Filtering Honey

[NigelP]

I've been told about a way you can supposedly get OSR honey set in combs reprocessed by the bees and it's supposed to now lose this tendency to set like concrete.
Uncap and soak in water and place super under hive brood box. Bees should reprocess and store excess in super (assuming no major flow on).
I've never tried it and it all sounds a bit iffy, but might be worth a punt if only to prove they do reprocess it or they don’t remove it. Stranger things have happened.

[Japey Edge]

So these two items arrived today (I had a little spree on Prime after posting this thread).
Wouldn't mind some thoughts of you other forumites on these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TXQCZW6/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_9GN2EbKP27THR

And

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SSZ8SM1/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_UHN2Eb1V0QG34

The nut milk bag seems interesting.

[Steve 1972]

i have only ever used these Jazz with no problems at all..apart from them blocking up when extracting quite a bit of honey..that is why i have two...i can blast one with the hose pipe and let it dry while extracting with the second one..

[Steve 1972]

I've been told about a way you can supposedly get OSR honey set in combs reprocessed by the bees and it's supposed to now lose this tendency to set like concrete.

I have read the same Nigel and i think it is true..i put several uncapped supers back on to the hives last year with bits of set OSR set in the frames..on the summer extraction the set honey was gone..maybe the the bees ate it i don't know but the summer crop was nice and runny..

[AdamD]

I've been told about a way you can supposedly get OSR honey set in combs reprocessed by the bees and it's supposed to now lose this tendency to set like concrete.

I have read the same Nigel and i think it is true..i put several uncapped supers back on to the hives last year with bits of set OSR set in the frames..on the summer extraction the set honey was gone..maybe the the bees ate it i don't know but the summer crop was nice and runny..

I did put a super under each of two colonies this year; both supers with partially extracted OSR honey.
|I closed up floor and put an excluder and entrance eke above the lower super. (With the new Abelo hives with little square holes in the sides, you may not need an eke?). Once the bees get the idea that the entrance had changed position, they are happy and the under-supers were empty after a couple of weeks (without dunking them in water). No sign of the honey setting in the supers above the brood. With one colony I put the emptied super straight on top of the stack of supers that were already on the hive. I have a few more part-set supers like that and might put them underneath over the next few weeks before the full blackberry flow is on. Having a top entrance is not so easy to do with WBC's of course.

[AndrewLD]

One of our beekeepers recommends putting supers for cleaning (and would this work for uncapped set in the comb OSR?) on top of an eke sitting over the crownboard with one feeder hole part open. It's the opposite I think to what Roger Patterson has recommended (he puts it under the brood box as per Adam but with the part open coverboard instead of an excluder.
I think the idea for both is that the bees don't like having the opened comb separated from the hive so they move it...
Definitely be easier on top than underneath. Think I'll try it as soon as the weather allows.....

[Patrick]

I hesitate before sayIng anything definitive about what bees will or will not do but my experience of clearing supers above a crownboard is it depends when you do it.

After or between flows they clean out much better than when they are still bringing a natural flow. After an extraction they are all on the lookout so ensure no gaps for the neighbours to find or all he’ll ensues. During a flow they instead can sometimes still use Athose combs to actually deposit nectar or actually recap it. Substantially blocking off the crown board feed hole and leaving only a small gap seems Important.

I don’t actually dunk part crystallised combs as it gets things a bit sticky, just use a plant sprayer to wet up. Seems enough to allow the bees to liquify the granulated crystals. Yer takes yer pick

[NigelP]

I did put a super under each of two colonies this year; both supers with partially extracted OSR honey.
|I closed up floor and put an excluder and entrance eke above the lower super.and the under-supers were empty after a couple of weeks (without dunking them in water). No sign of the honey setting in the supers above the brood.

Interesting Adam, seems there is some truth to it.

As for getting supers cleaned after extraction I just stick them on top of the current supers towards evening time, no boards or holes. Go back next day, usually around lunchtime and put a clearer board underneath them.
Generally they are all cleaned and "dry".

[NigelP]

This honey had already been filtered through a pair of stainless steel filters identical to those Steve pictured above. This morning I did my final filtration through a 200 micron bucket filter before jarring
Usually not as much black stuff as this....But just shows that they still let a quite a bit of gunk through them. Its mainly very small wax particles. Usually almost all the retained wax particles are translucent ...(see the "white" dots). I know I blew and old super frame when extracting , so this is probably where the dark matter has appeared from.

[Japey Edge]

I got similar when I filtered the strained honey through the nut milk bag. They're really useful btw. I had the same Nigel - stainless strainers take the big bits out but something finer is needed to get the rest.

I had plenty of little black bits - thought they were bits of bee myself.