Shake Test (Honey Ripeness)
Lexikon
The shake test is a simple practical test with which beekeepers check before the harvest whether the honey in the combs is already ripe enough for extracting.
The shake test is a simple practical test with which beekeepers check before the harvest whether the honey in the combs is already ripe enough for extracting. Ripe here means above all that the bees have thickened the originally watery nectar, through evaporation and repeated relocation, to the point where the water content is low enough for lasting storage.
For the test, an uncapped edge comb is taken from the honey super, held horizontally and then jerked sharply downward or shaken. If nectar or thin honey drips or splashes out of the cells, the honey is not yet ripe and should be checked again no earlier than one to two weeks later. If the honey stays put in the cells, on the other hand, the comb counts as ready for harvest.
The degree of capping on the combs serves as an additional ripeness indicator: since bees only seal a cell once the honey has thickened sufficiently, a share of about two thirds capped comb area counts as a strong sign of harvest readiness. However, neither the shake test nor the degree of capping replaces an accurate measurement, because especially in humid summers or during strong mass nectar flows such as rapeseed, even capped combs can still contain too much water. Reliable figures are therefore only provided by a refractometer, with which the water content is measured directly on a sample. Under the German Honey Regulation up to 20 percent water is permitted, while the German Beekeepers' Association prescribes a stricter limit of at most 18 percent for its jar.