# honey melter for 55 gallon drums



## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

Melting honey?????? Do you mean liquifying crystallized honey? If so, you can buy a barrel heater from the bee suppliers that works just dandy. It's a band that wraps around the barrel and works on 120volt AC.


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

If you have a way to sit the barrel on concrete blocks then you can use a propane burner that goes with a turkey deep frier. It worked well for me.


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## gennetika (Aug 31, 2010)

fish_stix said:


> Melting honey?????? Do you mean liquifying crystallized honey? If so, you can buy a barrel heater from the bee suppliers that works just dandy. It's a band that wraps around the barrel and works on 120volt AC.


Any one in particular? which trademark would you advise me to buy? how about his one (Briskheat® Drum Heater) form mann lake, how much time would it take me to liquifya drum.
regards
omar


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## gennetika (Aug 31, 2010)

valleyman said:


> If you have a way to sit the barrel on concrete blocks then you can use a propane burner that goes with a turkey deep frier. It worked well for me.


Will i damage the honey this way? how much time would it take me? how many kilos or liters of gas, or propane would i spend?
regards
omar


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

A 20# grill tank will do several barrels !/2 full or better. Just bring it to a bubbling point or until it clears up. In other words until the crystilaization is gone. If you get it too hot it will scorch the honey.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

I use an old waterbed heater. It's a flat, flexible sheet of rubber, about 12" wide and maybe 24" long. I wrap it around a barrel and secure it with bungy cords. It's controlled by a thermostat and will not scorch the honey. You have to move the heater around the barrel and it takes a couple of days to fully liquify a barrel of honey...but it also depends on how cold your shed is.

I picked up the heater from a fellow who was throwing away his waterbed. It leaked and he had hauled the whole thing to the curb for the trashman. I took it to use the wood frame for building boxes and the leaky mattress as a ground cover to keep the weeds. Turns out the heater was the best part.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## WPG (Mar 28, 2010)

I've used a battery heater that is usually strapped around a car battery to keep it from freezing in the winter and starting easier.
I tape it to the lower side of the barrel or tank and wrap the whole thing with layers of bubble wrap and cover the top as well.
I usually raise the barrel up on wooden blocks so a cold floor doesn't suck the heat out. It takes a few days but won't scorch the honey.

A friend has what is basically an insulated closet that he uses his 2-wheeler to put the barrel in and has a door that seals tight. It is just large enough that one of those 'dairy house heaters' fits in the corner. He sets it on high and plugs it in. Takes about two days, stirring with a wood paddle. 

Then he pumps it out thru a filter to his bottling tank.

Some 2" insulation foamboard taped together like a refrigerator box and dropped over the top with an electric space heater inside should work fine.

Goodluck


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## Nohoneyno (Jan 31, 2012)

Hi Omar,

Is this a one off thing? or do you need to warm that many drums on a regular basis? do you really need to melt them in the drum? or can you get the whole load into a heated tank? preferbly with a stirer?

I am currently trying to design a similar system here in the UK.

Currently we have some big drum warming cabinets. These are big insulated cabinets that have electric radiators inside, linked up to a thermostat control. We stack pallets of 4 drums inside, each one takes 16 barrels at a time.

The problem is that they are hideously inefficient. These heaters work by convection energy transfer. This is the least efficient way of transfer. I want to make a system that transfers the energy by conduction or maybe induction. (I have ruled out radiation as too dangerous-dont wanna start a fire!). 
There are several types of off-the-shelf drum heaters available on the market. Band heaters, blanket heaters, element heaters, heat pads, induction heaters and drum ovens are the main types. 
I dont have any experince with these. And would welcome anybodys thoughts or real experience.
The main problems that I can see are cost, energy use and what they do to the honey. If you have used any of these systems. how long does it take to fully melt a drum of totally crystalised honey? how many KWh's did that take? i go by the figure of 300 kilos per 200L drum (thats 55gal for yanks and 44gal for us brits)
What happened to the honey? we make sure that none of the honey goes abouve 60C because we dont want to spoil it. Do you take the same consideration?
what about the heat transfer inside the drum? how do you get the heat into the crystalized mass in the middle with out over heating the melted part?
What about HMF? here in Europe we have to abide by strict rules on the level of HMF in honey sold as table honey. Do you have to do the same where you are? But as i hope to dramatically reduce the heating time this should bring our HMF levels down.

I am considering engineering our own soloution. Possibly hot water baths that the barrels sit in or hot water elements that sink into the drums. has anyone done something similar?

Most comercial honey packing facilities process large batches of drums which they partially melt and then drain into a jacketed tank. We are a speciality honey company-we pack a variety of different size honey batches from 1 drum to 10. So we need something more flexible. 

Any contributions welcome

ah yes one more thing Omar. If you do decide on getting one of those electric drum heaters I highly reccomend using some type of insulating blanket. It will make the whole process much cheaper and quicker.


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