Warming cabinet heater

Beefriendly · Feb 5, 2019

pargyle said:
No ... the fridge you use should be a decommissioned on ... no point in using it for cooling anything.

There a very good reason that some may wish to use the cooling circuit of the S1000....soft set. Most efficient crystallisation temp is reckoned to be 14C.

Hivemaker. · Feb 5, 2019

Beefriendly said:
There a very good reason that some may wish to use the cooling circuit of the S1000....soft set. Most efficient crystallisation temp is reckoned to be 14C.

I agree, some people could might be using a large electric oven fitted with a refrigeration unit, duel purpose, both warming and cooling their honey.

mbc · Feb 5, 2019

oliver90owner said:
I only use my ‘heated’ fridge as a fermentation control for cider/wines during the warmer months, so it is energised as a fridge at times. The correct version of the STC1000 controllers works perfectly to maintain 18 degrees, or close to, for the fermentation period. It could be used for lagering as well (but I don’t make many beers) or liquefying honey if I so wished.

As I see it, the post has been useful for the OP as perhaps now he realises that it matters not whether the heater was a few hundred Watts or 10kW, the time to liquify the honey would be unchanged as long as the thermostatted temperature is maintained. An over-sized heater would only cycle the controller more, in fact, and wear out the switching contacts that much more quickly.

A water bath is so much faster, to warm honey. Just look up the heat capacity of water versus air to perhaps understand the benefits of using a water bath.

From the point of view of honey in buckets in an insulated unit then theres not much benefit compared to the downsides of a water bath imho (possible ingress of moisture if the bucket seals are compromised, need to dry the buckets before decanting the honey, the need to change or sterilize the heating water frequently and the need for a water tight bath).
Afaik not many people who process large amounts of honey go the water bath route.

Millet · Feb 5, 2019

oliver90owner said:
A water bath is so much faster, to warm honey. Just look up the heat capacity of water versus air to perhaps understand the benefits of using a water bath.

That is something worth considering..a 300w submersible fish tank heater and a submersible power head to circulate the water would work a treat in a insulated water tight container..the only downside is fish tank heaters will struggle to get over 35c