Took my rape honey off three weeks ago. Half has been bottled, and half is still in the bucket. It was my first big haul, and I didn't realise it would set so quickly and solidly. Can I still heat it up, and "seed" it with clover honey?
Took my rape honey off three weeks ago. Half has been bottled, and half is still in the bucket. It was my first big haul, and I didn't realise it would set so quickly and solidly. Can I still heat it up, and "seed" it with clover honey?
Last edited by Derek Uchman; 21-06-2011 at 09:01 PM.
Personally, I'd keep the two types separate. Clover honey will granulate anyway.
Many folk let the rape honey set in buckets (I let mine set in the combs this year - doh!) then warm it just enough to get it moving. Stir it and bottle it. It will remain soft set, better than the frosted hard stuff that you get when you let it set in the jars.
I sometimes extract mine into large polythene food bags sitting in large tins. After it sets I can warm it with a bit of judicious microwaving, enough so that I can squidge it inside its bag to mix and soften, cut the corner off, and pipe it into jars.
Keep it quiet about honey harvests though - you'll make those people in the west jealous.
Honey! What's that then? Something we might not see this year in the wet and windy west. Just as well I went down the bee breeding road and not the honey crop road!
I'm not sure that those of us in the west will be jealous of the poor folk who have to cope with rape honey, Gavin
For me, the main flow's just about to begin and wandering round the hives on a still summer's evening when the girls are ripening clover honey is just heavenly!
There's still a chance of honey as we tend to get late flows.All we need is an Indian Summer.
Thanks, Gavin. I'll take your advice. Glad to hear the situation isn't a complete loss.
Sorry, westcoasters! I had no idea the situation was like that there. Hope things pick up, and you get your Indian summer
Microwaving? Oh dear Gavin not good form at all, the massive energy really knackers the honey quality. - apparently, but then again : http://journals.uzpi.cz/publicFiles/44990.pdf cant find a reference to what microwaving does to enzymes though.
12,5kg food quality buckets with lids, fit nicely one of these as a water bath for gentle & efficient warmth distribution:
at 40°C for 24hrs and your honey is liquified. Or stir after clearing from harvesting till close to set (that lovely shimmering look) and 8hours @ 40°C and it is a pourable soft set and will not properly resolidify.
Last edited by Calum; 06-09-2011 at 07:13 PM. Reason: nackers with a K
Extract oilseed rape honey as soon as possible from the combs. They can be taken from the hive as soon as a shaken comb does not shed any drops of honey, even though it is not capped. To achieve this it is best to put the clearer boards on first thing in the morning, after the night when the bees have not added more and have had the whole night to ripen the contents.
Extract the frames and, if there is any chance of the honey sitting in the tank and solidifying, run it immediately into 7 or 10 pound plastic pails, seal them, and put them in the deep freeze. Leave for 3-6 months. When you remove the pails, you absolutely must allow them to return to room temp before removing the lid, otherwise condensation will form on the honey surface and spoil it. When you do open them, the honey will have the consistency of thick cream and the lustre of a pearl! Now bottle it. This method is foolproof, and works every time.
I had real difficulty getting an extractor in time so my rape honey set in the comb. Can antone advise me about how to extract it if that's possible. I don't want to give 75ibs of it back to the bees. Mike
Well, this westcoaster is bottling the biggest haul of honey we've had in a long time ... and managed to breed bees too. They've even given us some lovely comb honey which was drawn more evenly than usual. I suppose it helps to have bees which fly in anything except torrential rain!
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