I was a at a friends place the other day, who is far more experienced in beekeeping than I am and observed an interesting way of extracting honey.
What he is doing is uncapping, as you would if you were to use a spinner, but then sitting the frame flat or diagonal on a grid like a cake rack and letting the honey slowly drip out into a big container. It takes forever, but if there is no rush you don't destroy the comb like the crush and strain method does. It seems to work, he has jars of honey to prove it.
It's pretty warm here in summer (over 46C/115F the other day, the bees required LOTS of water) so that may help. Anyone else tried it? Thoughts?
Quote from: thevoice on February 10, 2009, 09:30:00 PM
I was a at a friends place the other day, who is far more experienced in beekeeping than I am and observed an interesting way of extracting honey.
What he is doing is uncapping, as you would if you were to use a spinner, but then sitting the frame flat or diagonal on a grid like a cake rack and letting the honey slowly drip out into a big container. It takes forever, but if there is no rush you don't destroy the comb like the crush and strain method does. It seems to work, he has jars of honey to prove it.
It's pretty warm here in summer (over 46C/115F the other day, the bees required LOTS of water) so that may help. Anyone else tried it? Thoughts?
Ain't that the truth, if you have a month or so to spare per super it is a fair dinkom method.
I tried it and forever was a very long time. Basically it NEVER came out.
I tried it once just for kicks. Skimmed with a knife and hung flat, almost nothing came out after two days. Upside down(cell angle pointing down) I got maybe an oz or two after two days. It woulda taken a month at that speed.And that was midsummer 85-95 degrees.
But different honeys have different viscositys. If it works for your friend it may well work for you.
I dream of having that kind of time and patience........unfortunately don't have much of either.
maybe someday... 8-)
If you don't have an extractor, what would happen if you set the oven to 125 degrees and did it in there? Obviously, you wouldn't want to melt the wax, so you wouldn't want to go any higher than that. My question is, with wax melting at a little over 140 degrees, would it get soft enough at 125 that it would collapse under the weight of the honey before the honey had a chance to drain out? Perhaps 110 or 115 degrees would be better? This would speed things up, and if you could get an old crap oven, you could put a whole super , maybe two, in at a time with a collection bin underneath for the honey. The collection bin could even be a large funnel that turns to a pipe, which then runs through a hole cut into the side of the oven The pipe would then let out over a double strainer which would sit over a bucket. This would be a one step extraction and filtration method that would all happen while you sit around and read a book! All of this would be cheaper than an extractor as well, if you had the time to set everything up, and didn't mind a slower extraction process. Maybe we're on to something for the beekeeper with 1-2 hives and a lot of spare time!
justgojumpit
I am not at the point where I'm going to need to extract honey yet, but for maybe $100 or less (assuming you have access to a powerdrill already) you can build an extractor yourself. Google: Bush Mechanic Extractor
The problem I've run into is that everything in those instructions is in metric. I plan on doing my best with Standard measure parts once I have time. I already have the two bicycle wheels and a food-grade plastic drum, which are the main parts.
Quote from: justgojumpit on February 15, 2009, 07:46:34 PM
If you don't have an extractor, what would happen if you set the oven to 125 degrees and did it in there?
I tried that and it still takes forever it's not worth the fuel to run the oven.
The comb is slanted so it has to be on it's side or upsidedown.
if there was more humidity w/the summer heat it would thin out the honey, but who wants that.
I crushed and strained mine and it's great experience.
Cutting that beautiful comb.....the smell....ahh! everything about it was awesome.
My wife makes candles from the wax too, another great experience.
Paul
I tried it and forever was a very long time. Basically it NEVER came out.
I agree with Micheal Bush.
I do the crush and strain. DH wanted to get an extractor but I told him I didn't want it at least for now. Now if we get lucky enough to get lots of honey I might change my mind.
When I do crush and strain I do it all at once, hang my double screen filter under the spout on my cider press and just crank away. All the honey is forced out of the wax and the comb is a thin dinner plate of wax at the bottom which easily fits into the solar wax melter for melting and straining. Although I'd like to get an extractor just for the nostalgia factor.
Brian, I recall you speaking of doing the crushing of your honey in your cider press. I googled cider press and came up with this site. http://www.happyvalleyranch.com/products.php
I wonder why more people don't use this method for removing honey from the frames, I think that the prices might be quite comparable between an extractor and a fruit press. Interesting anyways. Have a great, wonderful day, health. Cindi
Quote from: Cindi on February 16, 2009, 06:26:26 PM
Brian, I recall you speaking of doing the crushing of your honey in your cider press. I googled cider press and came up with this site. http://www.happyvalleyranch.com/products.php
I wonder why more people don't use this method for removing honey from the frames, I think that the prices might be quite comparable between an extractor and a fruit press. Interesting anyways. Have a great, wonderful day, health. Cindi
Look at the basket and press features of the cider press and see what you think about using one to crush and strain honey.
The one I have can be found here:
http://www.applejournal.com/correll/
Brian, yes, an extractor is a little less extravagant in design, very cool that you have one. Too bad last year at the barbeque we didn't get a chance to try out the apple press, have a wonderful and most awesome day, Cindi