Soft-set honey

[Mellifera Crofter]

Twice now, my soft-set honey has been affected by frosting. I wonder what I might be doing wrong.

The first time it happened, I left the honey for too long in the settling tank, and it was already quite stiff when I eventually jarred it. I thought that was the reason for the frosting (see the first photo), where the frosting is all the way down the side.

But as for my recent batch of jars - I don't know. It's visible in the second photo. It looks as though the honey has pulled away from the walls near the neck of the jar. (This is not due to a trick of the light.)

Could a difference in temperature between the jars (warmish) and the honey (probably room temperature after a day's settling), have caused the frosting? (Although it's not happened before.)

Kitta

IMG_4836.jpg IMG_4839.jpg

[fatshark]

Hi Kitta

I always warm both - the honey and the jar. I think a lot of frosting is tiny bubbles rising through the cooling (hardening) honey, perhaps also pulling away from the jar as well.

After my soft set, er, sets I rewarm it thoroughly to mid-30's C (well below melting, but enough to get it moving) and then run it into warmed jars. At this temperature it is easier to jar and I've seen little if any frosting.

I'm doing some more tonight

Good luck

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thanks Fatshark. So, it's probably a temperature thing - but I'm not quite sure how you manage that. After you've softened your hard OSR honey, and mixed it in with runny honey to make a future soft-set honey - how do you heat it up again? Do you put the mixture in a settling tank (with a tap), and then in your warming cabinet to warm, and to settle? Is your cabinet big enough to take the tank?
Kitta

[fatshark]

I think it's less of a temperature thing as a 'letting the bubbles rise before jarring it' situation. After seeding the melted OSR with ~10-20% fine-grain I mix and mix and mix over a few days until it's almost too viscous to stir. This is using a drill and a paddle ... I dream of a machine to do this. I do this in a bucket with a tap. This then goes into the honey warming cabinet at 35-37oC for ~12 hours, then I jar it.

My honey warming cabinet isn't big enough, but it is big enough to take a couple of 30lb buckets with taps. I prefer to jar small batches (20- 60lb) more frequently rather than have large amounts of jarred honey sitting around. It's not efficient, but nothing much about my beekeeping is

[Mellifera Crofter]

I've allowed the honey to settle, Fatshark, for at least 24 hours in both batches (in the first batch probably even too long), and always scoop off the mousse for myself before jarring it! I need a new bucket with a tap. I'll get a smaller one to fit into the warming cabinet, and see if that makes a difference.
Kitta

[Adam]

I have to admit that I don't get sufficient consistency with soft set - and a probably need a better mixing paddle which might help (I believe Abelo have the best one).
Frosting is usually due to granulation - although your honey Kitta looks pretty OK really. What's it like of you open the offending jar ?

[Mellifera Crofter]

That’s odd, Neil. Could it be that, being smaller, the 12 oz jars crystallised quicker because they got colder quicker?

[Neils]

Honestly don't know, wondering if it might have something to do with shape in combination with temp or something.

[alancooper]

I have been trying to make my soft-set ivy honey softer than my usually softish-to-semihard stuff, but still not approaching that of supermarket soft set the texture that shoppers seem to prefer. Should I accept that it is not possible? Has anyone had a good result?
Alan.

[fatshark]

I've not attempted soft set with ivy. The softest soft set I make usually results from using a reasonable amount of a suitable 'seed' and then mixing it really well, morning and night, over several days. This ends up creamy smooth and retains its consistency very well.

Is there a good market for ivy? I thought it was a bit of an acquired taste. Moot point for me really as I never get a crop from it