# Removing Moisture From Honey Before Extracting



## SWM (Nov 17, 2009)

I'm pulling honey right now and the moisture is running high. I'm not surprised and this is not unusual in my area. I'm doing the same thing I've done for years...stack supers criss-cross so air can circulate and run a fan and dehumidifier. That usually does it, but it doesn't seem to be working for me this year. Moisture is still high after 72+ hours. Temperature in the room is 90+ with room humidity at 16-20 percent. I'm thinking about standing supers on end so more air can circulate. Any suggestions?

I'm not a commercial beekeeper but would appreciate your opinions. Also, SHB is not a big problem here so I can let supers sit a little longer if necessary.


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## Makin' Honey (Sep 13, 2010)

You might check the moisture content of the capped honey. I have seen come crazy times when the bees capped too thin of honey and it would ferment, bubble and blow the caps. If it was capped too thin then I don't think you can dry it with a dehumidifier, in my experience that only works with the uncapped honey. You may need to extract it and dry it in the tank.
Victor H


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Stand them on end. That will work.

What is your hot room like?


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## SWM (Nov 17, 2009)

Victor, the honey I tested was capped and it was wet. I've pulled moisture through cappings with a dehumidifier before and I've also had honey absorb moisture through cappings. I know it seems like cappings should seal it air tight, but moisture will pass through them.

Mark, my extracting room doubles as a hot room. It's fairly small, 12'x28' and well insulated so it's easy to control both temperature and humidity.

I checked more supers tonight and it looks like the ones farther down the stacks are okay...it's mostly the ones near the top that are still wet. Don't really understand why but I think I'll stand the wet ones on end a while longer and go ahead and extract the others.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Isn't that strange. I would have thought it would be the other way around.

How much of your honey is capped? How are you checking moisture content? What prompted you to do so? Are you concerned that if you extract all of it together the end result will be high moisture honey?


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

I don't criss-cross stack. I stack normally (want a good seal between boxes) and place box fans on the top. I seal off the top with slats of wood to make it such that the air must go through the whole stack. If you don't seal the top much of the air will blow back and not penetrate the stack. I use shims on the bottom so that the air can escape. You want a good amount of air flow coming out the bottom. I usually have 5-6 supers in each stack. I've been doing this on my summer honey for more than 10 years without problems. I also have SHB, and using this approach I have never been slimmed.


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## SWM (Nov 17, 2009)

sqkcrk said:


> Isn't that strange. I would have thought it would be the other way around.
> 
> How much of your honey is capped? How are you checking moisture content? What prompted you to do so? Are you concerned that if you extract all of it together the end result will be high moisture honey?


Most of my honey is capped, 90%+. I routinely spot check samples from several supers with a refractometer because I've learned from experience that moisture content can vary greatly depending on the year. The past 2 years have been very dry and I had zero moisture problems in my honey. This year we had periodic showers throughout the season and I think that makes it more difficult for the bees to evaporate moisture. I originally thought that all my honey was wet, but now with further sampling it's not a big problem and it will be fine once it's blended during extracting/straining. I may have gotten a little jumpy and sounded a false alarm! 

I store my honey in 5 gal. buckets and test the moisture in each one before the lid goes on, record it on a piece of painter's tape and stick it to the bucket. That may seem like overkill, but it only takes a minute and if I get a few buckets of 19% honey I just make sure that's the first to bottle and it's blended with an equal amount of 17% which will balance out around 18%. The problem occurs if I have wet honey stored and don't know it. I've found a refractometer to be a necessary piece of equipment, at least in my part of the country.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

SWM said:


> I've pulled moisture through cappings with a dehumidifier before and I've also had honey absorb moisture through cappings.


Seems to me that moving moisture across wax boundaries is going to be a very slow process. The approach I mentioned above works great when there is a good amount of uncapped honey. Our summer crop, mostly cotton, is almost always wet, and the bees are very slow to cap, even well after the cells are completely filled. This crop almost always requires some drying before extracting. Our spring honey is completely different. It comes in at 16 - 17 fully capped.

How's your progress been?


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## SWM (Nov 17, 2009)

I extracted all the honey I had pulled and it was at about 17%. I didn't have as much wet honey as I originally thought. Pulling about 60 more supers again this weekend.


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