I decided my bees could spare a shallow super of honey, so my wife and I pulled a super and used the crush and strain method to extract 2 gallons of very sweet blonde honey. We cut the comb from the frames with a knife and/or a cake serving spatula, crushed on a glass cutting board, mashed with a pototo masher, then dumped the mashings into a salad spinner tub over a large bowl. At this point we realized we needed a way to bottle the honey, and no bee stores are open on Sunday, so we made a trip to Home Depot and picked up a 5 gal food grade bucket, lid, and parts for make a spigot (about $11 total), and picked up some 5 gallon paint strainers. Below are some photos of the operation...it worked awesome with no leaks.
-Mike
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2490/bees09002.th.jpg) (http://img522.imageshack.us/i/bees09002.jpg/)
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4605/bees09004.th.jpg) (http://img522.imageshack.us/i/bees09004.jpg/)
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/8114/bees09007.th.jpg) (http://img522.imageshack.us/i/bees09007.jpg/)
Sure looks good to me !!
Bee-Bop
Will work as good or better than "store bought". Your honey looks very light. Your first honey from your bees is always the best!
Steve
Looks great! Hey, we have a big chunk of that color granite sitting in the driveway! :shock:
Jody