Solution to frosting?

[Newbeeneil]

My latest set honey has a nasty case of frosting and I was wondering if anyone has a way of correcting it? I’ve tried gently heating the outside of the jar but this merely melted the honey directly adjacent to the wall of the jar but didn’t remove the frosting.

 

[boywonder]

Interesting. I rarely have honey hanging around in jars for long enough for it to granulate - let alone frost. However, I have been holding back a couple of jars of horse chestnut honey from last year's spring crop, to enter into a show this year, in the set category.

Imagine my horror therefore when I saw they had frosted recently. Not as badly as the one at the top of your pic, but similar to the others.

With nothing to lose (and not wanting to reliquefy the honey), I figured a sharp blast of heat energy to the outer layer might be worth a shot, and the microwave was screaming out to me.

I removed the lids and gave each a quick 25 to 30 second blast at 900W. Cleared it for me. I can't warranty it will work for everyone.

 

[Wilco]

Isn't it a sign of quality?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Isn't it a sign of quality?

So they say but it looks unattractive

My latest set honey has a nasty case of frosting and I was wondering if anyone has a way of correcting it

A quick blast in the microwave has worked for me but it does come back after a while.
Maybe Dan has an answer for prevention here
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/soft-set-from-recently-extracted-honey.54513/#post-859596

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

what's 'nasty' about frosting? one trick is not to bottle seeded honey until it has set to a consistency where it is nearly finished setting but it still mobile enough to bottle using a standard honey gate. takes longer to bottle and you have to allow it time to settle and fill all spaces in the jar as you fill. using fridges to finish them off at this point doesn't help either

 

[Sutty]

One of my retailers had some honey (not mine) that had some frosting, they were concerned it was going mouldy! So yes, frosting can decrease saleability.

 

[Amari]

My latest set honey has a nasty case of frosting and I was wondering if anyone has a way of correcting it? I’ve tried gently heating the outside of the jar but this merely melted the honey directly adjacent to the wall of the jar but didn’t remove the frosting.
View attachment 41661

I've always wondered if frosting is associated with pouring the honey into cold jars. I therefore warm my jars before pouring but have been too lazy to conduct a controlled trial. How many folk on here warm their jars?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

never done that, they're just at whatever temperature the room is

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've always wondered if frosting is associated with pouring the honey into cold jars. I therefore warm my jars before pouring but have been too lazy to conduct a controlled trial. How many folk on here warm their jars?

Not me. I do sometimes get frosting in some of a batch. Why some and not others?

 

[Newbeeneil]

I’ve been playing with some honey that’s badly frosted by placing it in my warming cabinet and slowly warming it to 35 degrees and leaving it for 24 hours. This seems to soften the honey to a just flowable consistency which when cools resets to almost hide the frosting.
It’s not perfect yet but I’m hoping by warming for a bit long I might get the frosting to completely disappear.

 

[polomadh]

I’ve been told that frosting occurs as the honey granulates, it contracts and shrinks away from the wall of the jar, allowing the air to get in between.
I imagine one way to prevent it from frosting would be to equalise the air pressure, by opening the lid briefly, once you notice it granulating and hopefully before it frosts.

 

[Sutty]

I’ve been told that frosting occurs as the honey granulates, it contracts and shrinks away from the wall of the jar, allowing the air to get in between.
I imagine one way to prevent it from frosting would be to equalise the air pressure, by opening the lid briefly, once you notice it granulating and hopefully before it frosts.

Sorry but the physics of that makes no sense

 

[The Poot]

I’ve been playing with some honey that’s badly frosted by placing it in my warming cabinet and slowly warming it to 35 degrees and leaving it for 24 hours. This seems to soften the honey to a just flowable consistency which when cools resets to almost hide the frosting.
It’s not perfect yet but I’m hoping by warming for a bit long I might get the frosting to completely disappear.

I’d be interested to know if you end up with any honey separation in the jar.
I have some frosting to deal with and was going to use the warming cabinet, but was concerned about separation, which looks worse than frosting!

 

[Pioneer]

I had a batch of honey that didn't completely clear after some time in the heater. My wife decided we should try it in the oven.
This idea terrified me as a did not want to over heat it, also the jars are all labeled and sealed. Well i set the oven to the lowest setting it could go. I set about 20 jars in all sealed and away we went. To my surprise it worked really well. Not sure what the actual air temp got to but the honey never got over 40 and is completely clear. One must keep a close eye on it I opened the oven often and monitored the honey temp on an unsealed jar. I was amazed.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I’d be interested to know if you end up with any honey separation in the jar.
I have some frosting to deal with and was going to use the warming cabinet, but was concerned about separation, which looks worse than frosting!

I firstly tried a couple of jars as I’ve had separation as you describe.
I started at 30deg for 12 hours and then slightly increased the temperature bit by bit until it got to 35deg then lengthened the time to 24 hours which give a slightly runny “set” honey without melting the crystals.
I think the fluidity of the honey causes the minute gaps between the honey and jar to fill and when the honey sets again the frosting is not so evident.

 

[The Poot]

I had a batch of honey that didn't completely clear after some time in the heater. My wife decided we should try it in the oven.
This idea terrified me as a did not want to over heat it, also the jars are all labeled and sealed. Well i set the oven to the lowest setting it could go. I set about 20 jars in all sealed and away we went. To my surprise it worked really well. Not sure what the actual air temp got to but the honey never got over 40 and is completely clear. One must keep a close eye on it I opened the oven often and monitored the honey temp on an unsealed jar. I was amazed.

When you say “completely clear” you mean you changed the honey back to “runny” state?

 

[Pioneer]

Correct I brought it back to runny which most of my buyers want.