Honey, Dehydrating Supers

[divebee]

This has been a damp year here, and usually I have extracted some by now. I have checked my capped honey and the moisture content is running a little over 19%, just above where I would extract. So I put the supers back on the hive waiting for warmer and dryer weather. Then I began reading up on dehydrating honey while in the supers. I dont want to alter the quality of the honey, but have read where folks place supers in a room with a dehumidifier running. I have also had someone tell me I can set up fans and blow warm air up through a stack of supers. If I did that, I would have to monitor the temperature closely. My first thought is I dont want to get it warm enough that the wax would weaken, and have a huge mess on the floor some hours later. Other than that, how warm can one make the supers without having any undesirable issues arise? I hope to be able to lower this moisture content fairly quickly, as I have limited time to work with this and I would like to get the supers back on the hives as soon as possible.

Thanks
divebee

[Dan Williamson]

Last year I had the same problem. I had about 15-20 supers and closed them up in a sealed room with 3 fans circulating air and a dehumidifier running for 4 days round the clock. It brought the moisture down to below the recommended level. I had some honey that was around 20% and capped.

The temp in the room was around 100deg. It did get as high as 107 at one point. The only problem I had was a super of cut comb that weakened and ended up all over the floor. That was a huge mess. 2 other CC supers were fine.

All supers with plastic foundation showed no problem with the temp.

I'd say 90-95 deg is ideal.

Just blowing fans across them without a means of removing moisture I think won't have the same results. But I'm not an expert on that. I didn't have a heat source other than the sun beating down on the building and it was terribly humid outside of that room. The humidity in the room at the time I turned on the dehumidifier was 75%. It was 30% when I extracted (in the same room) 4 days later.

[Panhandle Bee man]

I have used dehumidifiers, and window AC units with good results. I always start the dehumidifiers and AC up a day ahead of when I pull the supers, and start getting rid of the moisture in the air/room before I bring the supers in. I just stack the supers on an open bottom pallet, and don't cover the tops. After a day or two the honey will begin to dry up, and you can usually bring the moisture levels down 1-2%. Once extracted if you are still not happy with the moisture levels Just leave the honey in your settleing tank/bucket with the same setup and you still draw off extra moisture.

[Hillside]

This has been a damp year here,




If I remember correctly, the magic number is about 58% relative humidity. If you can get the RH below that level, the honey will dry down to an adequate moisture level. You don't actually have to heat the honey if you reduce the RH by using a dehumidifier. Of course, one way to reduce RH without a dehumidifier is to heat the air, but that can be dangerous if the temp gets too high.

I'd set up a dehumidifier in a small room and put the supers in there with spacers between them so that the air can circulate. Set the bottom super up off the floor with some kind of spacer also. You want good air flow. Buy a cheap RH meter if you want to keep a closer eye on things. Get the RH down to about 50% for a few days and you should find you have good honey.

[Jim Fischer]

Electricity costs money, while bees work for free.

Better the leave the supers on the hives and wait a bit,
as the energy costs to "dry out" the honey will be high,
moreso if you don't have a well-insulated "hot room" to
use for the purpose.

At least you were smart enough to buy and use a refractometer!
You would have had a problem if you had extracted and then
realized that your honey was at 19% and the weather was damp.

[Walliebee]

I think many beekers in humid areas have this problem, though some of them don’t know it. Most think if it’s capped it’s good. Then they wonder why is crystallized so fast, or even spoiled.

The relative humidity is expressed as a percentage measure of the amount of moisture in the air compared to the maximum amount of moisture the air can hold at the same temperature and pressure. Listed below are average humidity values for the month of July.

CITY MORNING AVERAGE / AFTERNOON AVERAGE (% HUMIDITY)

ASHEVILLE, NC 95/62
CAPE HATTERAS, NC 85/70
CHARLOTTE, NC 87/57
GREENSBORO-WNSTN-SALM-HGHPT, NC 87/59
RALEIGH, NC 89/58
WILMINGTON, NC 87/63

By looking at the numbers, one sees that it will not be able to reduce in moisture on its own. (At least in NC) Jim has a good point that the bees do it for free, and they usually will, as they generate heat, the humidity will fall in response. It can take quite some time if you have lots of supers on, and the bees are eating honey in the process.
I do what Panhandle Bee Man does. You don't need to elevate the temperature to get good results and it's a quick and easy process if you have room to do it.

The key is check your moisture BEFORE you bottle!