The author describes how to make a warming box. It's basically an insulated container where the honey pails are set with a low watt light bulb. The honey slowly liquefies over a 12 hour period. The key is to sustain a low heat so that the honey's natural elements are preserved.
[Photo - sticky honey and cappings before heating]
If you've been beekeeping for even a year you'll have noticed how quickly natural honey crystallizes. And that's a normal process. (If you want more info on how and why honey crystallizes read this.
In the next month or so I plan to build a warming box and I will certainly share all the details of that with you once I get it done.
But this brings me to the dilemma. I needed to warm up some honey and wax cappings that I had scraped out of the cappings box last season. They've been stored in containers and it's quite a sticky mess of wax and honey.
I don't want to cook the honey which would separate the wax and honey but would give my a dark caramelized honey.
So I started looking around the house for a potential warming box that I could pop two bowls into to warm up.
I looked over cardboard boxes and then my thoughts turned to the oven--not to turn it on but to use it as a warming box. It's a closed container, maybe not super well insulated but it could work.
I took out a shelf, leaving only one shelf up about 4" from the bottom. I put the bowl of cappings on the shelf. Then next to the bowl I set a trouble light with a 60 watt bulb. I closed the oven door, with the electrical cord only creating a small gap.
The next morning the honey was softer but not melted so I made two changes. I upped the wattage to 100 and put the light on the floor of the oven underneath the bowl.
Viola! By evening I had runny honey. I could put it through a sieve and jar it. The cappings left on top of the sieve I'll give to the bees to lick dry--they do it better than any other method.
2 comments:
I just found your website and really enjoy it!
Recently, I added a beekeeping class and someone mentioned taking a small old fridge -- like the kind students keep in their dorm rooms -- and rigging it with a high watt bulb. Unfortunately, I don't remember what he did to keep the bulb on when the door was closed, but he said it worked really well in keeping his honey warm.
Jumble Packet: Yes you're right about the fridge and many beekeepers use them. They must put a trouble light inside with the cord going through the seal on the door. I think the wattage is low, like around 40 watts because it can get quite hot inside.
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