Heating pad with thermostat

01 · FOR HONEY, 35-40 °C

The thermostat reaches 60; honey does not

That is the figure to set before plugging anything in. The thermostat goes up to 60 °C, and that range is for other uses: honey starts paying for heat from about 40 °C in HMF, a legal parameter, and in aroma.

At 35-40 °C a bucket takes longer, but it comes out intact. Turning it up to 60 to go faster is trading time for quality, and with honey that does not come back.

02 · THE INSTALLATION

Vertical, with a centimetre of air

The pad goes inside vertically, leaving at least one centimetre between it and the wall so air can move. If you tape it, it has to be high-temperature tape.

And a thermometer inside, on the door or hanging halfway up. The thermostat regulates where its probe is; what you want to know is the air temperature around the bucket, which is not the same.

03 · THE FRIDGE

Used as a box, not as a fridge

The appliance provides what is needed: insulated walls and a door that closes. Its cooling circuit stays out of service and is neither drilled nor tampered with, because there is refrigerant gas in there.

And a limit of the material: the plastic linings of domestic fridges are not made for sustained heat. One more reason to stay at the low end of the thermostat.

04 · THE TIMES

A hundred and twenty watts heat slowly

With 120 W in a box the size of a fridge, warming is slow by design, and for honey that is an advantage: it decrystallises without punishing the product.

How long depends on the container size, the starting temperature and how set the honey is. A large bucket is a matter of a day or more, not an afternoon.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is half a solution: the other half is the insulated box, and that one is yours to provide.