# Clarity of reliquefied honey?



## astevens16 (Feb 14, 2015)

TL;DR: When we're talking about reliquefying honey at roughly hive temperature (90-100 deg), should I be expecting it to go completely clear? Or just liquid enough to get into jars?

I've only been beekeeping 3 years, so this past season was the first time I harvested enough to sell a little. I now have some honey in a bucket that's gone almost completely solid. When I heat it to get it into jars to sell, I'd like to keep the temperature around that of the hive, since some people are really concerned about it being "raw." (I figure that if I tell them I heat it but only to what it naturally gets to in the hive, they'll be fine with that.) 

I've tried a couple of methods so far. I haven't made a hot box specifically for this, but I tried putting some quart jars in the oven (turned off, so it's just an insulated box) with a 60w light bulb. I didn't have a thermometer that went lower than 100, so I know it never went over that. After several days, it was runny enough to bottle, but nowhere near clear. Still lots of crystals.

Then I tried putting the quart jars in a water bath. I thought I'd be all clever and use a sous vide contraption to keep the water temperature at a steady 90, hoping it would take less time and less overall energy than leaving on a light bulb for days. But that didn't work either. Again, it got liquid enough to bottle, but nowhere near clear. And it still took days.

So if I'm planning to keep the temperature between 90 and 100, should I just expect that I'm not going to get it to completely decrystallize? The only way I've been able to do that is by putting it it much hotter water or in a hot oven.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

If you do not completely dissolve every last trace of crystals the honey will quickly recrystallize. I dont know my exact oven temperature but probably a bit over 100F. and it takes more than 24 hours after the honey comes up to temperature; those crystals dont dissolve immediately.


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