# Help With Creamed Honey



## treeWinder (May 3, 2013)

It will work but take much longer; 57 degrees is the preferred temp. You might use the cool side of the house closet floor, basement, bottom of food pantry, etc. to get to the better temp range.


----------



## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Nothing much will happen at 35. It will be glacially slow. I bet you have a concrete floor in a utility room like by a water heater that will be out of the way and close to the optimum. Ground temp is around 55


----------



## unclebee (Nov 12, 2012)

Thanks for the replies. I will find another sutable spot to put it. I thought that cooler would be better.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

57 degrees is not just the prefered temperature it is the OPTIMUM temperature at which honey will form the crystals that you want when making creamed honey. It's something to do w/ the physical characteristics of honey. Anything above or below will retard the process. It doesn't hurt it, it just slows the process down.


----------



## Fl_Beak (May 9, 2010)

try a small batch perhaps. I was told by a science teacher that the temp can influence the crystal size- though at the moment I forget the results of too cold or too hot. Start with a good seed culture, inoculate at least 10%, mix very well.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I am in the process of creating creamed honey. I have read the directions but have a question. Has anyone made it with colder temperatures? Like 35 degrees? Does it hurt it to use colder temperatures? 

At colder (and warmer than 57 F) temperatures it will crystallize more slowly. Slower crystallization as FL_Beak said, results in larger crystals which makes the honey have a more gritty mouth feel. It still tastes fine, but people often find it less pleasant.


----------



## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

How does one make creamed honey?


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Web Search "Dyce Method/Creamed Honey" if you really want to know. If you want the short/incomplete set of directions, basically, have on hand a jar of creamed honey the consistency you like, heat a batch of honey to 150 degrees to destroy any crystals in the batch of honey, allow the batch of honey to cool to 100 degrees temperature, add your jar of "seed" honey and thoroughly mix it evenly into the honey your wish to cream, once mixed fill jars from this batch, store somewhere where these jars of honey can be kept at 57 degrees and leave it be until it looks like a jar of cream.

If you can get some Stoller's Creamed honey that's the best. From Latty, Ohio. If they still make it.


----------



## Benthic (May 1, 2011)

Here's a link to a full description of the Dyce Method.

Note that while the method does call for heating your honey to 150, it does not want you to "allow it to cool", but rather to "cool the honey as rapidly as possible" to somewhere between 60 and 75 degrees in order to add the seed honey.

I've just been mixing seed honey into my honey at room temperature. I'm going to have to try this method next time.

Brian


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I allow my honey to cool. I guess I could drain the hot water out of my Maxant Bottling tank and replace it w/ cold water. It just seems like too much trouble. Thanks for clearing up that 60 to 75 is what Dyce Method recommends. That woulkd be room temp here.


----------



## Benthic (May 1, 2011)

I can't argue with your logic Mark. I must confess I was thinking about the small hobbyist scale that I do this on. If you're working with a "batch" that's the size of an entire bottling tank, I can certainly see how force chilling would be logistically difficult. 

Brian


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I should read your link, but, did it mention the seed to volume of honey to be creamed ratio? Like how much seed to mix w/ 5 gallons of honey?


----------



## CesarBeeCool (Apr 11, 2011)

It did say. Between 5-10%, it emphasized not less than 5% and not more than 10% so as not to get too large a crystal size.

My questions are what do you grind the honey in to get the starter crystal batch, a food processor? And how do you mix 5 or 10 gals efficiently without getting air in the batch?


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

In my opinion, heating destroys the delicate flavors. I never heat it. Just skip that step and it still works fine.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

CesarBeeCool said:


> It did say. Between 5-10%, it emphasized not less than 5% and not more than 10% so as not to get too large a crystal size.
> 
> My questions are what do you grind the honey in to get the starter crystal batch, a food processor? And how do you mix 5 or 10 gals efficiently without getting air in the batch?


Slowly.


----------



## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

I'm with Michael on this one. I heated the honey a couple of times (you get a real strong arm doing this much over a stove). I think that the issue is having it start the fermenting process when the sugar goes out of solution and the moisture % goes up temporarily as it starts the crystallization process. So if you start with 18% honey, but sugar stars crystallizing and being removed from the solution the moisture % can go up. If your process takes a long time to complete it could start to ferment. 

My creamed honey is pretty well set up in a week. If I lay a jar on it's side on a counter, you can see a small movement after a week. After two weeks it's set. So I don't heat anymore. I've done this for 5-6 years now, or maybe more and haven't had any issues. It certainly is easier without heating and then quickly cooling it. 

I use closer to 10% than 5% seed. It isn't like you lose anything by adding more seed, other than time. I keep 5 lb from my last years batch. I mix it with 50 lb from this year. In a couple of weeks I have plenty to make up the remaining amount of creamed honey. I have been making 300-400 lb per year.


----------



## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

CesarBeeCool said:


> My questions are what do you grind the honey in to get the starter crystal batch, a food processor? And how do you mix 5 or 10 gals efficiently without getting air in the batch?


I don't grind anything. I use a large mixer and put liquid honey in and then add creamed honey from last year. Use a dough hook and put the mixer on the slowest setting. To keep the crystal size small so that you can't feel them on your tongue, use closer to 10% seed (existing creamed honey) mix well and put in an area as close to 57 degrees as you can.


----------



## MAXANT (Sep 13, 2008)

33rpm


----------



## Jaseemtp (Nov 29, 2010)

So to start, just purchase some one else creamed honey and mix in the appropriate amount? I am looking at making a 5 gallon batch as request for it have increased. This is something new to most of the bee keepers in Texas, or at least the ones I have talked to. 

Jason


----------

