set ivy

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dpearce4

Queen Bee
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
3,527
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Location
Coastal, West Sussex
Hive Type
Commercial
Number of Hives
a few more than last year but still not enough
Whats the best temp to melt ivy honey that has set in combs? I have put the super into my conservatory to try and make it runny again before I attempt to extract tomorrow evening. Will this work?
 
watching this post :) as I have it pouring into my hives....took 5 supers off 3 colonies on Sunday and tried to extract only to find most had set, done 2 supers and got 40lb off as rest was solid :(
The 40lb had set in the bucket by Monday night.

Haven't had time to extract others but expect much the same.

If no easy fix then it might be a case of spraying with water and putting back on hives above crownboards to get them to move back down so that I can maybe whip it off quickly afterwards.
 
I suppose it will depend on how warm your conservatory is. Mind you, if you leave the window open the bees will solve the problem for you. ;)

I don't know if this list is any good, taken from a post by Mike A http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7472
75'F-24'C prepares blossom honey and seed honey for creaming; de-crystallizes semi-granulated honey in jars.
80'F-27'C blossom honey extraction (12 hours minimum)
90'F-32'C heather honey extraction (36 hours)
100'F-38'C liquefies semi crystallized honey (Stir 2-3 times / day)
120'F-49'C liquefies solidified rape honey (Stir 2-3 times / day)
122'F-50'C+ honey will be begin to lose flavour and aroma and spoil.
Over heated honey should only be labelled and sold as cooking honey.
Let us know how you get on.
 
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Whats the best temp to melt ivy honey that has set in combs? I have put the super into my conservatory to try and make it runny again before I attempt to extract tomorrow evening. Will this work?

You'll need rather better temperature control than that, I fear.

Although beeswax needs 62/64C to actually melt, it progressively loses strength as the temperature rises towards that.
De-granulating honey, without destroying the comb, to permit extraction is seldom attempted.

The commercial beekeepers solution to this problem is to us an Apimelter and melt the whole thing out -- the usp of that bit of kit is the avoidance of overheating by getting the released honey out of the hot zone asap.
Apimelters are expensive. (Big ones take lots of frames at a time.) However (or maybe because of the cost) their owners do sometimes make them available to others, for a consideration.
Certainly if you have plural boxes, it would be well worth asking around to see if anyone has one of the things available. In your area, it might be worth starting with Paynes (who sell the things).
In Kent, Patrick at Mann Lake has made his one available to local association members for a modest fee.

// This sort of thing usually comes up slightly after OSR honey-harvest time! :)
 
De-granulating honey, without destroying the comb, to permit extraction is seldom attempted.

Correction: ...seldom sucessfull!


Bees will eat it - put it under the brood box...
 
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