Too long

[wightbees]

I'm finding that filtering honey through the finer of the the double filter I use, is taking too long! I have been using the course filter only too speed things up.
What options do I have, to double filter a lot quicker please?
Thanks

 

[Newbeeneil]

What temperature do you filter at? I tend to do a coarse filter when I extract and then warm the honey to 35deg and fine filter when I jar the honey.
It flows very easy at that temperature.

 

[enrico]

Don't let the removed supers stand in the cold. Extract as soon as possible after removing
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

You need your honey warm

 

[Ian123]

As above warm the honey, even if it’s a case of sitting the bucket in a warm bath for 30 min with a couple of stirs

 

[protheroe]

I've normally got four strainers on the go when extracting.once ones full I put another under extractor.Each time one drains below first filter I remove wax with spoon.Once filter blocks too much it gets washed.I find doing it this way speeds up extraction a lot,much less time wasted waiting for filters to drain.If I get a lot of honey again next year I'll probably start using five or six filters to speed things up even more.

 

[wightbees]

I'm extracting more than a few boxes, so maybe I need only use course filter? But what if I sale bulk honey, do I filter again before sales? I could rig up some type of honey warmer for stacks of boxes, is this what others do?

 

[Ian123]

For bulk in buckets the metal strainers are fine

 

[For want of a better word]

You need your honey warm

Our extraction room is heated to 35 degrees..... too hot for some to work in!

Extracted honey double filtered into 20 liter buckets... change ( metal) filters and clean after each bucket filled.... cold water jet washer seems to clean them best!

Chons da

 

[Erichalfbee]

Our extraction room is heated to 35 degrees..... too hot for some to work in!



Chons da

Doesn’t that contravene some kind of working at temperature directive?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've normally got four strainers on the go when extracting.once ones full I put another under extractor.Each time one drains below first filter I remove wax with spoon.Once filter blocks too much it gets washed.I find doing it this way speeds up extraction a lot,much less time wasted waiting for filters to drain.If I get a lot of honey again next year I'll probably start using five or six filters to speed things up even more.

I have two on the go at all times so I can swap over when it's a bit slow, the trick is, as Protheroe says to take out the wax deposit out of the coarse one regularly and also to wash out the fine one well before it gets clogged up.

 

[wightbees]

Washing out the filter makes sense, but then drying time as it holds a lot of water? I have a couple so could go this route.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Washing out the filter makes sense, but then drying time as it holds a lot of water? I have a couple so could go this route.

flap it around your head a few times - it soon dries
I invested in a CMF 25Kg settling tank with two pairs of drop in filters a few years ago - a lot less faff than even the larger double filters that sit over a settling tank and because of the surface area of the filters, clogs less often.
This sits under the extractor and, when full is out on a raised stand and decanted into a settling tank. This enables the strainers to empty completely and be changed for clean ones. The trick is to change the strainers before they need to be changed when they take ages to empty.

 

[Newbeeneil]

This year I've developed this method in my new "honey room" which seem to work well.
I remove honey from the extractor via a bucket and do an initial filter via an old deep frier basket with a mesh of about 3-4mm which sits on top of the course filter of my settling tank.
The large mesh gets rid of a substantial proportion of the wax which would normally clog up the course filter on the setting tank.
I then drain the settling tank into storage buckets. When in need to jar honey I warm the buckets to 35 deg, remove the scum using cling film, pour through a fine filter into my decanting vessel and jar!

 

[gmonag]

remove the scum using cling film

Could you explain further?

 

[Newbeeneil]

Could you explain further?

The best way to remove scum is to let the honey settle for a day or so and then place a sheet of cling film on the surface of the honey.Lightly press down to ensure the scum is all in contact with the film then carefully peel away the film and 90% of the scum should come with it!

 

[wightbees]

Thanks everyone, a few ideas to think about.
Cheers

 

[madasafish]

The best way to remove scum is to let the honey settle for a day or so and then place a sheet of cling film on the surface of the honey.Lightly press down to ensure the scum is all in contact with the film then carefully peel away the film and 90% of the scum should come with it!

And then place the clingfilm on a sieve over a small bucket and recover honey - which will contain v fine pollen - and keep for own use.

(Being a true Scot I try to waste as little as possible)

 

[Swarm]

True, a considerable amount of honey comes off with the film.

 

[enrico]

Just one other thing. Since I have been using a hot air gun to remove cappings I have had no filter blocking problems. Less loose wax maybe, or warmer honey!
E