Zepto,
Think I saw a note from the owner of “Beethinking” … They have retooled n now the new stuff will exactly match. But a 1/4" diff isn’t going to mess with my brain or the bees either way. I am thinking seriously of buying a double either 8 or 10 Lang box from them … But for this Spring 2016 … I spent the winter making n assembling my own 10 frame Lang boxes. (Bought the frames-too many steps - and not any savings)…
I was getting ready to remove the box with the flow frames in preparation or winter. I am unsure what to do with the flow frames that are not capped that contain nectar. I want to store them so that they will be ready to go next spring, so I do not want the unripened honey to go bad. I don’t have room in my freezer to store them. what do I do?
Feed the honey back to the bees
I agree with @Dee. Just to elaborate a little, I would drain the frames of the “unripe” honey, then test it with a honey refractometer. If you don’t have one, you can buy them from Amazon or eBay for less than $40. If the “honey” is less than 18.5% water, you can treat it like honey. If higher in water content, then refrigerate or freeze in jars and feed it back to bees or use it yourself - there is nothing wrong with it, just it won’t keep at room temperature. Then you can either rinse the frames in warm water (or not - I wouldn’t) and store the frames in a cool, dark place until next season.
I wouldn’t assume it is unripe, by the way. When there are uncapped cells late in the season, the bees often don’t seem to bother capping them, even if the honey is ripe. I am guessing that it is isn’t worth the effort to them of working with wax when the temperatures are dropping, but I don’t know for sure. I just know that uncapped cells in Fall often don’t seem to get capped. That is why it is worth testing the honey for water content - at this time of year, you just can’t tell and lack of cappings doesn’t help you to know.
Yes…something I’ve noticed too.
Sometimes they don’t bother capping syrup either, which is why adding thymol helps
Thanks that was very helpful.
I keep getting asked from our local big traditional beekeeper how I’m going to clean it for next year because it will harden up.
And I don’t know the answer to that.
I’ve just taken The flow box/ frames off and made my bees go back to their two brood boxes and now I need to know how to care for the flow frames for wintering.
What will harden up? Do you mean the honey will crystallize? Have you drained the Flow frames? Was the honey in the Flow frames capped? Was there any honey in the Flow frames? Need more info to answer this accurately.
However, worst case scenario - you have hard crystallized honey in the frames. Just soak them in tap hot water (less than 70 Celsius is safe for the plastic and hotter than most household water heaters). The wax will melt and the honey will dissolve over 15 mins or so. Easy.
Even better, don’t do that. If the honey crystallizes, just give the frames back to the bees next season, after freezing them this year. That way you kill off any wax moth and SHB larvae, and you recycle the honey. The bees usually clean the old honey out of the frames before reusing them, just like they do with traditional wax frames. 
I have extracted the honey from the flow hive and I am interested in how folks are storing the Flow Hive for the winter?
I’m in North Texas with mild winters…I was reading in another category about removing the QX for the winter and leaving the super (flow hive) in place. Then ensure the queen is in the bottom box and put the QX back come spring. Any one got thoughts on this? It’s the first year for this hive so I don’t expect any honey for us, but I’d kinda like to keep any extra they get stored for them to have during the winter…and we’ve had a fantastic number of wild flowers continuously all summer and fall. Any other thoughts on this idea?
I answered on the other thread where you posted the same question… 
Cindy,
I’m just bagging mine up in a large clear (any color okay I’d guess) n semi sealing it … Then store in dry place… I want to keep the spiders n dust off since I’m storing in my small woodshop.
Gerald
Brian.
Check Dawns answer out on other thread. The long n short ! Winter is NEVER a time for QE’s … Unless your in tropics or semi tropics where the honey production is never totally shut-down.
Up here in Washington State I just winterized mine n helped winterize a friends 70 or so hives. We removed n stored ALL QE’s. I’d never take a chance of losing my QUEEN 
Gerald
Our bees have been very slow to start in the flow box. We don’t want to remove the flow box and take away their small honey stores as they may want them during the cold weather. And do we have to remove the queen excluder?
Is it all right to leave the flow box on top of the 8 frame brood box for the winter?
The brood box is full of honey but we may have to feed them fondant if the winter is long.
We are near St. Pancras in central London.
We welcome your advice. We were early contributors but the flow frame took a while to arrive.
Scroll up in this thread for answers! 
You should remove the Flow super with your climate, and the queen excluder too.
They will need the honey in the winter. They need 40 lbs of stores. You need to take the flow super off. If the honey is not ripe stick it in the fridge and you can eat it over winter yourself. If it’s OK then jar it. I’m not sure how much a Lang frame holds so perhaps somebody can tell us but if the brood box is full then you probably don’t need to feed anything else in your tropical climate
Hi Helene - do you know any local beekeepers who can give you advice on wintering your bees? I know it doesn’t get very bitter in London but I presume your fellow countrywoman from another region Dee is ribbing you a bit about it being tropical 
. Everything she & Dawn & others in the earlier part of the thread say about the Flow super & queen excluder needing to come off for most climates is true, however. So, even if your local bee mentor is not familiar with the Flow system, she/he will understand it as a honey super containing only moderate stores and a lot of extra space that is not as hospitable as wax combs on chilly nights. She/he will also give you a more accurate assessment of stores for the size of your colony & whether you’ll need to boost them by feeding.
I’ll leave it there so I don’t get too carried away! But do post more questions if you don’t see the info you need in this or previous threads
Nah, I wasn’t talking about leaving the QE on for winter, just the flow super. I read what Dawn said on her other post so I’ll pull it as I’m worried about them goin’ nuts with the glue. Guess I’ll get some pollen patties to put in the hive and make sure they have that all winter.
Brain,
Good choice ! I’ve pulled my up here in Seattle region about a month ago. Winter wet n cool already up here. I store mine in a large black garbage bag n set in a cool
dry storage place. Really won’t need until May or June up here. Got to refill the deep honey super first. 
my birthday up here so hoping for something Beekeeping for a present 
… 
. My ESL (Vietnamese) class gave me an early celebration on last Sunday.
Good luck n take care bro !
Gerald
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JERRY!!! 
Hope you have a very special and enjoyable day. Thank you for spending time on the forum, I love reading your posts and following your new journey with bees. 
