I am currently in the process of extracting honey. I have never figured out a good method for getting the honey out of the cappings. I let them drain for a few days on a frame of screen wire in a plastic tub, but the cappings are still wet with honey. What do you guys do?
There will be a certain amount of honey left after draining 24 hrs. just was the wax good and melt or pack till ready to melt.
If you don't get it too hot you can leave the honey on and it will still be liquid when the wax hardens/sets.
try not to exceed 140 degrees for the sake of wax and honey.
doak
I tried one time to de-crystallize a box of cut comb by putting in on the dashboard of my car. It de-crystallized just find but it was no longer cut comb. It was honey with a layer of wax on top. If you have a solar wax melter just put the cappings into a bowl and let the wax melt, the honey will go to the bottom. Once the wax cools and hardens you will be able to take the wax out and have the honey left. If you have a hard time getting the wax out of the bowl just put it in the freezer over night. The wax will shrink enough that you will be able to pop it out whole. Or you can just cut it when it is still a little soft. If you dont have a wax melter just put the bowl in your car on a hot day.
Another thing to do is to put the cappings on a cookie sheet and stick them out near the bee yard. The bees will clean them up very well. No honey will be left, then you can melt your cappings however you want. You really will not be loosing the honey because the bees will just put it back in the hive and you can extract it again next time you extract.
I think there are instructions on mb's website on how to use a bucket for wax cappings to drain. I did it for the first time a week ago and it worked like a charm. got a half bucket of honey and then put the bucket with drained cappings in my backyard for the bees there to have a feast.
Could you put the cappings in lets say a clean nieleon and tie it to the extractor and give it a few spins, to send the honey out?
It might work you might still find excess honey in the cappings, I think it would be cheaper and easier but longer to let it drain via gravity.
Thanks for your suggestions. I once put wet cappings out for the bees. The bees went crazy for it. But after the honey was gone, the strong hives started robbing the weak hives and I had a real mess with dead bees, and hives without stores.
I read somewhere to put cappings in cheesecloth and tie it inside the extractor. It worked until the cheesecloth broke and wax was all over the inside of the extractor.