Price forHoney Settling Tanks!

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Olivia9801

House Bee
Joined
Jan 3, 2012
Messages
276
Reaction score
15
Location
Cornwall
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
7
For what they are, I find the prices for a stainless steel settling tank rediculous.

Considering they’re not mechanical or electrical and in fact quite straight forward, it’s a shame as I would like to buy one. Will have to look second hand.

What’s other Beekeepers views?

Olivia9801
 
If it’s not an electrical settling tank I wouldn’t buy it..........

We managed many a year with a Thornes rectank (others are available) settling and jarring up 30ish pounds at a time - £20ish

We now have a number of Abelo heated tanks, the gentle warmth keeps things liquid and assists the settling process.
 
What is wrong with free food grade plastic buckets that confectionary/cake making companies are glad to get rid of instead of bolstering Thornes/others bottom line? Get real. They will welcome your cash but maybe you have shares in them?
 
What is wrong with free food grade plastic buckets that confectionary/cake making companies are glad to get rid of instead of bolstering Thornes/others bottom line? Get real. They will welcome your cash but maybe you have shares in them?

A lot depends on quantity being jarred, we personally need to be running batches of at least 400 jars to make it worthwhile time wise. Lyson heated tanks are very good value for money, plus also unless you can prove what the mentioned bucket has contained, with a full analyse you should not be using second hand buckets.
 
What is wrong with free food grade plastic buckets that confectionary/cake making companies are glad to get rid of instead of bolstering Thornes/others bottom line? Get real. They will welcome your cash but maybe you have shares in them?
Nope, no shares unfortunately however wouldn’t have minded having a few as they’ve been extremely successful.
As for your free buckets, no issues with these but haven’t personally used so not able to recommend.............unlike what I have used and am happy to recommend.
All businesses need to make a profit, those that are shite don’t tend to last too long, Thornes have been about for an age so they must be doing something right & its always been a pleasure when dealing with them.
Abelo/Lyson have some really good kit at reasonable prices, Carl Fritz & Swienty are expensive there’s no two ways about it but quality costs. That sums up companies I’ve had dealings with.
Back to Olivia9801, if it’s a small quantity of honey you’re looking to settle then to go stainless is a bit of an overkill, buy a rectank or go skip hunting ;)
Larger quantities then yes, stainless, but I‘d recommend spending the extra and going for a heated option. Going one stage further upgrade to a heated creamer and then that will cover all bases........................until you then realise you need BIGGER tanks 😂
 
I got my 50kg stainless tank from box-bees.co.uk for a reasonable price (£35), but I think he's collection only, and is in Suffolk, so a long way from you.
 
What is wrong with free food grade plastic buckets that confectionary/cake making companies are glad to get rid of instead of bolstering Thornes/others bottom line? Get real. They will welcome your cash but maybe you have shares in them?

If you need it heated then the home brew industry has various belt and pad heaters that you stand the bucket on for not a lot of money.

The Thorne settling tank appears to be £600. I know beekeeping is an expensive hobby but that is a little too much for what it is. I guess it's not a fast moving item so they have to have it made in small batches that pushes the price up.
 
The Thorne settling tank appears to be £600. I know beekeeping is an expensive hobby but that is a little too much for what it is. I guess it's not a fast moving item so they have to have it made in small batches that pushes the price up.
You have to realise as well that Thornes is the beekeeping equivalent of Waitrose or Marks and Spencer food hall 😁
 
Larger quantities then yes, stainless, but I‘d recommend spending the extra and going for a heated option. Going one stage further upgrade to a heated creamer and then that will cover all bases........................until you then realise you need BIGGER tanks 😂

Hello WB

For those of us who are not long graduated from skep-beekeeping and chloroforming our bees each winter: what advantages does a heated settling tank have?

Take my current practice (8 productive hives): uncap and extract 10-15 supers per session. Run from extractor through coarse sieve into 30lb buckets. Pour each bucket when full into settling tank via coarse and fine filters. When all the honey from that session is in the tank I run most again into buckets and store - to be warmed, stirred and jarred as soft-set as needed. A smaller amount I run into a bucket(s) and warm to 60C for an hour then jar = runny honey.

How could a heated tank improve on this?
 
Thanks for all your replies!

Since creating this post, I have bought a second hand stainless steel settling tank. It’s made by EH Taylor somis a few years old but in good condition. The only thing which is minor, is that it has quite a narrow diameter of approx 28cms but came with its own mesh filter.

Was wondering if I can get a finer mesh for it? Probably will have to make my own?
 
If you need it heated then the home brew industry has various belt and pad heaters that you stand the bucket on for not a lot of money.

The Thorne settling tank appears to be £600. I know beekeeping is an expensive hobby but that is a little too much for what it is. I guess it's not a fast moving item so they have to have it made in small batches that pushes the price up.
I have made wine for at least 35 years and have a low wattage heating pad for sticking demijohns on. But it is not as good as our fan oven set at its lowest setting though.
 
Hello WB

For those of us who are not long graduated from skep-beekeeping and chloroforming our bees each winter: what advantages does a heated settling tank have?

Take my current practice (8 productive hives): uncap and extract 10-15 supers per session. Run from extractor through coarse sieve into 30lb buckets. Pour each bucket when full into settling tank via coarse and fine filters. When all the honey from that session is in the tank I run most again into buckets and store - to be warmed, stirred and jarred as soft-set as needed. A smaller amount I run into a bucket(s) and warm to 60C for an hour then jar = runny honey.

How could a heated tank improve on this?
Not sure on ‘improving’ Amari, everyone has their own ways which work for them.
We run Honey from extractor through a coarse s/steel coarse filter into buckets, these go straight to store, no secondary filtering or settling at this stage. Originally found finer filtering at this stage was a bottle neck especially if the Honey was a tad glupy which was always an issue with the earlier OSR crop.
When required, buckets are warmed and put through a fine mesh filter into said heated tanks and allowed to settle prior to jarring. The tank isn’t necessarily turned on but after a few days the temp in that tank can drop down considerably, with a heated tank no issues. Flicked on, warmed back up to 30 degrees and at this temp flows into jars very well. This is pretty much the same with set Honey, filtered into creamer tank and then stirred for 4 days monitoring temp. Typically temp does drop down to 10-14 degrees especially at this time of year but doesn’t set solid due to frequent agitation. Left to settle for a further couple of days with the temp monitored looking to warm gently while settling and prior to jarring
We’ve all heard horror stories of crop setting solid in extractors and I can certainly remember putting rectanks into the bath to warm after leaving too long before jarring! With a heated tank this ain’t ever gonna happen, an expensive luxury? Maybe but as I said, everyone has their own way which works for them.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top