finman]

Wax does not melt until over 60 degrees Celsius! That is HOT, not warm! .

Wax becomes soft and combs starts to brake in warming cabinet in 40C and under the weight of honey.

The aroma of the honey will change in some temperature near 50C.

Wax melting temp is not a criteriun to handle honey.

I have learned something via experience.

And when you warm up the honey, temp is not same in all corners of honey container.

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[Finman]

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And it is very easy to measure youself, what is a good temperature in your system.
No need to ask advice from 20 beekeepers.

Actually I have fighted all my life with sieving. It is bad to sieve if honey has much crystalls .

Black & Decker heat leak detector is good to follow the temps of honey process. There are 15€ detectors too, but they may show what ever. Better to calibrate the apparatus.

 

[Finman]

Tedious answer

 

[Finman]

Zåkh