Warming cabinet

[moor141]

Just finished building a honey warming cabinet. Any thoughts on the ideal temp. to use.

 

[moor141]

More info.

Did try to edit the post with more info but timed out.
Any way.
The cabinet is made from 50 Celotex which I often have offcuts left over from building jobs. It has a single 20 watt halogen low voltage light and a simple temp. sensor. It warms up to 32degs. and to my mind this would be about right??. It will take 2-30lb honey buckets, also will be able to take capped frames of honey if needed.
The temp control if needed will be to change to bulb to a higher wattage bulb.
Any thoughts would be great.

A S.

 

[DanBee]

Did try to edit the post with more info but timed out.
Any way.
The cabinet is made from 50 Celotex which I often have offcuts left over from building jobs. It has a single 20 watt halogen low voltage light and a simple temp. sensor. It warms up to 32degs. and to my mind this would be about right??. It will take 2-30lb honey buckets, also will be able to take capped frames of honey if needed.
The temp control if needed will be to change to bulb to a higher wattage bulb.
Any thoughts would be great.

A S.

You need to invest in a copy of Ted Hooper's Guide to Bees & Honey, or Clive de Bruyn's Practical Beekeeping

According to Hooper, 32 deg C for 2-5 days to soften granulated honey for bottling, or 52 deg C for 2 days to liquefy granulated honey. Based on 28lb tins or 30lb buckets.

 

[BeeJayBee]

It warms up to 32degs.

Check this thread http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7472

 

[moor141]

Thanks Beejoyful, thats very helpfull.

Also Danbee, I do have Ted Hoopers book, warming to 52deg's seems a bit excessive. Just looking for other opinion's.

 

[Hombre]

Ideally you would have a temperature sensor to sense the temperature of the honey, but be assured that getting it soft and getting it liquified is two completely different things.

If you get it 90% liquified and pour it into a fabric sieve/filter, then the granulated mass that is left, if put into a bowl and microwaved until it has liquified, will stiffen up very fast, indicating that the honey that went through the sieve was probably higher in water content than you had first thought. The remainder in your bowl will have a significantly different water content I suspect. Depending on relative amounts, blend or use for cake making.

 

[oliver90owner]

I will second Hombres post.

The only time I have suffered from fermenting honey in jars was very early in my beekeeping, when I bottled the melted part of a bucket. Never again; melt the whole bucketful every time.

 

[moor141]

Used the new cabinet and it worked fine. After 3 days my set honey was nicely liquid and easy to deal with.

 

[Moggs]

Your 32 deg will not have much impact on hard-as-rock granulated OSR bulk honey, hence the higher recommended temperatures. It's important not to allow the honey to develop hotspots at these temperatures, so occasional stirring is an advantage. The honey should not be allowed to reach the higher temperatures quoted but you do need a bit of a thermal wallop to get the heat transfer in a reasonable time.