What to do with uncapped OSR honey?

[jbr]

I have a super that is full and capped at the moment and I want to extract from it. What will happen to the remaining honey in the uncapped super that probably contains OSR honey? Should all supers be taken off once the flowers fade and use the uncapped honey for something like mead? Then replace supers for the rest of the summer? Or let the bees mix the remaining OSR with anything else they bring home during the summer.

 

[BKF Admin]

Do you own/can you borrow a dehumidifier ?

 

[Finman]

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You wait that bees bring more honey and capp it. My main yield is rape.
Then remember to give an empty super between brood and uncapped honey.

Often during a big honey flow bees store nectar in brood area and then lift it up when it rippen.

I get every year rape honey but I never extract uncapped honey. It early summer and they will get something else nectar.

By they way, on my cottage are winter rape is blooming.

No panic with rape honey. It is over advertised for its crystallization.

 

[RoseCottage]

So we were warned to extract our osr honey even before it was capped ...which we did.
Is fermentation and loss now inevitable?

 

[Finman]

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It depends on water content. If you do not measure it, it is impossible to know.

If you see fermentation, feed it back to bees.

 

[oliver90owner]

Is fermentation and loss now inevitable?

Certainly not. You were told to do the 'shake' test on any uncapped frames. There should not, of course, be a majority of 'borderline' frames. You were told to set some aside after extraction and observe the surface after granulation. That was if you did not have access to a refractometer to measure the water content in the honey.

The only time I have had fermentation in ten years was when I part-melted a bucket of honey early my in beekeeping, and used just some of it. I learned from that and have never melted only part of a batch since. Feeding back to the bees when between flows is the simple remedy - before it ferments! Storing the honey below about 5 degrees will prevent fermentation, if there is any doubt.

No difference here than wine-making - similar sorts of yeasts.

RAB

 

[Finman]

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However the lesson is: don't extract uncapped honey. It is not necessary at all. If frame is 2/3 capped it is safe to exctract but after couple of days the frame will totally capped.

Rape honey will not crystallized in few days. That is sure.

but there is a way to dry it up. I use warming cabinet before extracting and I warm the honey in the heat of 35 C. If I keep warming blowers on over 4 days, it so dry that it is difficult to get off from combs. And the honey dry through the cappings.

The machine is this kind and it has a thermostat. The cost is not much.

 

[RoseCottage]

Rab,
We did the shake test but not a set aside test. Our first super gave us about 14 pounds but had not been on long, the second older super gave us about 20 pounds. Neither dripped when shaken.
But you know what its like being a new unsure beekeeper you do everything over cautious and ask all the dumbest questions...

To those who responded thanks

Sam