Below drive – the Speidel Hydropress

Synopsis: Heather honey is thixotropic and calls for particular remedy when extracting. Right here’s my enjoy with the Speidel Hydropress … not more tedious crushing and straining for me!

Creation

As a beekeeper, you probably have lived in numerous spaces of the rustic, you’ll pay attention to the profound have an effect on the native forage and local weather have in your bees. In fact, in one location those can range from season to season. Alternatively if you happen to transfer from the fertile agricultural lowlands to a mountainous area, or from South to North or vice versa, then the whole lot adjustments. The period of the season is more than likely other, the spring and summer season nectar flows might properly happen in numerous months and may also be from utterly other assets.

I began beekeeping in the United Kingdom Midlands; wealthy farmland interspersed with copses and blended wooded area. The bees were given a flying get started at the oil seed rape (OSR) in April and, in just right years, the summer season honey was once adopted via past due season balsam and ivy. Despite the fact that I didn’t extract it, I stored numerous expense on fondant for the iciness.

I moved to the East coast of Scotland (and nonetheless stay bees there). Spring is later, however it’s nonetheless wealthy arable farmland with abundant OSR, even though no longer till Might. Autumns are cooler and simplest very hardly ever do the bees get the rest from the ivy. The summer season honey is taken off in early/mid-August and that’s the tip of the season.

However I now survive the faraway west coast of Scotland. I doubt there’s any OSR inside of 50 miles of me. The important forage – and the one person who yields properly sufficient for a honey crop – is heather.

And I do know virtually not anything in regards to the plant, about getting ready colonies for heather or extracting the honey.

In truth, that’s no longer solely true … I now know slightly about extracting heather honey which is what this submit is set.

Bell and ling

There are two sorts of heather of relevance to beekeepers, bell heather (Erica cinerea) and commonplace heather or ling (Calluna vulgaris). There’s a 3rd, the cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix), however I’m no longer positive how vital it’s for the bees or honey.

Bell heather plants a little previous than ling, in all probability from mid-July relying upon the elevation. Round me the ling plants from early-August to early-September … in most cases about the similar time as the elements adjustments for the more serious and the bees can’t get to it 🙁 .

Should you force up the A9 on the proper time of the 12 months the hills north of Dalwhinnie be offering a wonderful rolling red vista of uninterrupted flowering heather. The economic beekeepers have the entire very best spots and there are millions of hives transported to the realm annually for the heather.

Beekeepers with quite a lot of heather enjoy separate the bell and ling harvests and a few price the previous extra extremely. I don’t have the enjoy, or the advantage of a loyal nectar go with the flow from both.

Should you force alongside my highway you’ll to find sporadic patches of red between the bracken. It’s a deficient area for heather. Alternatively, on a extra certain notice, I don’t have to move the rest anyplace as there’s heather at the tough hillside everywhere in the space.

We have now bell and ling ranging from someday in mid/past due July however no longer in enough amounts to permit me the posh of doing the rest however taking no matter the bees have accumulated via mid-September.

The most productive hives would possibly fill two supers, the worst would possibly get one however forget about it altogether.

Inevitably there’s prone to be some blackberry and – in just right years – lime jumbled in, but it surely’s predominantly ling … and ling gives some distinctive issues in relation to extracting.

Thixotropic

Ling heather is thixotropic which is outlined as:

The valuables of positive gels of turning into fluid when agitated and of reverting again to a gel when left to face.

The place ‘stand’ may additionally imply ‘saved in honeycomb’ after assortment via the bees.

Why is that this an issue?

It’s an issue as a result of honey extraction in most cases way profiting from the fluid nature of honey to spin it out of the brush.

I discovered a just right description of this factor, and of ling honey, in an nameless article in Nature from 1936:

Ever since Main Hruschka , in Venice, came upon in 1865 the main of honey extraction via the appliance of centrifugal drive, in a rotary extractor, it become not important to damage treasured combs in an effort to separate the honey from the wax. The entire local honeys in Nice Britain yield to this system of remedy, excepting that derived from the nectar of ling (Calluna vulgaris). Ling honey fails to go with the flow from the combs in an bizarre extractor, and in consequence the combs must be beaten in a press to procure extraction. Ling honey is wealthy golden brown in color and presentations a feature sparkle because of the presence of minute air bubbles. Within the natural shape it by no means granulates however stays as a gelatinous fluid which is extra viscous than maximum different honeys. Its unique flavour and aroma additionally readily distinguish it from different honeys.

So, there you may have it, ling honey is gel-like and must be agitated to make it go with the flow. In 1936 there apparently weren’t techniques to try this within the comb – there at the moment are, see underneath – so necessitating the crushing of the brush.

Choices

I’m no longer going to talk about getting ready minimize comb heather honey. It’s no longer one thing I’ve enjoy of and it’s no longer one thing I may dependably reach because the nectar go with the flow right here isn’t in most cases robust/lengthy sufficient to get well-filled frames.

And, when it’s (like ultimate 12 months), I’ve used stressed out basis. D’oh!

Crushing information

In earlier years and on an overly small scale – a dozen frames or so – I’ve beaten and strained heather honey.

It’s a tediously boring procedure.

If the frames are unwired you merely minimize out the brush, drop it right into a bucket and mash it up sooner than straining the honey out thru a sieve. It takes a very long time and the honey restoration is underwhelming. There all the time appears to be a lot left related to the beaten comb.

If the frames are stressed out you’ll upload scraping again the brush to the midrib and/or extracting the wires to the method described above.

Frankly none of this is my thought of amusing.

Getting agitated

Since that 1936 article seemed there at the moment are ‘heather looseners’. Those have a row of blunt needles which you push throughout the cappings, successfully agitating the honey in a position for extraction.

Thorne’s do a guide one for £100. Abelo promote a semi-automated one from Lyson for £5,270.

The Thorne’s loosener does 196 cells at a time. There are ~2000 cells consistent with facet on a Nationwide tremendous body.

In all probability you’re beginning to respect the tedium of the duty forward?

However, for 5 grand, you’ll automate it … partly.

The Lyson loosener does one body at a time.

Yikes.

I do know there are options to the 2 looseners I’ve indexed. I’ve no enjoy of any of them so can not touch upon their just right or dangerous issues … rather than I’d choose to not have not begun extra apparatus to scrub after extracting.

Semi-automated crushing

So, it’s again to crushing and straining.

Many of the beekeeping providers promote fruit presses of 1 form of any other. Those have a steel cage into which you upload a muslin (or an identical) bag containing honey within the comb. The honey is squeezed out both the use of a hand-turned press, or a ‘automobile jack’-type pneumatic press.

I’ve no longer used any of those. After I’ve mentioned them with different beekeepers the feedback are steadily no longer encouraging; “very laborious paintings”, “small scale and coffee quantity” or “poorly designed”.

I checked out one press promoting for £270. Even if it was once stainless-steel (and don’t believe person who isn’t) it was once poorly completed, with crude welding at the legs, body and deal with.

It is a little more automatic than manually crushing the brush, however no longer a lot.

Alternatively, there are better fruit presses which can be extra automatic. Those come with the Speidel Hydropress which I do know others have used for honey extraction.

Having mentioned this system with ‘common reader’ Elaine, who bought one for her affiliation and kindly despatched me movies of it in motion, I purchased one from Vigo Presses.

The Speidel Hydropress

Speidel are a German producer of quite a lot of apparatus used for apple juice and cider preparation.

The clicking is composed of a perforated stainless-steel basket that stands on a round concave drain. There’s a hefty lid secured with a big hand-turned screw.

The suave bits are all inside of.

Within the centre is a rubber bladder crowned with a guide drive free up valve that protrudes throughout the heavy steel lid.

Beneath are a drive gauge, an automatic drive free up valve and the inlet and outlet ports, that have separate faucets.

All the factor sits on 3 stout legs, considered one of which is longer than the others to verify the whole lot runs against the the drain on the ‘entrance’ of the system (and no longer over the drive valve and inlet/retailers that are on one facet).

As could be anticipated from a German producer, the machining and end are superb.

I bought the 40 litre press which, with a spare filter out bag, price about £860 together with delivery to the howling wasteland.

Low drive

Because the title implies, the Hydropress is water-powered. You ‘inflate’ the bladder via attaching the click to a hose from a typical home water provide. The enter drive should no longer exceed 3 bar.

Sadly we don’t have a typical home water provide.

We have now a burn (small movement). The water comes from this by means of a kilometre or so of pipe to a tank above the home. Our water drive is definitely underneath 1 bar, inadequate to energy the Hydropress.

I knew this after I bought it and already had a crafty plan. In contrast to Baldrick’s crafty plans, mine wasn’t ridiculed …

… and it labored.

I stuffed a big dustbin with water and used it because the reservoir for a three bar electrical pump. I ran the opening from the Hydropress again into the dustbin. All this needed to be outdoor (the pump leaks a little), so I bought a 25 m strengthened hose to attach the whole lot in combination.

This kind of pump overheats if left ‘on’ towards a closed faucet. I due to this fact rigged up a WiFi-connected on/off transfer so I may regulate it from my telephone as I attended to the Hydropress.

This all labored remarkably properly.

Setup

You wish to have get entry to to the highest of the click to fill it. When it’s in use you want so as to see the gauge and simply function the inlet and outlet faucets. As soon as stuffed it’s too heavy to transport.

You due to this fact want a low robust desk for the click. I used a Black and Decker Workmate with a big, robust, flat piece of picket clamped on most sensible. I used a ‘step stool’ when loading the system.

If that each one sounds a little precarious, it isn’t. With care the uncapping (see underneath), loading and extracting made significantly much less mess than with my same old radial extractor.

As with all honey extraction, you’ll want simple get entry to to a sink, scorching water and about 9,000 miles of disposable kitchen towels.

The Hydropress legs are sufficiently lengthy to boost the ‘drain’ above a fifteen kg honey bucket, however there’s no longer numerous house to spare. If you wish to filter out at once you’ll want to use some ingenuity.

Filling the click

The perforated cage of the click is coated with an open-ended – fairly coarse – filter out sack, folded underneath (i.e. against the centre) the bottom of the bladder. The highest of the sack is to start with folded out over the higher fringe of the cage.

I used a Smith cutter/scraper to scrape the honey comb again to the central rib over a bucket. There’s a undeniable solution to doing this properly … and it’s no longer one I’ve.

I trashed relatively a couple of frames within the procedure.

Not anything ventured, not anything won.

Subsequent 12 months I’ll both use skinny unwired basis and simply minimize it out and unload it at once into the click, or plastic basis and the Smith cutter.

I didn’t trouble breaking apart the brush. The few unwired frames have been simply minimize into 3 giant lumps and dropped in.

Take care to not upload any wood splinters or items of twine into the click. Should you perforate the bladder the honey can be ruined. When complete, the worth of the honey would possibly exceed the price of the click.

Don’t say I didn’t alert you.

As soon as complete (see the conclusions) you fold the higher fringe of the filter out bag inwards, overlaying the contents, securely connect the lid after which close off the opening.

The faucets are labelled on/off, however the writing is hard to learn beneath the click. You’ll want to know which method they each function as chances are you’ll want to used them in a rush.

As soon as the water provide is grew to become at the bladder begins to fill. Since it’s already stuffed with air, this should be launched to permit extra water in. That is what the small free up valve at the most sensible of the stem is used for.

The air hisses out. Once any water seems take your finger off the valve to near it. The higher floor of the lid is recessed so can accommodate a dribble of water with out it operating down the facet of the system.

Why is that vital?

Since the honey is already weeping out throughout the steel cage, operating all the way down to the drain after which into the bucket.

Don’t let any water combine with the honey!

As well as, you’ll want to have a honey bucket underneath the drain as you load the system.

Gradual and secure

It’s then ‘merely’ a case of controlling the water drive of the inlet to resolve the go with the flow of honey popping out. Should you flip up the drive an excessive amount of you abruptly overflow the drain, overlaying the tabletop, your legs, footwear and the ground with kilograms of honey.

How do I do know?

I’ve a just right creativeness.

Run the click slowly. First of all the honey comes out rapid because the drive is slowly ramped up. Against the tip of the run – the one time you in reality want a complete 3 bar of drive – the honey is simplest seeping out slowly.

All this comes to advantageous regulate of the pump – on/off/on/off and so on. – and/or of the inlet valve.

Should you exceed 3 bar the automated valve underneath the system releases water … you’ll want to have a small bowl in a position to catch any dribbles.

Switch honey buckets as wanted. You’ll slide the stuffed one beneath the system as you introduce the brand new one, spilling no honey throughout the transition.

Setup and loading the system took me about 3-4 hours. The run took properly underneath half of that point.

I labored on my own and needed to kind out the pump, combat with the Smith cutter and handle the fear of the use of a prime drive water provide in shut proximity to a few grand of honey.

Now I do know what I’m doing it is going to be quicker subsequent time.

Cleansing up

Inevitably that is the worst a part of all of the procedure. As soon as the run is ended you flip off the pump and drain the bladder by means of the opening.

Whilst you take away the lid you’re confronted with a fairly dry cake of wax caught lovely firmly to the internal face of the mesh bag.

Roll your sleeves up and moderately pull all of it out. That is just right (however no longer nice) wax so is effective. Sell off the wax in a bucket, take away and soak the mesh bag and blank the extractor.

I used a hose and quite a lot of scorching water. It’s no longer simply an indoor job. The extractor has a couple of nooks and crannies underneath the bladder during which honey will get trapped.

In past due summer season I’d do that outdoor past due within the night to steer clear of the eye of quite a lot of bees. Funnily sufficient, this wasn’t a subject in early January.

Like the whole lot related to beekeeping the click takes up relatively a little of room. It’s a metre prime and over 50 cm in diameter. I’m on the lookout for an appropriate garage bag for it.

Conclusions

I’ll write a extra detailed account of the use of the system sooner or later sooner or later.

I extracted 40 kg of honey from a unmarried run. I overfilled the system quite and had some leakage out from underneath the lid. This simply runs down the outer wall of the cage so isn’t a (messy) downside.

I pre-warmed my supers at ~38°C for a number of days over my honey warming cupboard to lend a hand extraction. I don’t know whether or not it did or no longer, however the room smelled unbelievable. The extracted honey had a water content material of 16%, lovely just right for heather.

I finished up with a couple of un-extracted frames as a result of, a) they wouldn’t have compatibility, b) it wasn’t value doing a 2d run with a fragment of a complete load, and c) I’m no longer very observant and overlooked a complete part-filled tremendous. D’oh!

I gave them to family and friends.

For my scale of heather manufacturing (small to middling non-existent to small) which is not going to exceed ~75 kg a 12 months this 40 litre system labored properly. Should you produce extra it is probably not appropriate (and also you’ll have already got an answer).

It will have to be conceivable to do two sequential runs in a day, specifically if you happen to use a recent mesh bag for the second one run.

The water gave me some sleepless nights.

Alternatively, I had talked to providers about an identical machines powered via compressed air and there have been obviously some primary technical problems with them. Some have stopped uploading or promoting them.

Because it grew to become out the water wasn’t a subject in any respect.

Should you forget about the prices of the jars, lids, labels, hose, fittings , Smith cutter and my time, the system as regards to paid for itself in one run.

Thank you

Vigo Presses have been superb to handle. They shipped temporarily and despatched me a alternative system when the primary had a minor production fault to some of the legs. There have been no quibbles and the brand new system was once shipped sooner than the primary was once accumulated.

In any case, thank you once more to Elaine who confirmed me their system in motion and who spoke back my interminable half-baked and nonsensical questions.

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