Keeping Honey warm while bottling

[Chef Isaac]

I am having trouble keeping the honey lightly warm while I bottle. For years, I have used a heating pad but I have not been happy with it lately. when it is time to pour, the honey is cold and takes forever to bottle.

I keep the bottling buckets in the house and I can not keep the temp of the room hot. It is usually around 65 or so.

I have thought about using the bucket heater that fits around the bucket. Anyone ever tried this method?

Any suggestions or thoughts?

[Fuzzy]

Suggest that you build an insulated cabinet (or convert a fridge) to store the buckets in. Put a lighted 100 watt bulb at the bottom of the enclosure to heat the space. The buckets should probably be at least 6-8 inches above the bulb.

I use something similar to warm the frames before extraction. Gets them up to 90-100 in a couple of days.

Fuzzy

[Michael Palmer]

Any suggestions or thoughts?

Yeah, invest in a water jacketed bottling tank.

[Chef Isaac]

how about the bans that fit around a plastic bucket.... do they work well?

[Chef Isaac]

The problem with a converted freezer or water jacketed tank is the space. I just do not have the space.

[AstroBee]

Yes, the strap heaters work well, but they probably will get the honey hotter than you want. I guess you could closely monitor the temps to prevent it from getting your honey too hot, but that's another thing to worry about. I have one and it has been my experience that these heating straps are very good at liquifying buckets that have crystalized, which is much hotter than what is needed to simply pour honey quickly. I'm going from distant memory, but I believe that the straps will get the honey in the 125 F range, perhaps hottter right next to the band.

[livetrappingbymatt]

they can darken the honey if not watched closely.
bob