Proper use of a heated bottling tank and choosing right size?

[mpjourdan]

Hello. I want to buy a water jacketed bottling tank but I'm not sure what size to get. I was thinking I'd want a bigger tank maybe a 42 gallon Maxant or maybe a 55 gallon Mann lake and keeping a lot of honey warm, say around 85 degrees F. to delay crystalization but someone was telling me I'd be better off with a smaller tank and heating only what I thought I could sell in the immediate future and only when it needed to be decrystalized, he said he thought it would be better for the honey to heat it only once when it needed it than to keep it warm for a prolonged period. Does anybody have any thoughts on this? I sell honey at farmers markets and I want to keep the new honey harvested around the first of August liquid through October, after that I don't care if it crystalizes and I would only decrystalize it in small amounts as I needed it. Thanks for any input anybody might have.

[MAXANT]

This is my own PERSONAL thoughts as this how we do it.
We use the smaller tank, and keep it filled year round and bottle as needed.
There is no difference keeping it in buckets vs storing in the bottling tank IMO.
Our honey never sees over 110, and if it does get that warm we back the thermostat down to 90-95 for bottling.
I think you are going to get alot of yes do it this way, and no do it this way. In the end you need to do what works best for you.
On another note, that ML tank is a thinner SS than we use. Mine has a lifetime warranty.

[mpjourdan]

Thank you for the reply Maxant, I also have a question on the heater.

Does the heater have a proper built in thermostat so that it doesn't matter whether the tank is plumb full or practically empty because the thermostat will kick on and off as needed to maintain the set temperature, or is the temperature setting dial more of a rough guild and depends on tank fullness?

[MAXANT]

Yes, the heater has a proper thermostat. The thermometer on the front of the tank is telling you the temperature of the product in the tank, thats what you want to go by.

[bermybee]

I also thought about the smaller vs bigger tank not only for the reasons you stated but for energy loose and consumption. You can always get a bigger tank and half fill it. I decided to go with the 25gal Maxant tank, works for me. It's a good size if you plan on bottling all your warm honey at once. I supply 7 of the major grocery stores here with 4 different size bottles.

[Fuzzy]

In my opinion, the proper use would be to warm the honey to 120F for 48hrs and then bottle it all. Assuming that the bottled honey is stored at room temp it will not begin to granulate for 9-12 months.

It cost's a bundle to keep a lot of honey warm for 3-4 months.
I currently use an extractor tank, with a light box below the bottom surrounded by a styrofoam box to do the warming.

Fuzzy