# Honey - when to harvest



## bill1111 (Jun 24, 2012)

How much needs to be capped
%wise ? 
When can I harvest it?


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## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

none if you can dry it out. I used to worry about this all the time. Get a honey refractometer and test it. It needs to be about 18% or less water content. I take frames that are 100% to about 75%, then I stack boxes so air can move through them with a fan blowing on them, and run a dehumidifier in the room. I get humidity down to about 35% and temp to about 90 and honey gets nice and thick and I dont have to worry about it any more. Two or three days like this and your good to go for sure for the most part. A refractometer will tell you for sure. They are about 60 dollars online. Start by extracting you comb with a mix of capped and uncapped so you get a good average and test it right away, if its to wet, dry longer, if it 17.5 great, rock and roll testing buckets once in a while to see that your constant. Wet honey ferments.


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## butch043052 (Nov 24, 2010)

Can you get the honey to dry with a dehumidifier? I haven't any refractometer at this time.


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

Yes, that is what WI-Beek was saying, and I can confirm it works. I pull supers, stack them in my little box room with the dehumidifier going overnight and then extract the following day or the day after. I invested in a $300 Atago extractor, and test random open cells of honey before I extract, and as I bottle. This year it has ranged from 16.6-17.6%, plenty dry enough. When I stack them in the room I put little blocks of wood in the corners of the boxes to allow airflow.


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## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

butch043052 said:


> Can you get the honey to dry with a dehumidifier? I haven't any refractometer at this time.


Yes, that is what we are saying. Honey stored at 59% RH will equilibrate at 17.8% moisture. Optimum drying and storage conditions will therefore be at or below 58% RH. So therefore, the dryer the air the better and the warmer it is, the lower the equilibrium will be in relation to moisture content. Moving air over the frames speeds up the process. You can actually take uncapped honey using this process but it is not recommended by me. I like fully capped, 75% minimum.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LyraEDISServlet?command=getScreenImage&oid=131504

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa249


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## rtoney (Apr 20, 2011)

WI & AQ are talking about Langs and not top bars you would have to make boxes that would hold the bars so you could stack them and then worry if the comb will drop off or not.


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## butch043052 (Nov 24, 2010)

My question is abit misleading, I was just wondering if you could dry it to much with a dehumidifier. With it as dry as it is here I was also wondering if I would even have to dry it. I need to get a refractometer but funds are alittle low and I would like to get a good one.


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