# Creamed Honey advice



## beeup

Made some cinnamon creamed honey about 9 days ago and it seems to be taking a long time setting up. Background: I didn't rapidly cool my honey after reaching 140. Also, I've been keeping it in a garage where the temp. is around 40. Should I just be patient, move the honey to warmer room, or? Any advise is much appreciated. Thanks


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## cheesegenie

I would think the 140 is a bit too hot. On the other hand the 40 might be too cool. Just my thoughts.


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## nabeehive

Temp. is ok but 55deg is better. Could take 1-2 weeks. What ratio honey to starter? I use 1-part starter to 9-parts honey by weight.


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## nabeehive

cheesegenie said:


> I would think the 140 is a bit too hot. On the other hand the 40 might be too cool. Just my thoughts.


140deg is recommended to get rid of previous crystals. Otherwise, cream honey might be to course.


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## sqkcrk

If you didn't cool it down to 100 before adding seed you wasted your time. It may never set up.


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## nabeehive

sqkcrk said:


> If you didn't cool it down to 100 before adding seed you wasted your time. It may never set up.


Correct!


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## sqkcrk

Gotta make me some someday.


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## French Lick Apiaries

This method works well for me.

The Dyce Method for Creamed Honey Production


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## beeup

sqkcrk said:


> If you didn't cool it down to 100 before adding seed you wasted your time. It may never set up.


I did let it cool down to 75. My concern was leaving it in the cool garage to set. My basement temp. is about 60. I thought about moving down there.


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## sqkcrk

Good. Then wherever you can put it and keep it as close to 57 degrees temp, that will promote crystalization the quickest. Be patient.


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## Michael Bush

I never heat it at all. I just mix in the seed and try to keep it as close to 57 F as I can without working too hard. In Nebraska that usually means putting it on the window sill in the winter... but I have considered setting up a fridge to do it with it more exactly 57 F.

Of course, if you had it 140 F when you added the seed you melted the seed, which was the point of heating in the first place, to melt any crystals that were there.


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## Adrian Quiney WI

I saw this video of a local beek, it has a few tips in it for those, like myself, that have never made creamed honey. It's about 8.5 minutes long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AiqrU71aJGc


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## Island Apiaries

I got a small fridge type wine cooler to make creamed honey. It easily maintains 55 degrees year round and I often have honey set in 2 days.


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## bevy's honeybees

I bought a wine cooler that I can set at 57 degrees and I've checked it often, it's consistently at 56-57 degrees. It does reset to 54 during our frequent storms where electric gets knocked out momentarily. 

I can't get my latest batch to set up going on 3 weeks. This is after a re-start as I figured I began with too warm of honey over 6 weeks ago. It was around 80 degrees when I added the starter (one I used before with sucess). It wouldn't set up in the wine cooler then, and it still isn't setting up with re-start of chilled honey and another 8 oz of starter. It looks beautiful, creamy light and great texture. I'm using 8 oz starter to about 80 oz honey. But won't get solid. I'm bummed.


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## Harley Craig

I just started this yr with making creamed honey for myself. I am on my 3rd batch so take this with a grain of salt. I make it in pint jars. I just fill it about 3/4 of the way with unheated un filterd honey just like I would sell it. Plop in 2-3 Tbs of seed and stir well then top off with raw honey and put it in the crisper drawer of my fridge for a couple of weeks. All 3 batches have set up firm and nice. This is the method a guy our our club has been doing for yrs and he said the key is to stir it good


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## sqkcrk

Well. Seems pretty time consuming. But if it works well for you, why not?


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## Harley Craig

sqkcrk said:


> Well. Seems pretty time consuming. But if it works well for you, why not?


 if this was directed at me I don't have enough honey nor room in my crisper to make more than a. Pint or two at a time. Obviously if I were to produce it for sale I would have to come up with a way to mix larger batches FWIW for about 10 min worth of physical time I have almost a gal of "seed " for future batches


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## bevy's honeybees

Harley Craig said:


> I just started this yr with making creamed honey for myself. I am on my 3rd batch so take this with a grain of salt. I make it in pint jars. I just fill it about 3/4 of the way with unheated un filterd honey just like I would sell it. Plop in 2-3 Tbs of seed and stir well then top off with raw honey and put it in the crisper drawer of my fridge for a couple of weeks. All 3 batches have set up firm and nice. This is the method a guy our our club has been doing for yrs and he said the key is to stir it good


I took one of my 1/2 pint jars of half set creamed honey and put it in the crisper drawer in the fridge. I make small batches because I'm not selling it very fast and I doubt I ever will. Thanks for the idea, definitely worth trying. 
What are you using for seed?


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## radallo

beeup said:


> I did let it cool down to 75. My concern was leaving it in the cool garage to set. My basement temp. is about 60. I thought about moving down there.


You should. 57 would be perfect to set. 60 is pretty good!

Of course creamy honey is more sensitive later to Temperature changes ..so be carefull and store it properly or sell it quickly.. otherwise the structure might collapse


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## radallo

sqkcrk said:


> If you didn't cool it down to 100 before adding seed you wasted your time. It may never set up.


+1 ...a beginner mistake I experienced directly


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