Get ready for this year's extraction build a warming box & forced air stack

摘要

This year s extraction started out fantastically. Then without the slightest indication it turned into a disaster. This problem was only second in scale to our 500 year flood that destroyed a dam and wiped out the main street bridge that connected thetwo parts of our little town. Well, at least that's how it seemed to me. After removing my supers, I had put them in a makeshift heating room that was made from one inch extruded polystyrene (pink foam board), duct tape, a small space heater and a fan.This arrangement had worked the two previous years and I saw no reason that it wouldn't work again. Much to my surprise the next morning I found over 40 pounds of honey on the floor. The cause was obvious; I had forgotten to turn on the fan. Consequentlythe top supers reached about 120° and at the time the heater on the floor still thought it was only 90°. Besides melting the comb, the honey ran down into the bottom boxes and overflowed the drip trays and on to the floor. Even in the best circumstances extraction is messy. Now everything within twenty feet was sticky.