Creamed honey advice

[Lesgold]

Hi Folks

I have only made creamed honey once and that was quite a few years ago. Wouldn?t mind making a small batch for my grandkids. I plan to store it in a small fridge that can operate at 50F. Any advice on getting a really creamy, fine grained honey would be much appreciated. Would prefer to make my own seed honey if possible.

Cheers

Les

[BeeMaster2]

Les,
As you mentioned, the quality of the creamed honey is based on the size of the crystals. The size of the crystals is based on the seed cream honey.
Find someone selling what you want to make and use it for the seed.
To make 10 pounds of cream honey you need 1 pound of cream honey. In other words, you use 10% seed to make it.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

Thanks Jim. If possible, I would like to make some of my own seed honey. I have some crystallised honey that I can use for that. My research is telling me that I need to reduce the crystal size by using a mortar and pestle. Amy tips to follow if that process is used?

[NigelP]

Les,
As you mentioned, the quality of the creamed honey is based on the size of the crystals. The size of the crystals is based on the seed cream honey.
Find someone selling what you want to make and use it for the seed.
To make 10 pounds of cream honey you need 1 pound of cream honey. In other words, you use 10% seed to make it.
Jim Altmiller

JIm as someone who makes and sells a lot of cream honey....the size of seed crystal helps, but the crystals will still aggregate into larger coarse crystals if just left to set. If you can detect ANY crystals in your creamed honey it's not the best creamed honey.
You need gentle agitation to rub crystals against each other to break them down. I have a machine, like a butter churn that works the setting honey for 15 minutes, rests it for an hour and repeats for around 2-3 days until I judge it ready (it should be white, any other shade shows larger crystals present).  The friction of the crystals rubbing against each other is considerable and even when I make it in my garage in the winter with temps around 4C the mixture will read 21-22C due to the heat generated by this friction.
Before I got mechanical I used an oversized  potato masher as this does the same job, but takes effort, 5 minute every 2-3 hours for a few days....

[Lesgold]

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. Didn?t realise that you needed that much extra work to get a quality product. Thanks for the reply. Is the machine that you use specifically designed for this purpose, or have you just modified a piece of equipment? I hope that you are getting a good return on your honey for the extra work involved.

[NigelP]

It's a dedicated machine Les, made by Lyson.
Here is  a link to the one I have.....it was much cheaper when I bought it....
https://www.abelo.co.uk/shop/creaming-machines/honey-creaming-and-liquefier-machine-100l/

I think in the tropical Australian heat you would struggle to make good soft set, even with a machine. I have to make all mine in our UK winter as it's too warm in the summer and the end product is nowhere near as good, as everything overheats. Heat is your enemy when making soft set. I wish Lyson would make a creamer with a Peltier cooling system, then it would be perfect.

[Lesgold]

I had a look at the Lyson machines today. It?s a pretty big outlay. I?m just going to have a play with a couple of kilos of honey and see how it turns out. I think I should be OK during the winter months but that would be the only time. I will see what happens with my test run using refrigeration and working the honey in the manner you suggested. Local beekeepers do make some so it is possible. For me, it?s just the fun of trying.