How to Cream Honey at Home
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- How to cream honey at home without special equipment.
Here we will use the Dyce method (from Cornell) to prepare creamed honey, improving marketability of a honey that would otherwise crystalize on its own into something less desirable.
We started prior with a bucket of honey that had crystalized. This honey was heated and mixed until it returned to liquid form. That honey is then cooled. After cooling a good creamed honey (seed) is added to it, to encourage future development of similar sized crystals. It is a 9:1 ratio / 10% mix, 9 parts liquid honey to 1 part seed stock/creamed honey.
The actual time input for creaming honey is minimal. The mixing is followed by an extended storage period (3 days per Dyce, I find it takes longer for a complete set) around 55ºF/12.8ºC . That cool temperature maximizes crystal production, with a more rapid set promoting a more uniform crystal structure. You should have the honey set in its final vessel, as it is non-pourable once set.
We use the same Dyce method but now on a larger scale. We made up our first seed honey from very crystalized honey (first jars of honey we made 10 years ago). With a mortar and pestal we ground 4 tbl to cream and using 1 to 10 ratio. We did that until we had 4 lbs of creamed honey. Now we add 4 lbs of seed product (saved from last batch we did) and add it to 40 lbs. of liquid honey. We use a 5 gallon pail with a honey gate and a cordless drill with a paint mixer for mixing. We then pull off 4 lbs. for future and put the rest in containers to set up. At this stage the creamed honey is still in a sufficient liquid form that it flows easily from the honey gate.
A few things make sure you" set" the creamed honey at 55 degrees. Not a cool dark place. If you do this, it can separate over time.
Just my opinion the dyce method is close to the whipped honey process. The fastest you mix your creamed honey the more air you will put in it and can make it have a lot of foam on the top of your creamed honey after it sets.
The reason I bring this up is because I see people use a drill and mixing paddle on high speed for a few minutes and then put it in containers and the sell it right away.
Then label it as creamed honey.
I recall one particularly dense beekeeper who through whipped honey was in fact just really whipped honey. Rather than reading or asking questions, he just sourced a giant Hobart commercial kitchen mixer, and proceeded to whip the bejeesus out of a bucket of honey. What didn’t splash onto the walls he bottled and sent out the door! It all would separate back out over the next week.
Excellent.
Thank you so much!
Great video!!
Thank you so much!
Great video, thanks. Trying to figure a way to keep the mixture at 55+/- degrees for days. The only way I can figure is, to set our small refridge at the lowest setting and unplug it as necessary, then plug it back in when necessary. I'm in SW Forida🥵, so there are not too many days when the temperature is at the 55 degree range.
Great Q! A small fridge is a pretty ideal option, but the average fridge uses a nebulous 1-10 dial to set temps, nor is the average fridge controller made to target a range with 55º in it! The options are either get an appliance that CAN hold that temperature out of the box, like a wine fridge, or modifying a more pedestrian fridge using a separate temperature controller.
Along those lines: I use a bunch on Inkbird thermostat products for heating applications. I have found them reliable and seemingly long lived (my honey dryer and now my large incubator run off of Inkbird ITC-306 units: the Inkbird was less than any of the individual temperature controller components that my incubator needed replaced). That said, the ITC-306 units are heater controls only.
While I haven't used one, I'd gamble their cooling capable ITC-308 would prove a reliable tool, ~$35. You'd place the thermocouple (the actual sensor) into the fridge, near the center of everything: it has a thin wire and you can just close the door on the wire, don't need to drill it in or anything. You'd then plug in the Inkbird to house current, and plug the fridge into the 'cooling' receptacle of the Inkbird. You'd set cooling temps, maybe 54º +2º: that means 'whenever temperature exceeds 56º cool it down to 54º', and let it run. It would ballpark 55º that way, but may need tweaking. You'd want to set it up and let it run a few days to let everything normalize before adding the mixed honey.
There are other manufacturers of these types of units too. I don't have a professional relationship with Inkbird or anything, they've just been really reliable for me. This can be a pretty mission critical component (especially when I'm banking dozens and dozens of queen cells) and they haven't failed me yet. I actually was referred to them by another queen breeder.
You DO want it pretty dang close to 55º for proper rapid-and-fine crystal set, and that can be an issue because a lot of thermal controllers, and thermostats for that matter, are NOT well calibrated. I have admittedly not had this issue with my two Inkbirds, but I've seen temperatures vary as much as 5º between non-calibrated units.
In a perfect world you'd have a traceable reference thermometer with 55º in the middle of its range. Traceable means it is referenced back to NIST calibration thermometers, and these things are pretty dang accurate. That said, these are expensive things to just make sure you're at 55º!
I found some by Thermco that would work (B60600-0700, actually a thermometer for blood bank work! Ranges -5ºC to 20ºC +- 0.75ºC, 55ºF is ~12,7ºC), but they're $47! There are a number of digital traceable units too. I've actually found digital thermal sensors tend to have a much wider range of temperatures where they remain accurate. The old traceable glass units would have small ranges because of how much the glass and spirit can deviate above and below its calibrated temperature ranges, hence why they'd only have a small band they were calibrated for.
Good luck!
@@jakebark23 Thank you for your lengthy explanation and suggestions.
I’m going to go with the wine cooler. I’m seeing there are plenty of used ones out there.
Hopefully, we can make our first batch of creamed honey this week. Thanks again.
Where did you get your plastic container
@@ericshipplett3517 that one is sold by Blue Sky Bee Supply in Ohio. Every bee-retail shop has some iteration of a creamed honey vessel.
Can you cream honey without the use of cream honey. What was the other ingredient you used.
I only used liquid honey and creamed honey in his one.
You NEED a seed-stock to control crystal size.
The most common alternative I know is doping the honey with powdered sugar. Several ‘bee stores’ sell kits that use powdered sugar as seed stocks.
I have a question please .after settle the cream honey 55'tempreturs for 3days what if the temperature go up for 15-18 c* is it going to be soft and running agaid?thanks
@@MiryamsApiary it won’t cause the amount of crystallization to reverse, but it WILL slow down the process significantly. 55°F/12.8°C is the ideal temperature because of rapid and UNIFORM crystal set relative to the seed stock. Anything that interrupts that process can also cause the crystal set to be distorted, might lose or pick up some different or unwanted textural properties.
Care to share the name of the starter you used
That is Kroger's house labeled 'whipped honey'. Label indicates it is a domestic clover honey. I don't know who the actual producer is, probably any number of operations in the sweet clover belt of the US.
i have a question plsss, after creamed honey settled 3 days on 55f, can we take it out on room temperature? what happened if we store that cream honey on room temperature? note : my country is hot aroiund 25 celcius in room and 32 celcius outside
@@MahyaqiaLana once the texture has set, it would be fine sitting at 25C, but you’d likely have it decrystalizing or melting at 32C. We run into that issue with farmers markets.
Great Video!! After the 10D in the fridge… can it then be stored on the counter afterwards?
Great question!
First a word or warning, for creaming most fridges are actually too cold! Dyce himself said a temperature below 57° for most honeys (and 60° for thick honeys), and that varying by more than a few degrees in either direction could greatly extend the process. That temperature just really facilitates crystal formation, and straying from it retards the process.
Most refrigerators run at 40° or lower. This actually gets into the non-crystal-forming temperature ranges. Liquid honey can actually have crystalization prevented by chilling. You can admittedly set up a fridge FOR creaming, but would likely need a temperature controller added to the mix, most fridge thermostats just don’t play at 55°.
That said, once formed, the crystals are stable somewhat indefinitely at 65 and lower. Warmer temps (and really were talking above room temperature IMHO) can cause the crystals to actually melt away. This has been a problem for us doing outdoor events in the summer, and creamed honey must be kept in a cooler lest it all revert to liquid honey!
Our “in use” creamed honey is kept unrefrigerated and out of the sun.
Good video. I let my creamed honey set for two to three weeks before I put it out for sale to get to the correct thickness.
@@kathyhathaway8823 thank you so much.
Ok where u get cream honey from
That seed stock was Kroger’s house brand. Also one of the few honeys labeled both as clover (undoubtedly sweet clover) and as US origin.
My initial seed stock would be 10% of this honey. My first batch would be 1% that store bought honey, and a subsequent batch 0.1%.
That’s whipped honey not creamed honey, you have introduced a huge amount of air into it… been making creamed honey for years
This is actually a recurring misconception and misnomer: whipped honey is creamed honey. There is no real whipped honey in terms of air-incorporated honey: it would settle out before reaching customers. I assure you there is little to no air in the product at the end of the crystallization process. That color change is solely driven by thoroughly mixing in the seed cream stock.
@@jakebark23 I have been a beekeeper for 55 years 10 of those I worked at a commercial operation … I think I know what I am talking about, you would have to put it under a tremendous amount of vacuum to get the air back out of it. Black mountain honey has a video on how to make it the right way … it takes nearly a week to make it properly
@@garycorlew2080 Dyce method specifically notes parking it into its retail containers immediately after mixing to reduce incorporation of air, as the honey remains very much in a liquid state. That little residential stand mixer doesn't have the horsepower to incorporate significant amounts of air with that much honey even if I wanted it to, and at no point does the volume of honey in the mixer expand, which air incorporation would cause ('whipped' products see a significant increase in volume, case in point whipped cream is half air, meaning the final volume is twice the initial volume). Whatever minimal amount of air that is incorporated readily rises to the surface in the still largely liquid honey and dissipates before crystal set. Checking my reference materials, 'ABC and XYZ' apparently has no entry for whipped honey, while 'The Hive and the Honey Bee's' index entry for whipped honey directs you to creamed honey. I specifically noted I don't care for the bucket mixing method because I have seen issues with small pieces of plastic becoming incorporated with the product, and the other bottom augering method requires a $1800 creamer which is simply unapproachable for the majority of beekeepers (though admittedly would give you the best finished product). This an approachable method that many beekeepers already have everything to achieve and doesn't require a specialty drill bit paddle or the arms to run it. This method's only drawback is a tendency for the surface to have glazed frothed appearance, as that is where whatever minimal amounts of foam park and dissipate, as was readily seen in the video. One could argue a paddle for mixing would have been a better choice than the whisk, but I have found the paddle just insufficient to incorporate the seed stock thoroughly in that mixer, your mileage may vary. I appreciate your feedback and experience, and I dearly appreciate your concern that I am giving bad information, but this 'whipped' honey aspect is a misnomer that has been causing confusion for decades. There are a number of long-accepted concepts in beekeeping that have been perpetuated with the best of intentions, but fall flat when critically examined, and whipped honey is one of them. When googling whipped honey to check myself after your comments, I got to read a lot of well intentioned articles written by people who have obviously never tried to make shelf stable actually-whipped honey, perpetuating the issue. I generally avoid listing credentials, because listing credentials is the same thing as saying 'because I said so' and I want my content to convey my knowledge. That said, I sought to become a subject expert well before creating content. You are certainly invited to continue to think I am doing it wrong, and lord knows I do a lot of things other people think are wrong, but I have plenty of reason to think I am doing it right for the audience I was targeting (backyarders without a creamer budget and intentionally avoiding the paddle-n-bucket), and we can leave it at that. - Respectfully, JB