un heated honey house and honey storage

[adamant]

I am about finished bottling my honey for the season here in NJ
 . I have about 5 gal left in my maxant tank and 15 gallons in buckets and about 10 cases of honey bottled already all stored in my unheated honey shed. What temperature should I be concerned about? It's going to be getting pretty chilly here soon. Am I better bottling everything and bringing the cases in a heated part of my house?

[tefer2]

Yes!

[danno]

This is how I used to do it
I got a free large chest freezer that was on its way to the scrap yard
I bought this controller from my brew supply house
http://morebeer.com/products/johnson-digital-temperature-controller-wired.html
This controller is fully programable for heating or cooling.
I set mine to come on at 95 deg and shut off at 100
I then got a small heater like the one here. 
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=lasko+ceramic+heater
You have to take it apart and disconnect the internal thermostat so it will run continually
This is very easy.   Four screws and the heater with come apart in two half's.  Cut the 2 wire that go to the temp dial on the top and wire then together.
Now simply plug the heater into the controller and the controller into the wall. 
The heater will hold the freezer temp at what ever you want.
I stored a doz 5 gallon pails in the setup for several  winters in Michigan and never had a problem
Once the honey in the buckets comes up to temp the heater seldom runs.   One winter I had work to do all day up there and the heat only ran for 45 seconds, once a hour

[adamant]

Danny..  I like your idea..  Question.. Why did u choose to by a thermostat when the heater comes with one?

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[Jim134]

IMHO
After using small heaters like these to heat small placers with its own thermostat . This would have prolonged the life of many of the heaters I threw away because the thermostat in the heaters did not work anymore.  This is a great idea for a lot of the problems I have had with small heaters and I have them up on continue run.... Thank You danno..........
I do see the value of having an external thermostat.


                    BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[danno]

With the heater therm you get very little control but with the digital controller you program exactly what you want.  As I said I had mine set to come on when the temp hit 95 and shut off when it got back to 100. but you could program anything in the top or bottom number.   For example you could have it come on at say 80 and shut off at 110 if you wanted to.  These can also be programed to work in refrig or a chest freezers.   I use mine in a chest freezer set to run it as a frig for brewing lager beers and right now I have it set to run a hot plate in my smoker.  It along with the hot plate and a smoke generator allows me to control the temp of my smoker withing 5 deg.  Back on the honey heater freezer the really great thing about this setup is the heater has a fan so when it comes on the warm air is moving.  You wont have this with a light bulb as many use.  I put 1/2 wood spacers in the bottom to give a air gap under the bottom row of buckets and then more on top of these and under the second row of buckets.  warm air completely surrounds each bucket

[D Coates]

I like the heater idea.  I currently use the digital thermostat with 3 60 watt incandescent bulbs.  They only last a 3-4 months before I'm replacing them but they're inexpensive and easy to replace.  However, I know they'll become hard to find as they are outlawed by those who think they're smarter than everyone else and claim to only want to help.

[edward]

I was going to suggest light bulbs and a fan, but I here that they have baned them for you guy over there to  :(

I have bought a stash of 60W light bulbs that will last me awhile  :-D

I've Heard that some cleaver guy in germany sells heating bulbs that also produce light as a byproduct  :-D to get around the ban.

Overhere we have Small heaters that are frost guards for pump stations, or other Small rooms, they usually run from +4oC- 40oC

When honey freezes it usually shrinks if the water conten is under 20%



mvh Edward  :-P