Rendering wax - what a pain in the bee-hind!

[tjc1]

Geez, why didn't anyone tell me! OK, so I didn't ask first... I have finally found an aspect of beekeeping that I really don't care for; melting down old comb for wax. What a time sink and kitchen stink! And I'm convinced that after all the fuss and trouble more than half of the wax remains stuck in all those old cocoons no matter what you do to them... From now on, all I'll bother with are cappings and white comb, and old comb to whoever wants it!

[BeeMaster2]

Why not let the sun do the work for you. If you build a solar wax melter and make it large enough so that you can put a few frames in it, you will not have to deal with the mess. Put some filter material at the bottom of the container and you will end up with nice clean wax. The one thing that gets through is honey. You can wash it with water and run it back through the solar melter and filter it a second time. If you want nice white wax, run it through several times and the sun bleaches it a nice white color.
Jim

[divemaster1963]

Find a old Westinghouse 32 quart broiler. Pour 4 cups water in bottom then fill the top cooker with half water set it to 400 let it get hot add old comb. Cover letcook for 25 min. Stir and crush old comb . then strain Thur basket strainer into five gal bucket. Cover let cool for night. Then pull wax off top and scrape propulus off bottom. Stack it up till you get enough then put thru solar melter a couple times straining thru coffee filters . then you have clean light wax that is light golden color.  I cook mine up once month then cook all of it again during the winter to clean it a little more then use the solar smelter during the summer. I get about 30 lbs. A year just from old comb.not hard to do just do it outside.

John

[Kathyp]

I use the water method only with a big double boiler steamer basket.  after it cools, you just lift the basket and the gunk drains, the wax stays.  second time around, I melt the wax through cheese cloth into the water and do the above.  I have gotten lots of nice wax from nasty comb, but it does take a little more work....and it does stink a bit.......

[craneman54]

I have watched alot of way people have melted their wax on youtube.
This guy seems to have the best and easiest way so far that I have seen.
You don't even have to buy the solar cooker. You can make your own out of some 24" flashing and heat resistant paint.
I will be making my own once I get some wax to melt.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCjuANSTIAo//https

[Michael Bush]

> more than half of the wax remains stuck in all those old cocoons no matter what you do to them...

Sometimes all of it...

Get or make a cotton cloth bag to put the slumgum in and a brick dedicated to wax making.  Put the bag on the bottom with a brick on it and cover with water.  It's about as good as you can do without a press... a press would be better.  You can also push down on the bag with a ladle.  Careful not to bend the ladle...  or, better, a potato masher (not your wife's... get your own).

[tjc1]

  Careful not to bend the ladle...  or, better, a potato masher (not your wife's... get your own).

Oh, yeah - I figured out that part already! She's got a collection of kitchen hardware that I know not to touch...

[little john]

... more than half of the wax remains stuck in all those old cocoons no matter what you do to them...

Being a bit short on sun over here - well, it IS high summer, after all - I recently rendered down some wax using steam from a wallpaper-stripper thingy.  All the left-over yucky stuff was mixed in with sawdust, and allowed to dry. No need for drying (obviously) if you use solar.

Makes great smoker fuel - used some today - smells a bit like a barbecue. Must be all that drone pupae frying and turning crispy.

LJ

[tjc1]

I just read recently in another post here that the solar melters don't seem to do much to old comb...?

[BeeMaster2]

Tic,
I think I get more wax from my solar melter than I do when I use a double boiler.
In the double boiler, the cacoons seem to absorb more of the wax,
Jim

[divemaster1963]

I crush the comb in the double boiler. Then scoop it out and into bucket. I have tried recooking the slurry and have found less than small amount of wax. Not enough to even bother with. But by using the double boiler I can get cleaner was blocks to put in the solar melter . doing this I get very very clean wax and bleaching is easier for uniform color .


John

[tjc1]

Yes, I tried the recooking of the slurry, then weighting it down in a mesh bag under boiling water, convinced that I'd liberate all of the trapped wax - complete waste of time grr....!

[D Coates]

Get the slurry and put in water and get it hot.  Let it cool/harden and break it up out of the container.  That's why you put in water, it makes it easier to break out of the container.  If it won't harden when cool it doesn't have enough wax to mess with.  Save yourself the time and throw it all away.  Once out of the water dry it a little bit then put it in a solar wax melter and forget about it for a week or so when it's hot.  It'll get any usable wax out of the slurry with little effort.  Once that's done use what's left as a fire starter, put it directly into your garden, compost it or throw it away.

I personally use a bottling tank with a ball valve.  http://www.maxantindustries.com/bottling.html.  Melt everything down with some water in with the wax to get any left over honey.  Pour off the honey water and feed it back to the bees.  Put an old, but clean, sock over the discharge as a filter and pour the wax into a large cooling container.  You'll have a decent amount of slumgum/slurry left at the bottom.  Pour hot water in there and let it back up to temp then turn it off and follow the steps I outlined above (put the sock in the solar wax melter too).* 

*The sock is to be added so residual max can melt out of it not to be used as a filter.

[NeilTheCop]

Did it in the kitchen, once, now I'm banned so I start with an old stainless pot, fill it about 1/4 full with hot water from the tap and put it on the side burner of my barbeque and start adding the comb. When melted strain through a bit of aluminum window screen into a Homer bucket with about a quart of cold water in it. The screening is then left in the back yard where the fire ants have a feast and clean it for me.
My solar melter is nothing more than a disposable aluminum turkey roasting pan with a little water and placed in the bottom of a deep hive body wrapped in black roofing paper. More window screening stapled on the top and the whole thing covered with a sheet of glass. 109F here yesterday, enough to melt any wax and possibly some metals 

[Eric Bosworth]

I have never seen 109. It has been in the 80s here and that is to hot for me but not really hot enough for wax melting. I have been banned from the kitchen but my solution is the grill outside.