Message
To address the original question, The Hive
and the Honey Bee (1992 edition) p. 895-896 says,
"When exposed to air of R.H. [relative humidity]
less than the equilibrium value, honey loses moisture at the surface,
but much more slowly below the surface. The moisture content of honey
(even in the comb) can be reduced by exposure to air or R.H. less than
the equilibrium value. This may be attained by raising the temperature
of the air or by mechanical dehumidification. Using a dehumidifier to
reduce R.H. in the drying room to 30%, Killion (1950) reduced the
moisture content of honey in 130 supers from 21 to 17% in 23 days at 27
[degrees] C. Circulation of heated air is also used for this purpose.
Townsend (1961) described a drying room holding up to 72 supers in
which warmed air at 32-35 degrees C (90-95 degrees F) is passed
through, removing 1 to 3% moisture in 24 hours. The lower the
temperature of the air before heating, the more efficient is the
process, since its RH is lower after heating." This practice is
commonly employed in commercial honey production.
Stating it a little more simply, The ABC and
XYZ of Bee Culture (40th edition) p 214 says, "If warm air is forced
through supers filled with honey, even though the cells are capped, it
is possible to remove as much as one percent moisture from the honey in
24 hours. The precise quantity of moisture that may be removed varies
with the moisture content of the honey, the volume of the air and the
relative humidity in the room."
And about the whole question of sealed
versus unsealed honey, ABC/XYZ says on p 462, "After the bees have
ripened honey, they normally cover the cells with wax cappings. The
cells that contain honey, but are not yet capped, are referred to as
unsealed. As a general rule we think of unsealed honey as not being
ripe; however, this is not always true and unsealed cells can contain
honey of a proper moisture content. Also, cells of honey covered with
cappings can still take on or lose moisture; water vapor can move
through the cappings. The role of the cappings is not clear but
presumably they prevent the contamination of the honey by bees walking
over the surface of the comb."
Further gleanings from these 2 sources: Enzymes
are added to nectar while it is in the gut of the forager bees and the
receiving house bees. Sometimes the house bees will put drops of nectar
in holding cells, and then later consolidate them. Presumably more
enzymes would be added in the gut each time the nectar is moved, but
they only do this "sometimes" so it isn't an integral part of the
process. Ripening takes several days (not longer). The enzymatic action
continues on after ripening, capping, extraction, bottling, etc. until
there is nothing left for the enzymes to act on (i.e. until every bit
of sucrose is converted to glucose and fructose), or until artificial
heating stops the process.
My interpretation of this information is that if
the cells are half-filled with honey and have been for a while, then
they have ripened honey in them. The shake test will help verify that
(give the frame a sharp shake over a piece of paper; if wet stuff comes
out then we'll assume the water content is too high). Ripened unsealed
honey is no more or less guaranteed to be of the proper water content
than honey that is capped.
Randall Austin
Patrick Gannon wrote:
thx tom
the ubiquitous enzymes.
you are right on but the question is do the bees introduce
it/them during nectar collection before deposit in combs or is it done
[also] by caretakers long after. if the former, seems like dehydration
will work. The enzymes are introduced by "receiver" bees before
they regurgitate the nectar into the cells. I don't know the relative
contribution of enzymes vs dehydration in curing. If mostly dehydration
then dehydrator should work to some degree. How will you know that you
have reduced the moisture to the point that you don't have to worry
about fermentation?
your question about leaving supers on.
1) there is plenty of honey in the 2 brood boxes; 2) why
leave on honey they won't use;Depending on the winter, they may or
may not use it: the big push comes in the spring buildup. I'd rather
have too much in the hive than not enough. Starvation is messy,
especially if you get wax moths, and going into the first honey flow
with a weak hive isn't much better. If you leave it on, you can always
harvest next year. Are you being greedy? and 3) even if if i leave
supers on there i think that would be too much open space for a tight
winter cluster to deal with [heat conservation].The amount of open
space in the hive is basically irrelevant as the bees don't heat what
they don't have to, something people haven't learned.Why heat thousands
of f2 of space when you only occupy a small part at any given time? As
the cluster cools, cool, they move from the outside to the center of
the cluster. They are sufficiently efficient at this that "dead air" in
the hive is usually very close to the outside temperature. Likewise,
you can keep the bedroom very cool if you "cluster" under the covers
with a friend.
Tom Wright
great list you guys
patrick
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