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British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Warming cabinet temp

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #185  by Vickers
 03 Aug 2018, 23:33
Hi can some one please give me an idea as to what temperature I should set a warming cabinet to and how long I should leave the honey in before bottling the honey.
 #186  by AdamD
 04 Aug 2018, 18:17
It will depend on the volume of honey you want to warm as a large bucket times a while for the heat to get through. For my cabinet, i leave a 15kg bucket in for 24 hours or so at 50C. Although my cabinet does not have heat evenly distributed (Job for winter to fit a fan). The above temp may not be enough for all the honey to be heated through enough to make it all runny, so jars may go back in. Once warmed through the lids can be tightened warm and then they get concave once the honey cools.
 #187  by Jim Norfolk
 04 Aug 2018, 18:27
If the honey is already liquid then there should normally be no need to warm it before bottling. If on the other hand it has crystallised and is set in the bucket, it is worth stirring it gently from time to time during the warming process until it is fully liquid. As Adam suggests, 50 C for around 24 hrs should do it. You may then want to strain it and allow it to settle before bottling.

I used an old PC cooling fan connected to a 12 V lead acid battery to move the air around my warming cabinet.
 #198  by AdamD
 06 Aug 2018, 12:58
Jim, you make a good point - I had assumed that the honey in Vickers' post was set already. If not, then it could be poured into the settling tank - via a strainer if needed - and then run out into jars once bubbles had risen.
 #225  by Vickers
 08 Aug 2018, 23:44
Thank you for your comments. Iv built the cabinet from a old freezer that had split the pipe some time ago. All the workings had been removed so it was a shell. I built in two 40w tube heaters running through a thermostat control unit. Also a 12v computer fan circulates the warm air. Tryed it at 40c for 24 hours and my honey runs nice and steady into jars. Some honey I have harvested this year is thick so that's why I was asking what others do. :D
 #336  by nealh
 19 Aug 2018, 09:13
I'm still using a mix of 25w & 40w Incandescents's in my homemade warmer with a digital thermometer with a sensor..
Depending on the ambient temp I have a scale for temps and which watt bulb/s to use, for solid honey a day at max 44c then it is left at 35/37c until ready to bottle in the next few days.