If mine I'd keep them cool...even placed in a refrigerator until ready to open or gift.

Separation DOES occur if kept too warm in my experience.

 

Okay, thanks for the reply. I wonder how some folks ship it all over the world and don't see it separate?

 

Good question...I dunno, we don't ship anything anywhere...I'm sure someone else will offer a suggestion. If kept cool ours stays solid for a very long time.

 

Got ya. Thanks I appreciate the feedback. Maybe someone on here has an idea. Thanks Drummerboy

 

Mine are all kept at room temp. My backup seed stock is a few years old and is still the same consistency.

 

How long do you chill yours before storing at room temperature?

 

It takes a week to go from runny to barely pourable for me. I have a dedicated creamed honey pail I keep topping up so my seed ratio can be as high as 50%. When its thick but still pourable, it goes into jars or into a separate dedicated pail to receive cinnamon.

It'll stay slightly fluid for a few months if kept warm. Another week in a cold space will completely firm it up if you wanted. I prefer the slightly fluid state.

Just keep it cool until you're happy with it. It'll all set eventually.

 

From my experience:

It all depends on room temperature. If your closet doesn’t get above 75 degrees (F), I think you will be fine. At some temperature in the 80’s or 90’s, it will start to uncrystallize.

When temp drops, it will re-crystallize, but will not look as nice.

Same for leaving it in a hot car all day.

Best wishes.

 

Thank you all for your help. Sounds like im on the right track.

 

I normally store in fridge.

Put in the freezer a day early and wrap with bubble wrap and an ice pack if mailing.

 

I only suspect it needs to be stored for another 2-3 months.

 

You could keep it at 55 to see if you can develop more crystals, or just freeze it if it's really nice already

 

Ive had it at 55=57 degrees for a week now. Its pretty smooth now. Will more days in the cooler make any difference?

 

For me, longer time makes it firmer and more stable. I go in and stir/whip it by hand every few days to keep the crystals small and smooth. In my opinion, that extra week or two is when it really transforms into something special..

We are at the beach on vacation right now with family who are a little tired of honey. I brought some of my latest creamed honey, one that's been getting creamed for about a month.

I offered it to sample, and most did not even want to try it. Finally, one did, and she paused, and asked, "Wha did you DO to this? What did you add to make it so good? That's crazy!"

After that, several others tried it and a conversation started up about how I HAVE to take this to market.

They had the same stuff earlier, and they said this is completely different, and I agree.

I had been pretty happy with it before, but now I am going to make all of it this way

Maybe try a small batch for longer and see what you think.

 

Brach pic, just now:

 

It is a matter of what honey you are attempting to cream. High glucose honey will set up quick and only requires a few days at 57 F. High fructose honey won't even cream. Then you have everything in between that can take up to two weeks or still be somewhat runny creamed no matter how long it is kept at optimal set temp.

It for this very reason I harvest two times a season. Pull my summer honey for liquid "raw" then pull the fall, high glucose, honey at the end of the season that is heated to 135F, sent through a fine strainer to be rapid cooled then creamed. I can bottle after one or two days and is as set as it's ever going to be by three days. Completely spreadable thick creamed fall honey. Stored at room temp, 70 F, in cases out of the sun.

 

The fall honey here also kicks off really easily.

Certain honey, like the blackberry last year refuses to crystallize. Whatever our bees were on this spring... it was crystallized in the comb, so I couldn't harvest probably half of it.

Why do you heat and run through a fine strainer? That sounds like there is a purpose in that.

 

Fine strainer, like a mesh 5 gallon bag (approx. 250 micron) is to remove any large depris that can transfer to crystal size. Heating to kill yeast is a fail safe against potential fermentation. Moisture content between crystals is higher and can become an inviting space to start the fermentation process. Even minor fermentation will pop the seal on your lids and then it ferments all the way over long storage.

You'll read of people heating to bacteria levels to pasteurize. 155-160 F is far too high for the purpose of killing yeast. That starts to die at 130 F and if brought to 140 F will die in less than 2 minutes. I go above 130, max 135 then pour through strainer into a bucket that is surrounded by ice to rapid cool. This is the Dyce method. Idea being you do not scald the honey, use a double boiler, and you do not hold the honey on heat for any more time than is necessary to get yeast killing temp. then cool it as fast as possible to retain the flavor. Dyce was able to process like this with no degradation of flavor. Last year I used cold tap water and walked away, had minor degradation, hence the ice. Awaiting cooler garage temps to cream later this fall but the plan is to use a large tote with cold water and ice to set the pail into. The inner pot of my double boiler is 5 gallons but only heat up 3 gallons at a whack. Two rounds of that can start the creamer with seed then add the cooled honey as you go. Start Late Friday and be bottling Sunday afternoon if mostly goldenrod and knotweed.

My creamed has basically finished setting when bottled. I've had raw hard set fall honey ferment in containers before. When I'm doing 18 gallons at a whack there is no need to take chances.

 

Thanks for sharing that information. I had no idea yeast could live between the crystals, but it makes sense.

Does freezing kill yeast? I need to look that up, but I suspect that it doesn't.

That is food for thought!

 

We store our creamed/spun honey in their glass jars at room temp. It takes ~3 weeks to reliably crystallize … in an Inkbird, temp-controlled chest freezer … at 57°F. After that, it’ll last years in that state, unless exposed to unusually high temps, as Charles mentioned. We stir the 2/3-filled, 5G buckets (with added pure oils) every hour - as it cools from ‘extraction temp’ down to 72° - when we then add the 10% starter. We jar it immediately.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. Lots of good information