# Dispensing Bulk Honey



## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

If you are looking for a plastic tank, U.S. Plastics is hard to beat: 

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=532&parentcatid=835

Browse around their selection of Tamco tanks - hundreds of varieties in several plastics, many FDA approved. You can add a honey gate to most any of them. 



I have the cheap plastic honey gate from Brushy Mountain on a 5-gallon plastic bucket and it works great: 

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Plastic-1-1_2-Gate/productinfo/834/

However, the "Perfect Gate" looks like it would be a lot easier to work with, ESPECIALLY if you sre going to let people fill their own containers. (With the cheap valve, you have to apply hand pressure or tighten wingnut between fills, or honey will leak).


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## PeteS (May 1, 2010)

Check the dripless valve not cheap but will last.
http://www.maxantindustries.com/tools.html


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

If one keeps honey warm enuf to use a heated tank, like a bottling tank, as a dispenser of honey in a store, eventually the honey will darken and the flavor may be effected. The stores I sell to dispense honey out of the 5 gallon plastic tote in which I deliver the honey to them. a plastic gate is used. Maybe like the one you mentioned.

One outlet has a tank on a heat pad, set really low. But, they go thru 3 or 4 totes per month. so the honey isn't in the tank very long. This tank has the spout or gate built in. I don't know anything else about it.


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## hilreal (Aug 16, 2005)

Look at wine/beer bottling shops for bottling ideas. 

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/homebrewing-equipment/bottling/spigots-bottling-buckets.html


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

I would look into a carboy. You fill it with honey and seal the mouth securely with two tubes going through the cap. A small tube that reaches the bottom and a short large tube that will dispense the honey. You can use a plastic pet **** or ball valve to stop dispensing. Invert the car boy and pump air in the top with a hand pump through the small tube to dispense.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I think you aught to try that Acebird and get back to us on how well it works. You coulkd have something there.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Yeah, I would especially like be there when you turn the carboy over and the cap pops off.......


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

You have to seal the cap because you are putting it under a slight pressure. I don't think anything you do should be out of eye sight because some ying yang can find a way to make a mess in a hurry.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

sqkcrk said:


> I think you aught to try that Acebird and get back to us on how well it works. You coulkd have something there.


Simple things like this I don't need to try. I know it will work. If you want me to prove it to you it will cost you my time.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Dispensing from a carboy looks like this
http://americasbeekeeper.org/sept 10 054.jpg


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

The carboy I am thinking of would be glass so you can see the pure honey. Caps and what not should be available at any brew maker and wine supply house.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

You are talking about a 5-gallon glass carboy like the kind that is used to make homebrew in? I have serveral that I have brewed beer in for years. 

http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Glass-Carboy-Beer-Making/dp/B000E60GYK

A couple of problems that I see:


Carboys are dangerous because they are glass, even when empty (ask my wife about going to the ER for stitches after an empty one shattered when it lightly hit the kitchen sink).
Glass carboys are really slippery when wet. Beleive it or not, washing a carboy is extremley dangerous. Go to any home brew forum and search for "broken carboy" or "shattered carboy".
5 gallons of honey weighs about 60 pounds. Ever try to lift a 60 pound carboy (they have no handles and are impossible to grip)?
Ever try to turn a 60 pound carboy upside down? I have hefted many carboys filled with beer (only about 40 pounds) and couldnt imagine trying to turn one upside down.
The pressure exerted on the cap from the weight of the honey is only a few psi, but the there are *no threads* on the spout of a carboy. You cant just stick 2-hole rubber stopper in it and expect it to hold. I suppose enough duct tap and bailing wire could be used to make a temporary seal, but that would not look good in a commercial environment.
If you notice how a carboy is constructed, you will see that the bottom is convex, just like a champaigne bottle, but to a lesser degree. Do you know why this is? Greater strength from the pressure above. When you turn a carboy over, you just created a vessel with a severely concave bottom. And I do mean *SEVERELY* concave. How much do you compromise the strength of a carboy by filling it with honey and inverting it? I imagine the the slightest "clink" from a hard object (wedding ring on someones finger? Kid with his mommies cars keys in his hands?) would cause a disaster.
You describe pumping air into the carboy to get the honey out? That means more pressure inside the carboy. (See 5 and 6 above).
Carboys *ARE NOT* desiged as pressure vessels, even if it is only a few psi (see 7 above). Ever see a the carboy full of beer expload when the the blow-off vent gets clogged with brew crud? Not pretty and it only takes a tiny amount of pressure.


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## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

A carboy is rough at the bottom for a reason and its not to turn it upside down!! hahaha :lpf: Plus it was mentioned at the beginning that it would be going into a market and to me safety would be the #1 priority!! I would go with a 10 gal plastic tank with a non-drip valve at the bottom!...IMHO


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

http://www.greatglas.com/AspiratorBottles.htm?gclid=COHe6tuFk6oCFQvKKgod3WAzwg

Bla, bla, bla, buy one of these at what ever size you can lift and you don’t have to invert it.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Yeah, that glass hose barb on the bottom will last about 1 day before it snaps off (I have also worked with a lot of lab glass). And the biggest one they offer is only 9 liters and comes with a *5/8"* OD barb that is made for rubber tubing (figure about *3/8" ID* for the honey to flow through). All for only $250 (imagine the shipping cost on top of that). 

Try again Ace.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Not designed for pressure?:scratch:

http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~workman/homebrew/CO2/CO2Push.html
Looks like pressure to me.

You must be drinking too much of that stuff you have been fermenting.


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## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

yeah that 9000 ml bottle is what 2.3 gallons at $245.00?? :scratch:


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Acebird said:


> If you want me to prove it to you it will cost you my time.


Of no interest to me at all. I just think you shoulkd do it and report the results.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Acebird said:


> Not designed for pressure?:scratch:
> 
> http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~workman/homebrew/CO2/CO2Push.html
> Looks like pressure to me.
> ...


What one idiot on the internet does with his carboy is his business. 

Carboys are not designed for pressure, period. Why dont you do something intelligent like checking the pressure specifications of a carboy from a manufacturer?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

AmericasBeekeeper said:


> Dispensing from a carboy looks like this


That ain't no carboy, that's a plastic tote.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Acebird said:


> Bla, bla, bla, buy one of these at what ever size you can lift and you don’t have to invert it.


Lead the way. since it is your idea, and you have so much faith in it, you should be the one to do it.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Why? Do I have a store? Do I sell honey?

There was a time not so long ago when everything was in a glass container. It traveled in railroad cars, trucks, air planes, you name it. You found it on the grocery shelves and you put it in your metal carts and carried it home in a paper bag. Glass is 100% recyclable and doesn't pollute the environment. Those that care use glass more and more and those that don't use plastic.

If the original poster does not care if the honey is visible he can use all sorts of stainless vessels to do the same thing.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

During that same time period they also carried open boxes of dynamite in those same railroad cars, trucks, air planes, you name it. 

During that same time period you also couldnt get sued for dispensing really bad advice on the internet that leads to personal injury.

"Glass is 100% recyclable and doesn't pollute the environment." :lpf:

I suppose you think the plants that melt the glass to recycle it run on solar energy?


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

If you don't care you don't care.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Acebird said:


> Why? Do I have a store? Do I sell honey?


1. Because it was your idea. You come up w/ ideas, suggest them, say you know they will work, have no experience doing so. But expect people to take you seriously. Maybe you weren't being serious. What would you suggest someone taking your advice do when the honey crystalizes? Thought about that?

2. Not that I know of, do you?

3. Apparently not or you might have made a suggestion based on experience.

What's the big deal about seeing the honey? One can see that there is honey in a plastic tote. Did you know that up until quite recently, in your terms stretched just a little, that almost all honey was sold in cans? 5 gallon square tin cans and cans the size of large tomatoe cans? And wooden barrels? I don't think that honey was ever sold in 5 gallon glass jars.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

First of all he wanted to dispense not sell the jars. secondly, I never said 5 gallons, use three or smaller if you like.

Crystallized, warm it, it is glass. Crystallized honey still flows. It wouldn't be a big deal to get it out. How would you get it out of a plastic, steel, wooden, or ceramic container? Cut it open?

I would want to see the honey and not through a plastic tote.


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

Nabber86 said:


> During that same time period you also couldnt get sued for dispensing really bad advice on the internet that leads to personal injury.


"Bad advice is the easiest thing you can give that doesn’t cost money."

Wayne


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Acebird said:


> First of all he wanted to dispense not sell the jars.
> 
> I would want to see the honey and not through a plastic tote.


Really? W/ a Thread Title like that, I had no idea.

Well, not only do you not make much honey, you don't buy much from storers that use Totes. I sell 8 to ten of them per month.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Congrats to Ace for over 1,000 posts since March of this year! Must be some kind of record. 

Bad advice is not only free, it comes in mass quantities too.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Still derailing topics?


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

Acebird ;
What's the latest on that extractor with the ceiling fan motor in the bottom of the extractor barrel
that you designed & built last fall.

Really looking for pics or movie of it in operation.

Thanks
PCM


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Do you seriously think all carboys are plastic?
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=816&parentcatid=481
http://www.uline.com/BL_8169/Carboy?pricode=WO562&gclid=CPPb84XblaoCFQjs7QodYmMi0Q


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

AmericasBeekeeper said:


> Do you seriously think all carboys are plastic?


No. Some are made of glass. 

Typos aside, Ace specifically recommended using a glass carboy. That's a really bad idea for several reasons stated earlier in this thread.:no:


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

PCM said:


> Acebird ;
> What's the latest on that extractor with the ceiling fan motor in the bottom of the extractor barrel
> that you designed & built last fall.
> 
> ...


I'll answer you but it might get axed. I still am stuck on the idea of pulling the honey at the last minute in the fall. Nothing I have read has convinced me to pull it now. I wasn't sure if I was going to get honey this year. I was lead to believe that two frames of bees making it through winter wasn't worth bothering with. That hive now has one deep and four mediums on it so it is a good possibility of giving me some honey. My new hive has one deep and two mediums on which is about par for a new hive (my experience).

Anyway, rest assured I will have pics, video, and results (good or bad) for the forum when the time comes.


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