Over recent years I seem to have collected a load of super frames that can be split into the following groups:
1. Granulated but honey OK, from this year's harvest.
2. Granulated but honey OK (just) from previous year.
3. Granulated with both capped and uncapped honey that hadn't been finished before coming off.
4. Frames with decidedly fermented smell.
I now have a wonderful Kochstar II warmer that has been very useful and I now have a Thorne's easy-steam.
Someone suggested to me that I could could heat out group 1's honey at 40 degC bottle it and sell it. I am sceptical that the wax and honey will separate out at such a low temperature. I have only succeeded in the past by going to almost 70 degC and then the honey was "baker's honey" (I have a lot of that now!). Any advice please.
I guess group 2 honey can be heated out be used for "baker's honey" ? I don't need to sell it so I don't want to compromise my normal honey sales.
Group 3 - open to ideas but I am wary of processing it just to feed back to the bees and any mix of part finished and finished honey seems inherently risky for any human use. I already give them unfinished frames (with capped cells scraped) to deal with before autumn is out and then take the frames away with what they don't want left in them. So I am not short of stuff to give them.
Group 4 - I guess they will be first to be steamed and I can recover the wax. The "honey" is probably going to feed the bugs in my septic tank.
I have been putting this off for far too long and now I can only just squeeze into the garage ......
1. Granulated but honey OK, from this year's harvest.
2. Granulated but honey OK (just) from previous year.
3. Granulated with both capped and uncapped honey that hadn't been finished before coming off.
4. Frames with decidedly fermented smell.
I now have a wonderful Kochstar II warmer that has been very useful and I now have a Thorne's easy-steam.
Someone suggested to me that I could could heat out group 1's honey at 40 degC bottle it and sell it. I am sceptical that the wax and honey will separate out at such a low temperature. I have only succeeded in the past by going to almost 70 degC and then the honey was "baker's honey" (I have a lot of that now!). Any advice please.
I guess group 2 honey can be heated out be used for "baker's honey" ? I don't need to sell it so I don't want to compromise my normal honey sales.
Group 3 - open to ideas but I am wary of processing it just to feed back to the bees and any mix of part finished and finished honey seems inherently risky for any human use. I already give them unfinished frames (with capped cells scraped) to deal with before autumn is out and then take the frames away with what they don't want left in them. So I am not short of stuff to give them.
Group 4 - I guess they will be first to be steamed and I can recover the wax. The "honey" is probably going to feed the bugs in my septic tank.
I have been putting this off for far too long and now I can only just squeeze into the garage ......