Honey Heating Cabinet

[Perry]

OK, I got the idea from PapaKeith and Apisbees, and saw a variation that I liked, so here's mine.
Given that I am long winded, here is a primer.
I have around 65 hives, and hope to someday have a dedicated honey house large enough for my needs (my first one was waaaaaay too small).
In the mean time, I have a pile of full supers coming in at the moment and no where to really put them. I have decided to "store" them temporarily in the unheated honey "shed" I now have. I saw a nice heating cabinet at another small commercial keeps that I kinda liked, and figured it was a good temporary fix for me.
I bought 3 - 4 x 8 sheets of this 1" Durafoam product. It has a sprayed on plastic film on one side, and a foil film on the other, so no off gassing.
I had some solid pallet scraps kicking around that I thought I could use as well. I built a temporary cabinet 6' wide, 2' deep, and about 5' high, and lined it with this Durafoam stuff. The "front" is just 2 pieces of the Foam sheets for easy placement and removal.
What I will do is as I need to extract, I will bring in a 18 or so honey supers, stack them in the cabinet and use a couple of light bulbs and a small fan. The cabinet that I saw I had shelves, 4 - 100 watt light bulbs that were switched to come on 2 at a time, and a small bathroom fan that circulated air. I can preheat my supers so they extract easily, and as I set aside uncapped frames I can consolidate them till the end, and then shove a dehumidifier in there to finish the job.
The fellow that had the nice one also stored all his honey in 30 lb. pails, and when he needed to fill his bottling tank, he just set a half dozen pails in his cabinet and 24 to 48 hours later they were liquefied.
This is just a temprary solution till I have a heating room for storing supers (a fellas gotta dream eh), but it didn't cost much except my time, and $15 a sheet for the Durafoam (total $45).
You can see my "old" system of using an empty deep with a trouble light next to the cabinet, but it was really only good for a few supers.
Any comments, flaws or problems you see, please feel free to point them out before I make fool out of myself.

[Jen]

Impressive to say the least.. in my world anyway.

Are you a one man band Perry?

[riverbee]

comments?  well, the green is a purty color...........

ps sorry perry, couldn't resist......

[Barbarian]

I also warm my supers for a couple of days before extracting but I am much smaller scale than you.

With light bulbs you may get hot or cold spots. I use a low power hand hair drier linked to a thermostat and a small remote domestic fan. To help air/heat circulation I take out the two outside frames in each super.

You may also find it useful to have a plastic sheet in the bottom of the cabinet to collect the drips.

[brooksbeefarm]

Mine holds two five gallon buckets, it has two 100 watt bulbs in the bottom and a thermostat from kelly's bee supply. I set it on 100F and warm it over night before bottling, if granulated it takes two to three days, works great. Jack
PS. i can also heat my honey by saying, honey i have 4 more buckets ready for you to bottle.

[Jen]

I sure hope your honey gets a nice dinner out, and a pat on the fanny for that Jack 

[Perry]

Are you a one man band Perry?

As far as my actual beekeeping goes, yes!
On the other hand, my lovely wife Jane is the main bread winner, bring home the baconer, that allows me to be as happy as I am. 

[Jen]

I love Love Stories like this, heart warming 

It's incomprehensible for me to imagine you, all by yourself, extracting, filtering, bottling, labeling, selling, A Ton Of Honey! Good Lord Amighty!

[brooksbeefarm]

I like love stories to jen, i think it cost me $3.50 for a marriage lic. and blood test, $5.00 for the organ player and $10.00 to the preacher. When she gets huffy i remind her how much she cost me to marry her, and when she really gives me a hard time, i remind her that i know why her father spent hundred's of dollars on the wedding for me to take her off his hands. She then apologizes and bakes me an apple pie. What a Gal. Jack
PS. sorry i got off topic telling this love story.

[riverbee]

jack, i think your wife is a squirt just like me, i am calling you out and it was probably the other way around.....your wife probably wears the carharts or the overalls, and you just talk BIG and while she's baking you an apple pie you bring her flowers and an ice cold beer.........  

and ps perry, sorry for sidetracking on jack's 'loovvve story'...... ....

[LazyBkpr]

I like it Perry!!   Your giving me some excellent ideas for our honey house/woodshop Keep them coming!!!

    Perry;
    ...please feel free to point them out before I make fool out of myself.

    ...  Umm....  Perry.. Buddy.. Friend....    Never mind...     

[brooksbeefarm]

Nope, the wife is 5 ft,9 in. tall, doesn't like beer, but will drink a wine cooler now and then when i allow it. I do bring her a bouquet of Sweet Williams and Dandelions in the spring to let her know that garden time is just around the corner and she can get her canning equipment out. Life is good. Jack