Soft Set Honey

[Lesley Hoppy]

I would like to turn some of my honey into 'soft set' honey after some requests for it.
I have watched the demo video on here - but my question is, where do you get the soft set honey used to 'seed' the process? Surely I don't have to buy some mass produced supermarket honey?

 

[Foxylad]

Can you not beg borrow or steal a jar form another beekeeper?

I have heard of crushing a jar in pestle and mortar.

Or you could buy a jar of soft set from the supermarket. Although i am reluctant to buy any honey.

 

[oliver90owner]

There is more than one way to go about it.

You can rewarm the 'concrete' stuff to the point of it flowing enough to allow it to set softer the second time around, or you can seed a completely remelted batch.

I do mine by the second method, because that is the point where I fine-filter my honey through a 200 micron filter cloth into my settling tank, and you cannot easily filter partially remelted bucketfuls of honey.

I suggest trying the partial re-melt method and see how you get on with the product, if it is appropriate.

The crystals in the 'concrete' must be fairly small as it has normally initially granulated in just a few days.

RAB

 

[Poly Hive]

If you intend going the seeding route then you obviously need seed.

When I was doing it by the hundreds of pounds I bought *gasp* a jar from a very high quality producer (Struan Apiaries) and worked that pound into ten and that ten into a hundred and then it was straightforward from there on.

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

If you intend going the seeding route then you obviously need seed.

There was a clue in my post. The last sentence.

 

[hiveabee]

so how do you make the seed honey without having to buy it in? I have never done this you see

 

[masterBK]

Buy/beg a jar or two from another beekeeper who produces OS rape honey. This is usually of very fine crystal size size and makes an ideal seed. Any beekeeper who produces soft set honey for show will have some. Don't use foreign honey from shops as that prevents you selling yours as English. Look up the Dyce process.

 

[Nellie]

If you have some granulated honey lurking around you can use that. use a mortar and pestle to break down the granulation to the required consistency and use that as a starter

 

[YorkshireBees]

My OSR crop from last year made wonderfull soft set honey using method 1 that Rab described. Heating buckets gently for a couple of days in my warming cabinet before putting it in jars. It is still nice and soft one year after it was extracted.

 

[MandF]

I bought a jar of set honey from another local beekeeper - well via a local farm shop.

You only need to use 10% as seed, so the first jar is 90% your honey, and if you then use that to seed, the next batch is 99% your honey.

So 1 jar is all you need to produce your own set honey forever!

 

[Finman]

.
My experience is that seed & stirring system will not give good results.
There are different kind honeys and they act in unexpected way when you fill jars. Some crystallize in one week and some in two month. Some not at all. And the mixture, who knows?

But this system is safe.
1) make first fine crystall honey to 20 kg buckets. Store it in under 15C temp.
2) let it crystallize in low temperature fast (10-15c).
3) warm up the bucket in warm water bath (55C) or with hot air blower.
When the honey drills out (not as liuid) and jams again in the jar, it will be quite sure quality system.

.

 

[RoofTops]

Grinding up a pound of coarsly set honey in a pestle and mortar works fine, do it in small batches and then add to about 3 pounds of liquified honey and cool down to below 14C - over night in a refrigerator works fine.

When it has set solid warm it up a bit, so it has the consitency of thick peanut butter and then stir into the main batch at not less than 10% dilution - but a higher percentage will set quicker. Cool this mixture down to below 14C as Finman says. I use freezer packs in my warming cabinet. I use a stainless steel screw on an electric drill to do the mixing - you need to make sure the seed is well mixed in and stirring at last once a day until it gets too thick helps speed up the setting.

I let the mixture set solid in the tank and then when it needs to be bottled I warm it again, being careful not to let it melt. It will pour when it still looks like set honey but a gentle stir with a spoon helps - it is thixotropic and after stirring is more fluid. By bottling when set there is much less "crazing" which is caused by the setting honey shrinking away from the glass, which tends to happen if you bottle it fully melted and let it set in the jar.

 

[Jeff Buzz]

My OSR crop from last year made wonderfull soft set honey using method 1 that Rab described. Heating buckets gently for a couple of days in my warming cabinet before putting it in jars. It is still nice and soft one year after it was extracted.

Same here