>Ok to extract and, let sit a bit before bottling - - -. or is it jarring?

Oddly, putting it in jars is usually known as bottling!

> Uncapped cells were 78% Brix, 20% H2O

The UK legal limit for water content was 19%, but this changed to 20% under the EU.  In my view, both are too high and most of my honey is around 17.5%.  At the legal limits honey will often ferment, particularly when it granulates; this is because the liquid content has a much higher water content when some of the glucose crystallizes out - perhaps up to 23%.

If you have a large quantity of honey that is too wet, I find the easiest way to remove water is to stack the supers 'staggered' and then put a fan heater perhaps 5-6 feet away to blow warm air through the stack.  This can be combined with a dehumidifier if you wish.  

When the honey has been extracted it is much more difficult to remove water.  Commercially, there are dryers that run a thin layer of honey down a surface while blowing warm dry air up over it.  On a small scale I guess this could be replicated by using a pump to circulate honey over, say, a board while using a dehumidifier to dry it.  Not going to improve the flavour though!

Another way to deal with wet honey is simply to blend it with drier honey.  In my own operation I check water content frequently as I run the honey from the settling tank into buckets.  I mark each bucket with the date, origin and water content.  When I bottle, I select buckets, put them in the warming cabinet to melt the honey, then blend in the bottling tank.

In your case, it sounds as though you have a fairly small amount of uncapped honey that is not particularly wet and when this gets mixed with your capped honey it sounds to me as though it will make little difference.  Why not extract a super, mix it all together and then check?

A tip - removing honey from hives as early in the day as possible will result in much drier uncapped cells because the bees will have had all night to dry the honey; if you leave it until late afternoon there may well be some fresh nectar in the cells that has not yet been processed.  It is rather like inspecting brood combs when there is a flow on - in the morning you can hold the frames horizontally, but later the unripe nectar will drip everywhere.

Best wishes

Peter 
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

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