Heating Base for Honey Tanks

01 · THE MEASUREMENT

30.5 cm, and what sits on top

A 25 kg honey bucket has its base in that range and seats fully on the plate. A settling tank of 50, 100 or 200 kg is a good deal wider: it rests on the centre and the weight is carried differently.

The maximum load is not declared in the maker's documentation, so before putting a full settling tank on it the sensible thing is to ask us. It is the question that comes up most on this page, and it deserves an honest answer rather than an invented figure.

02 · A HUNDRED WATTS UNDERNEATH

It heats slowly, and only from the bottom

100 W under 25 kg of honey is not much power, and it is worth knowing: this will not liquefy a solid bucket in an afternoon. What it does well is keep the honey flowing while you bottle and finish off the last third of the bucket, which is when the tap starts to clog.

If what you need is to liquefy honey that has already set, the tool is another one — a warming cabinet or a heating belt — and that too comes with its own temperature limit.

03 · THE CEILING IS NOT THE DIAL'S

The scale reaches 80 °C; the honey does not

The thermostat runs from 30 to 80 °C, but that describes the appliance. And here the point weighs more than in filtering: the honey sits still on top of it for hours, so the layer touching the plate gets considerably hotter than the rest of the bucket.

Above about 40 °C the heat starts to be paid for in HMF, which is a legal parameter, and in aroma. The working rule: the lowest setting that lets the honey out, and nothing left on maximum overnight.

04 · BUILD

Stainless steel, 230 V and 16.5 cm tall

Stainless steel, 100 W at 230 V and 1.5 kg, standing 16.5 cm high. It wipes clean with a cloth and has no parts that come apart.

Those 16.5 cm have a welcome side effect: lifting the container puts the tap higher up, so the jar fits underneath without propping the bucket on planks.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a stand-and-warm plate for bottling, not a liquefier.