I saw where before putting frames of honey into extractor that as opposed to (raking open the cells) using a hot gun briefly over the comb would be a good way to open the cells for extraction. Any thoughts??
Hi there I have done it all and had very mixed results. What works for me these days are the rollers with spines on which you roll up and down the frames I have a couple and thats all I use. So easy.
Cheers
Steve
Quote from: Anybrew2 on May 07, 2017, 11:47:42 PM
Hi there I have done it all and had very mixed results. What works for me these days are the rollers with spines on which you roll up and down the frames I have a couple and thats all I use. So easy.
Cheers
Steve
I bought one of those this past winter. I'm feeling pretty good about it.
I just use a un-heated serrated knife. Works great.
Have a roller, but will not use it. Don't work worth a darn in my opinion. I use a 20 frame extractor, and I don't know if I could run it long enough to empty what I have rolled when trying it in the past.
I have scratched frames with a fork, uncapped with a cold knife and uncapped with a hot knife. The hot knife is the winner for me. Faster, less effort and easier to get the low spots. I use a foot switch to keep the knife from getting too hot.
http://vid697.photobucket.com/albums/vv333/acebird1/Videos/Extraction%202016_zpsjr5vnqwd.mp4
I don't like high heat on my honey. It takes it from tasting great to tasting o.k. to mildly good. I use a cold knife and scratchers when I can't get it with a knife.
My wife does all of the uncapping. She uses a cold uncapping knife for the bulk of the work and has a de-capping fork and a roller for finishing the recessed areas.
I also do not like using high heat on the honey. I have a heat gun but I do not like what it does to the comb/honey.
Jim
The first year I used a heated knife to uncap I kept the cappings separate from the extracted honey. I could not, nor any of the people that bought my honey could see or taste any difference between the capping honey and the extracted honey. It would be difficult to measure the temperature that the knife raises the honey but I doubt if it is more than 5 degrees. What burns the honey is when the knife is left on while not using it to uncap which is why I set up the foot switch.
It is like running your finger though the flame of a candle. The flame maybe 700 degrees yet you can pass your finger right through it with no pain at all.