Settling Tanks

A honey settling tank (ripener, settling bucket) is a lidded container of stainless steel or food-grade plastic with a gate at the bottom, in which strained honey is left to stand for a few days so that air bubbles and fine wax particles rise to the surface. The foam is skimmed off the top and the clear honey is bottled from the bottom. This page describes the types of settling tank and how to choose, position and clean one.

What is a honey settling tank used for?

Even after honey from the extractor has been strained, it still contains air bubbles and wax particles that are hard to see with the naked eye. These are lighter than honey; when the honey stands still, they slowly rise to the surface. The settling tank gives this separation time and space:

• Clarity: No ring of foam or cloudiness forms in the jar.
• Even crystallisation: Honey with few bubbles and wax particles sets more evenly.
• Batch consistency: Honey from the same batch is mixed in one container; differences in colour and consistency between jars are reduced.
• Easy bottling: Thanks to the gate at the bottom, jars are filled straight from the tank.

A settling tank is not for heating honey. Tanks with heating are a separate class of equipment and are used only when crystallised honey needs to be liquefied, under strict temperature control (see “Honey Warming Tanks”).

Types of settling tank

What to look for when choosing a settling tank?

1. Material: Stainless steel or food-grade plastic. Galvanised, painted or aluminium containers, or ones with a worn inner coating, are not used; honey is acidic.
2. Gate: A wide-mouthed honey gate at the lowest point of the base that can be removed and washed. The gate should also be stainless or food-grade plastic.
3. Lid: A tight-fitting lid keeps out moisture, dust and insects.
4. Capacity: Enough to hold a typical extraction batch. Several medium-sized tanks instead of one giant tank make it easier to keep honey from different apiaries and periods separate.
5. Base: A base sloping towards the gate, or a conical one, allows emptying down to the last drop.
6. Strainer seat: The strainer that sits in the mouth of many tanks combines straining and settling in one container.
7. Portability: A full tank is very heavy; plan for handles, a wheeled base or a fixed raised position.

How do you use a settling tank?

1. Position the tank: Put it on a sturdy stand where you will bottle, high enough for a jar to fit under the gate. Moving a full tank afterwards is difficult and stirs the honey up again.
2. Fill through a strainer: Run the honey into the tank through a strainer; letting the stream slide down the wall reduces the formation of new bubbles.
3. Close and leave to stand: Close the lid and leave the tank undisturbed for a few days in a warm, dry room.
4. Skim the foam: Collect the layer of foam and wax on the surface with a spoon, or with a clean sheet of food film laid on the surface and lifted off.
5. Measure moisture: Before bottling, measure and record the moisture of the batch with a refractometer.
6. Fill from the bottom: Fill jars from the gate, close the lids immediately and label them with the batch number.

Temperature and time for settling

Bubbles and wax rise faster in warm honey; in cold, thick honey it can take days. However, heating the honey to speed this up is wrong: heat damages enzymes and raises the HMF value. The room is kept warm, and the tank is not placed near a heater or in the sun.

Nor should settling go on longer than necessary. Fast-crystallising honeys such as sunflower and oilseed rape can start to set in the tank, which makes bottling difficult. It is best to settle and bottle such honeys without delay after harvest.

Moisture and hygiene

Honey is hygroscopic: it absorbs moisture from the air. In a tank standing with its lid open in a damp room, the surface layer takes up water and yeasts can multiply there. Therefore:

• The tank lid is always kept closed.
• The settling room should be dry, clean and closed to bees.
• After use, the tank is washed with lukewarm water, the gate is removed and cleaned, and everything is dried completely.
• Abrasive sponges and wire brushes are not used; stainless surfaces get scratched, and plastic surfaces start to hold dirt.
• Plastic buckets that are cracked, have odours that will not go away, or are covered in scratches are replaced.

Tanks and batch records

Each settling tank means one extraction batch. Hang a label on the tank giving the apiary, harvest period, extraction date and measured moisture value; enter the same information in your logbook. The batch number on the jar label links back to this record. When a customer complaint or a laboratory result comes in, this lets you find which tank and which apiary the jars were filled from. A single-flower (monofloral) honey claim can also only be defended with a batch that has been kept separate.

Common mistakes

• Mixing honey from different apiaries and periods in one large tank.
• Heating the tank to speed up settling.
• Moving a full tank and stirring the honey up again.
• Putting the foamy last portion from the bottom of the tank into jars.
• Leaving the tank without a lid or in a damp room.