I have some two year old honey (plenty of Marri around) and it is just about to start to crystallise in the bottom. Is this sort of time frame what to expect?
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Hi mate, Iâve seen crystals forming in a couple of weeks and a tub go within a month. I think the fact that I donât filter the honey at all doesnât help.
All my honey crystalizes in winter.
They say Jarrah honey never crystalizes.
@jojo20, how runny was the honey you harvested today?
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Ah, ok, very interesting. I donât filter mine either. There are some Jarrah down the valley but around here itâs mostly Marri. I do wait to make sure the whole frame is capped though.
I have no doubt they will outperform any wooden hive Pete. My concerns are damage from the hive tool, scraping burr comb and prying boxes apart.
It is probably too early to tell how long theyâll last, but please keep us updated.
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Hi Greg, didnât seem too runny, Ive just harvested the last frame today and that seems a lot thicker this time. Do you expect to get another harvest soon ? the Marri are still in bloom a little, then the Lemon Scented should be out relatively soon. Cheers Dave.
Hi mate, yeah meant to harvest yesterday, today and tomorrow⌠Itâs been a bit too cloudy and cool.
Lemon scented gum here flowered late last year and have noticed it coming on again. Iâm sure it gave the honey here a citrusy flavour.
I did my first partial harvest today and got 7 Jars 550ml each and a jar with about 250ml so 4 litres.
It was pretty thick and took quite a while to fill the jars 
Maybe should have waited for a warmer day ?
I was very impressed with the flavour as I couldnât stop testing it, lucky I had a jar that only had a small amount for myself and my wife to keep testing, I posted in this topic as it was here already and I didnât think making a new one was worthwhile:slight_smile:
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I got my Refractometer about an hour ago and tested my Honey, I got exactly 18%.
I read that 18% is good and so the Honey will store well, is this correct ?
I still canât get over the taste of it and would love to know which trees or Bushes they used mainly to get that flavour.
I will also be very interested to compare batches to see how or if it changes flavour over the year.
They almost have refilled the frames I emptied, they really donât much about.
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It depends partly on your local rules, if you are going to sell it as honey. Putting that aside, any honey with less than 18.6% water will not ferment. Some honey with higher water content will still not ferment, but personally I freeze anything higher than 18.6%.
Sounds like you have a nice batch, congratulations! 
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I donât plan on selling it, well at least not in the near future as my family is very happy with the end result and I have been looking at Mead recipes and my Sons in Law seem to think that is a great idea for any excess Honey
I also after seeing those Youtubes on how easy it is to make mead and how nice a home made Mead is, I think I will give it a go.
I think Two Hives wonât produce more Honey than I can use for home use which has increased since itâs so moorish and also with making a few batches of Mead.
My family and friends will probably be talked into helping me use it up .
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I am happy for all positive results with the Flow Harvest. I have harvested gallons of honey from traditional hives as I waited for my Original crowd funding flow hive to produce honey. This year I finally harvested my flow. My girls did awesome. Thank God I read the posts about the flow frames flooding. So I took my flow off to harvest. Not a easy task for this 64 yr old lady. Well as slow as I went at least 2 of the frames flooded you can see the honey on the table, Then Flow can I redesign your little plastic attachments they kept falling out The plastic tubes need to SCREW IN They fell out several times pouring honey all over the ground. If I was not buried in honey I would be upset now I am just totally bummed out. I harvested 3 of these gal jars and donated another pint back to the ground and bees.
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Sorry to hear about the leak. 
Glad it isnât drowning any bees.
Question about the picture - it kind of looks like the extension tubing that you have coming from the flow tube angles upward, or maybe straight out. Is this the case?
Is the hive tilted backward by a few degrees on the picnic table? It looks to be propped up but I canât assess the angleâŚ
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The honey should store well but it might candy in the cooler weather, but at 18% it wonât ferment. Drove down the Gateway to the Gold Coast to do some hives there last week end, It looks like the white flowering paper back is the predominant flowering tree around Boondall, the bees produce a very light color a sweet honey from it.
Cheers
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My Honey isnât as sweet as the container I had left from Shop bought Honey and itâs not quite as thick either .
But way better in flavour by a mile.
My family couldnât believe just how much nicer it was, the problem now is that we are all using more Honey than we ever did before lol.
I am looking forward to my first full harvest and making mead with the left over, going to make a gallon of Mead as a trial and if it works out then I will get my second hive going.
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I did my first harvest almost a week ago now and found you need to make sure you push the tubes in straight as the little tongue fits into a slot in the lower part of the frame, if the tubes were slightly turned they wouldnât have gone in fully and maybe why they slipped out ? Just a thought as I could see that as being a problem first time.
I am building myself a new stand for the hive as now itâs level and I need to make the stand with the front legs adjustable as now trying to lift the front of the hive with one hand and placing some spacers to tilt the hive backwards is not that easy as itâs really heavy when full of honey and brood
I though it was stuck to the ground at first .
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Once you taste honey straight from the hive you donât ever go back to store boughtâŚ
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It was tilted up at least 15 degrees I had stuff under the back end and it killed 100âs of bees. The stupid plastic tubes kept falling out what a joke. The tubes I kept pushing down. Needles to say NEVER will I drain this flow on my hive EVER. Not until they improve the tube . I ended up pulling the stupid tubes out and letting the honey flow into the jar right form the opening. A big sad mess.
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Sorry to hear that. If it is any consolation, your experiences are helping those of use who have not yet harvested!
Maybe there needs to be some sort of a twist-lock mechanism for the cap and the flow tubes. I wonder if the caps would get too stuck to get on and off because thereâs nothing to hold on to, which may not be a problem with the tubes.
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I believe that would support the use of the plastic tube also helping with the angle of the flow tube. Also even with over a 15 degree angle of the flow itself once the entire frame opened it seemed to overwhelm the system. I also think you can feel when it opens and I almost think look at it and feel the tension on the rods. Once it gave no return but if it is held back to drain, Then open it. For me I am ditching the tubing and I am going to use a big funnel system and the flow plastic tube. I will cover to keep bees out. So I have some time to work on it. The bees are still eating all the honey on the table. For me I had to remove the frames to inspect that they were capped anyways and no way I could pick it up off the hive. So I put a box and set the frames in the box on the table. That worked good. Then I will make some kind of drain and pick the flow up so the bees can escape when the honey pours out. What you see in the photos is nothing to what is still there today. But yep I learned and I pass it on. Now I just look to make sure the girls are still good and enjoy the awesome honey.! 
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Hi NeuMan,
I believe that angle is too steep and may have contributed to your issue. At such a steep angle, during extraction an air lock is created forcing the honey back up the cells out through uncapped cells, causing a flood.
The default angle is about 2.5-3deg. You could push it to 5 deg to get the last drops. This only corresponds to 15-20mm height difference back and front.
With your tube not fitting. Check that the flow back channel is clear of propolis/wax and that the tube is oriented in the correct way. It should be a snug fit.
If the frames are to leak, they generally occur on the first extractions. Thereafter, it seems to clear up as the bees perform a better seal up the next time around.
Did you crack open the cells in increments and wait between? Cracking the whole frame can overwhelm the bees if it does leak. Bees will generally be able to cope with the minor leak. From your pictures though, it appears to be a floord 
Lastly, failing the above, you may need to check the tension in the wires.
You should be able to extract on the hive safely following the above guidance.
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