> > > Filtering of "thick" honeys such as OIL-SEED RAPE can be a time > consuming job.It is of course possible to speed things up by heating but > there is no doubt that this degrades the quality of the honey > > This only leaves high pressure honey pumps or high speed centrifuge > filters-both > > Alan Riach > West Lothian,Scotland > Another method of processing without filtering is to settle the honey. I do not heat my honey. I leave it in a room at 85 to 90 degrees F. When extracting I keep the extractor at low speed until the combs are almost empty then speed it up to finish up. From the extractor it goes through a course strainer and then is poured slowly into a holding tank. When full the top is placed on the tank and sealed with stretch wrap to keep out moisture. It is then left to settle between 2 weeks to a month depending on thickness. I have known beekeepers the store it this way for 3 months for clear show honey. Using this method, wax particles and other impurities will float to the top. When the honey has had time to settle, I bottle from the bottom of the container and the very last which contains trash is filtered through a stocking and is sold as filtered or used for cooking. I have seen this method used for the thickest of honeys. It just takes a little longer to settle. Frank Humphrey [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>