# bubbles



## Ode1891 (Aug 16, 2009)

How do you get air bubbles out of your honey jars? Thanks!


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## bakerboy (Apr 29, 2008)

Time and temperature.


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## Ode1891 (Aug 16, 2009)

so should I put the jars in a hot water bath with extra head space? Or just sit them in the sun?


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## bakerboy (Apr 29, 2008)

Let them sit in a cool dark place until all the bubbles rise. Don't heat your honey or bleach it in the sun. The easiest way to get rid of bubbles is to let the honey sit in whatever bucket you extracted into. After a few days most of the bubbles will rise to the surface where they can be skimmed off. Result = bubble free bottling. Don't throw the skimmed stuff away, use it to cook or just put it in a jar and eventually all the bubbles will rise.


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## Fuzzy (Aug 4, 2005)

In my experience, it depends on the moisture content in your honey. We frequently have 14%-15% moisture and NO amount of sitting will allow the air to rise. The honey will crystalize in a 5 gallon bucket in a week or two. I now heat 15 gallons at a time to 120F and let set for 2 days. Then the honey is clear and will stay liquid for up to a year.


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## Ron Mann (Jul 17, 2009)

I know that the product that I work with, Cellulose Acetate, while in the "dope" stage is a high viscous liquid, much like honey.

When the field people bring a "hot" sample into the production lab, they remove any air bubbles in it by placing the entire sample under a vacuum.

Couldn't you do the same thing with honey, if it is warm?

I'm a newbie, just asking.


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## beyondthesidewalks (Dec 1, 2007)

Historically, I have let my honey sit in a tank after extracting in my garage for about two weeks. Now, I live in Texas and the garage would get quite warm. The honey was normally so dense that all bee parts, wax and air bubbles would come to the top and I would skim that mess off and let it sit in a gallon jar even longer to get the bee parts/wax seperate. They would go in the melter. We used the little honey that was left from this.

I bottled out of the tank and never had a problem. We go through gallons of honey per year. I bottled the gift/sales honey first and mine last. Occasionally we found a little trash in our honey but we didn't care about it. Now I drain my honey through 200, 400 and 600 filters and don't worry about it anymore. I stopped using my honey tank and use five gallon buckets for all of my honey now. I can move five gallon buckets very easily and it's amazing how my wife can hide them around the house. The honey tank sits in a closet unused. I cannot bring myself to sell it even though I should.


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## Josh Carmack (Dec 19, 2008)

Ron Mann said:


> When the field people bring a "hot" sample into the production lab, they remove any air bubbles in it by placing the entire sample under a vacuum.
> 
> Couldn't you do the same thing with honey, if it is warm?


No reason why this will hurt, it should cause the displacement of the bubbles to increase and therefore increasing the buoyancy making them rise faster. Heat it to 120 and vacuum it and bubbles should be gone in seconds.


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## bdaqueen (Aug 15, 2009)

OK, I have to ask what kind of vacuum -


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## Josh Carmack (Dec 19, 2008)

Any kind. by putting a vacuum on the honey, you are decreasing the atmospheric pressure on the bubbles in the honey. This will cause them to expand by as much 2 times their normal volume depending on how much vacuum you are capable of applying without collapsing the container. this of course displaces more honey making the bubbles more buoyant or in essence, lighter. The increase in upwards force will cause them to rise faster. It's really not practical in most containers as they would simply collapse. A vacuum cleaner probably won't induce enough vacuum to be of much help. I used to have a lid I fabricated for a mason jar, not for de-bubbling honey, but for boiling water at a very low temperature as a demonstration of the concept of pressure vs boiling temperature. I would boil water while holding it in my hand to prove the boiling temperature was below a comfortable temperature for your hand.

PS welcome to the forum!


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## Terry Small Jr (Aug 31, 2008)

Josh, let me guess, you're a science teacher.

Vacuum pumps used in air conditioning service will pull a very deep vacuum for surprisingly little money. Combine that with a good welder and I bet a simple way to remove bubbles & excess moisture could be devised.


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## mbholl (Dec 16, 2007)

Fuzzy - do you keep honey at 120 for the two days, or just heat & let sit? Do you think it's small batches that help?
(We have bubbles that don't go away! Honey is 14-15% moisture.)
Thanks!


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## Josh Carmack (Dec 19, 2008)

lol, no I'd probably be fired for enjoying my job too much. I'm the family geek trying some type of experiment or another daily almost.


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## doc25 (Mar 9, 2007)

How about those vaccum sealers for mason jars/food. I think there is an attachemnt to seal mason jar lids. Would the bubbles just dissapear over time? Would putting the honey in a vaccum sealed container prevent it from crystalizing?


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## Josh Carmack (Dec 19, 2008)

Not much other than heat or very very small amounts of fine nucleation sites will keep it from crystallizing. Depending on viscosity it may never lose all it's bubbles or at least take more than a year. I would heat it, it has a double affect of lowering the viscosity, and causing the bubbles to expand, which will raise them faster. A centrifuge would also help, but those are pretty hard to come by.


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## Terry Small Jr (Aug 31, 2008)

Josh Carmack said:


> I'm the family geek trying some type of experiment


Reminds me of when I got in trouble in science class for borrowing a mortar & pestle. I used it to make gunpowder...


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## Ron Mann (Jul 17, 2009)

I am work tonight and during break I was discussing this tread with some operators from the acetate side of our plant.

They suggested that instead of vacuum go with pressure.

One would need a pressure chamber welded up with a 80 psi air source, pressure gauge, and a bleed valve to relieve the pressure.

The honey would have to water bathed to around 60 degrees C and pressurized for 2 mintues.

The pressure would compress the honey, forceing the air out.

Most folks have an air compressor in their garage or basement capable of pressures up to 100 psi.


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## Fuzzy (Aug 4, 2005)

Mbholl,

If the honey is in containers and has bubbles... When heated to 120F the bubbles will rise to the surface and will stay forever as foam on the top. I used my extractor as the vessel and warmed 15 gallons at a time then drained off the bottom gate. I can't really say for sure about the 2 days. This was winter and it took a long time to heat with a 300 watt bulb. The true test is to shine a flashlight through the side of a glass jar of honey. When done, the honey will be almost perfectly clear. 

Regards -- Fuzzy


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

Automotive stores sell small hand powered vacuum pumps which suck pretty good. One of those might be cheap and easy to try.


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## Ode1891 (Aug 16, 2009)

bdaqueen said:


> OK, I have to ask what kind of vacuum -


The same one you use to capture Sadie's hair wads.


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## Ode1891 (Aug 16, 2009)

Thanks for all the ideas. This is our first attempt so we're full of questions. 

By the way, I think I am noticing a change in the flavor 3 days after extraction. Is this possible or is it just my taste buds?


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## Josh Carmack (Dec 19, 2008)

Lots of useful helpful people around here, then theres the occasional person like me with useless over zealous ideas!


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## Cedar Hill (Jan 27, 2009)

Ode1891 said:


> By the way, I think I am noticing a change in the flavor 3 days after extraction. Is this possible or is it just my taste buds?


 If you left the honey open to the air, it probably gathered moisture, changing the tast slightly OR you have a honey that seperated from the original blend you had. Put the bottle up to the light and you might see the difference in colors within the same jar. OMTCW


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