I have a couple of flow hive frames that contain a significant amount of crystallised honey.
How can I remove it without loosing all the honey?
Hi Frank, welcome to the forum.
Sadly I don’t have any easy solutions for you. I know my warming tank decrystallizes buckets of honey in water that’s around 50degC. I know that Fframes can tolerate 70degC, Therefore if you can make a warming cabinet with a constant temp in that range, you might be able to decrystallize the honey. Just make sure you have something to catch any drips if they occur, if using this method.
Another idea occurred to me, seeing as I’ve been making mead lately. If you’re interested in my mead idea, let me know. I can go into more detail.
The easiest solution is to get a few reptile heating pads that reach up to 35 °C and place them on each side of the frame you want to decrystallise. The gentle heat will start to liquefy the honey, making it much easier to harvest.
It usually takes about 6–12 hours for the honey to loosen, but if it’s fully crystallised, allow up to 24 hours.
Good luck!