Pail & Bottle Warming Cabinet
Introduction
Raw
honey crystallizes! Honey that has been put up in 5 gallon pails usually
needs to be warmed prior to putting in the bottling tank. We warm honey
that's been bottled but sat for awhile prior to selling. Our "standard"
procedure is to heat it to 115 degrees for 24 hours in the modified Freezer
described below.
Methods
We've converted a commercial Arctic Air A200. These will heat six 5 gallon pails at a time. The Arctic Air is a relatively popular low cost poor quality freezer that you can pick up cheaply (broken and free that is).
We
cleaned and painted the inside with white enamel paint. The evaporator
coil, fan and paint are easily removed from the top of the unit. This
leaves a hole in the back of the freezer for wires. We added a small box
fan at the top. This was $31.70 from Grainger (part number 4WT49). There
are two 200 Watt enclosure heaters also from Grainger; part number 3hk15 for
$69.20 each.
Temperature
control is provided by a TIP temperature controller part number OAKCON001
costing $149.95. The fan and interior light are connected directly to the
terminal strip. Also connected directly is the red light on top so I can
tell if the cabinet is on (I tend to forget and leave things warming longer than
intended). The heating elements are connected to the temperature
controller.
Summary
This well insulated enclosure easily warms pails and bottles. It takes about 5 minutes to heat to 115 degrees. Most things liquify within 24 hours. Stubborn items can be shaken and returned for another 12 hours. One can raise the temperature to 140 degrees if you want to prepare honey for creaming (although we only heat to 120 degrees for any application).