Putting Honey in the freezer.

A place for bee-ginners to ask questions and receive answers from experienced beekeepers.
Post Reply
User avatar
Colino
Forum Regular
Posts: 390
Joined: April 12th, 2014, 11:01 am
Location: Whitla Ab. (SouthEastern Alberta)
Contact:

Putting Honey in the freezer.

Unread post by Colino »

I have never had enough honey that I had to store some in the freezer until I can bottle it. Can I just strain it into 5 gallon pails and put them directly into the freezer? Or is there some other preparation that needs to be done first? When I take it out for bottling, is there a procedure to thawing it out and how long does it take to thaw? Thanks in advance.
Colino
Narcissism is easy because it's me or I, Empathy is hard because it's they or them.-Colino
User avatar
Countryboy
Forum Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: November 8th, 2010, 9:37 pm
Location: Central Ohio
Contact:

Re: Putting Honey in the freezer.

Unread post by Countryboy »

Why are you putting the 5 gallon buckets of honey into the freezer?

I strain my honey and store it in buckets. Yes, it will crystalize, sometimes within a few months. I will put the bucket of crystalized honey in the bathtub filled with hot water. That will liquify the outside of the honey, and I can then dump the chunk of solid honey into my heated bottling tank. After 2 days at 110 degrees F., it is ready to bottle.

Mann Lake sells a band heater that goes around a 5 gallon bucket that works wonders for liquifying buckets of honey too. I don't know how hot it gets the honey, but it would probably make it easy for a small-time guy without a heated bottling tank to liquify a bucket of honey and get it warm enough to bottle easily.
B. Farmer Honey
Central Ohio
User avatar
Colino
Forum Regular
Posts: 390
Joined: April 12th, 2014, 11:01 am
Location: Whitla Ab. (SouthEastern Alberta)
Contact:

Re: Putting Honey in the freezer.

Unread post by Colino »

Countryboy wrote:Why are you putting the 5 gallon buckets of honey into the freezer?

I strain my honey and store it in buckets. Yes, it will crystalize, sometimes within a few months. I will put the bucket of crystalized honey in the bathtub filled with hot water. That will liquify the outside of the honey, and I can then dump the chunk of solid honey into my heated bottling tank. After 2 days at 110 degrees F., it is ready to bottle.

Mann Lake sells a band heater that goes around a 5 gallon bucket that works wonders for liquifying buckets of honey too. I don't know how hot it gets the honey, but it would probably make it easy for a small-time guy without a heated bottling tank to liquify a bucket of honey and get it warm enough to bottle easily.
From what I've read, putting honey into the freezer will stop the crystallization and buy me some time. I don't have a bottling tank and ordering anything from the States now would require a second mortgage, what with currency exchange and freight costs. I'll have to settle for the freezer idea for now if I can figure it out.
Colino
Narcissism is easy because it's me or I, Empathy is hard because it's they or them.-Colino
User avatar
Countryboy
Forum Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: November 8th, 2010, 9:37 pm
Location: Central Ohio
Contact:

Re: Putting Honey in the freezer.

Unread post by Countryboy »

It might be cheaper to store your buckets in a shed or garage. If they crystallize, put them in an unplugged freezer with a 100 watt light bulb inside on a thermostat set at 100 degrees. This is a slow way to warm honey. Liquify it as you need it.

I have never heard of anyone storing buckets of honey in a freezer. Comb honey, yes...buckets of liquid honey, no. Oh wait...you are in Canada. If your buckets are in an unheated shed or garage, they already are in the freezer. LOL
B. Farmer Honey
Central Ohio
User avatar
Vance G
Forum Regular
Posts: 251
Joined: October 26th, 2011, 7:38 pm
Location: Latitude: 47°30′13″N Longitude: 111°17′11″W Great Falls Montana

Re: Putting Honey in the freezer.

Unread post by Vance G »

I just had a customer want five gallons of honey and had a major problem of my reliquifying the bucket at 104F because of heating the honey in plastic. Glass carboys? Wonderful glass encased seventy pound honey balls, no chance of problems there! I try to cater to these loons and then have a tight knot in my stomach. I know of evidence that phtalines are released into food from food safe plastic, but I think we are all going to die of something sometime. Maybe some day people will be amazed about our use of plastic to handle food as we are of the Romans use of lead for cooking and serving vessels. I so much want to tell some of these people to go starve to death in the dark in a natural cave. Does this make me a curmudgeon as Colino called me?
User avatar
Colino
Forum Regular
Posts: 390
Joined: April 12th, 2014, 11:01 am
Location: Whitla Ab. (SouthEastern Alberta)
Contact:

Re: Putting Honey in the freezer.

Unread post by Colino »

Vance G wrote: I so much want to tell some of these people to go starve to death in the dark in a natural cave. Does this make me a curmudgeon as Colino called me?
Sorry Vance I thought you knew it was jocularity. :D We've got 400lbs of strained honey in our freezer as an experiment, I'll let everyone know how that turns out. I'm hypothesizing that maybe the freezer idea works not so much because it's cold but that the freezer keeps the honey at a constant temperature. Anyone have an opinion on this? The first honey we bottled on the shelf has already started to turn into beautiful, white creamed honey. It seems Mustard honey crystallizes faster than even Canola honey. We have one more event to cater next weekend, then we will lay back for the winter and sell some honey for something to do. Hope you're healing well after your operation,take care.
Colino
Narcissism is easy because it's me or I, Empathy is hard because it's they or them.-Colino
User avatar
Vance G
Forum Regular
Posts: 251
Joined: October 26th, 2011, 7:38 pm
Location: Latitude: 47°30′13″N Longitude: 111°17′11″W Great Falls Montana

Re: Putting Honey in the freezer.

Unread post by Vance G »

I took no offense as I know I resemble that remark!

I am about healed. At any rate the lifting restrictions go off soon. I have my honey all piled by my extractor thanks to a couple good Samaritans who I have been helping so surprisingly my good deeds did go unpunished, at least this time.

Mustard and canola are closely related and do crystalize fast. In the old days, I always segregated the crop from hives close to canola and cranby and mustard and sunflowers and put it in the barrel to go down the road. The alfalfa I kept separate and it was extremely slow to sugar. Now when I have more of an admixture of floral sources, I have an old freezer with a hundred watt bulb and a thermostat to reliquify the jars the week before a sale day.
Post Reply