I have two gallons of cappings that I rinsed and left covered. Of course they molded. Not too bad.
Would a good melting seperate it out to produce a decent qaulity of wax or would it retain funky smell an discolor?
Ideas how to purify it?
Quote from: fincalinda2 on February 01, 2008, 09:56:53 PM
I have two gallons of cappings that I rinsed and left covered. Of course they molded. Not too bad.
Would a good melting seperate it out to produce a decent qaulity of wax or would it retain funky smell an discolor?
Often it will clean up.
QuoteIdeas how to purify it?
Use a solar wax melter.
do you run the melted wax into a water filled container ?
Quote from: fincalinda2 on February 01, 2008, 11:52:21 PM
do you run the melted wax into a water filled container ?
No just remove it from the melter and it will solidify into a block.
[I have two gallons of cappings that...molded.]
I would re-rinse to removed as much moldy spores as can be washed.
You could melt through a coffee/grease filter in a solar melter or fine cotton cloth if boiling.
Either would help to keep any chunky matter from passing.
The good news is that anything that get through the filter will likely be encapsulated in the wax (you will not see it). Any mold that passes will also likely wick/uptake a bit of wax (making it less obvious in the end product). Most of the mold is normally 'eating' what residue of honey or cocoons (not much since it was likely fresh cappings). Much of it should rinse out (through a nylon stocking/bag).
If you are planning on using it for something like lip balm (which I would not recommend), you can 'boil' the wax in equal parts peroxide. The temp and chemical will kill most anything left in the wax (not AFB spores) and left to cool, it will leave a very nice pure quality wax (its also a secret on how to get the propolis to settle out to the bottom of the block and/or the pan). The narrower the pan, the less 'bad' under surface you will have to clean off.
-Jeff