crush and strain

[bmacior]

Just curious.  Why do some opt for the crush and strain method of extracting honey.  The bees put a lot of time and effort into making comb, so why destroy it?

Barb

[Pond Creek Farm]

Many find it difficult to justify the expense of an extractor for just a few hives.  Others might add that an extractor is messier and therefore not worth the effort.  You will find that there is disagreement on which method makes more of a mess.  Still others feel that crushed and strained honey tastes better since it has not been spun around and infused with air.  In the end, I landed on the crush and strain side. This is largely due to the fact that I do not own an extractor, but as the apiary grows, I may rethink that decision. 

[Bill W.]

It is also good if you don't have a place to store a bunch of comb over Winter.

[tillie]

There is some argument also that I heard from Jennifer Berry and others at Young Harris that the research is showing that old comb holds disease - so now they recommend that you replace all comb every five years or get into a rotation so that old comb is replaced every five years.  I am not crushing my brood comb - just what is used for honey storage. 

And if you have new comb you can get gorgeous cut comb honey!!! :-D




Ah, new comb!

Linda T in Atlanta

[MustbeeNuts]

I did one frame with crush and strain, I won't do that again, its so slow and messy, hard to get all the honey as well, extractor is right on my gotta get one list! And I only have four hives, its just seems to make more sense to me. Then again wadda I kno. :)

[asprince]

Linda, that is some beautiful comb honey! Nice alternative use for a queen excluder.

I have extracted using both methods......they are both messy.

Steve

[Kathyp]

mustbeenuts, the crush and strain takes some patience and if it's not very warm, it takes a little more labor.  the batch i did earlier in the year came out very nice, but i would wait until warmer weather to do it again.  i had some time issues as the comb was from a cutout and full of bodies.  i wanted the honey with as little extra protein and decomp as possible.

anyway, with the right conditions and the right equipment, it's not hard.  you just have to be willing to wait for things to drip through.  no rushing it.

[tillie]

Ditto to what Kathyp said - I set it up with the crushed comb in it and expect not to bottle the honey until the end of the day, if it's warm,  or even the day after.  I sometimes leave the C&S setup for several days after I've "finished" bottling and will get another 1 1/2 pounds or so of honey - thanks to gravity and time!

Linda T in Atlanta

[bmacior]

Thanks for all your answers.  I know old brood comb can harbor disease.  I didn't think honey comb did.  Feral bees prefer raising larvae in new comb, using old comb for honey storage.  I don't know, maybe the spores in honey don't affect the bees as much when fed as food.  Wonder where I could read about that? :?  Feral bees move down on comb.  So why do you suppose they prefer to move up in a managed hive?  Inquiring minds want to know. ;)

Barb

[beesbeesbees]

I did one frame with crush and strain, I won't do that again, its so slow and messy, hard to get all the honey as well, extractor is right on my gotta get one list! And I only have four hives, its just seems to make more sense to me. Then again wadda I kno. :)

I haven't had any trouble with crush and strain.  After watching Linda's video I crush in a cake pan (I use a potato masher or a wooden spoon), scraped into a filtered bucket and let sunshine and gravity do the work.  I'm not processing hundreds of pounds of honey so it's not a big deal right now.  If I exceed my current capacity I think it's easier to justify another $30 bucket as opposed to a $500 extractor.

I don't know about feral bees wanting to keep larvae in new comb.  The cutouts I've done indicate the bees like to keep larvae near the entrance.  It's like they want to say hi to mom when they come in the door.  I have found full capped, tastey honey in new comb 6' down from a top entrance in a house.  But there's capped honey at the top of every frame in my hives.  Maybe there's something wrong with our frame design...

[Misko]

@ tillie do you sell comb honey like that or it's only for home use?

[tillie]

I've never sold any honey - I usually give it away.  My family fights over the cut comb - It's great spread on hot biscuits - the wax melts into the hot biscuit and blends with the butter and yum, yum, yum!

Guess if my hives all produce next year, selling might be something I'd consider.  This year I only took honey from my two old established hives and one of the nuc hives - I have 7 hives, though, but most were so new and slow out of the starting gate that it would really be STEALING to rob them.

Linda T in Atlanta

[Michael Bush]

>Just curious.  Why do some opt for the crush and strain method of extracting honey.  The bees put a lot of time and effort into making comb, so why destroy it?

$900?

"...time after time I have seen novice beekeepers, as soon as they had built their apiaries up to a half dozen or so hives, begin to look around for an extractor. It is as if one were to establish a small garden by the kitchen door, and then at once begin looking for a tractor to till it with. Unless then, you have, or plan eventually to have, perhaps fifty or more colonies of bees, you should try to resist looking in bee catalogs at the extractors and other enchanting and tempting tools that are offered and instead look with renewed fondness at your little pocket knife, so symbolic of the simplicity that is the mark of every truly good life." --Richard Taylor, The Comb Honey Book

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm

[Davepeg]

I have tried both methods and I do prefer the crush and strain method.  I just leave the bucket on the table for a couple of days and then bottle the honey.  I do take the crushed comb and put it back outside for the bees to clean off.  After a few days, my husband melts down the comb (someday I'll have enough for a candle!).

We only have 5 hives and we don't pull that much honey, electing to leave most for the bees!  Just enough for friends and family.

[tillie]

Michael,

Thank you for that quote - I love it.  In my place in the mountains I have a big sign on a beam there that says "Simplify" and I try to remember to live by that!

Linda T

[bmacior]

 What's the "messiness" factor between C&S and extracting?  Or is it just plain messy no matter which way it is done?  The pictures of the comb honey look great!

[hankdog1]

i know a guy that just didn't want to learn how to use the extractor.  he's just set in his ways i guess is why he crushes his.  can't blame him though ya gotta go with what works.  i've always been one to try different things though.  i actually like extracting better myself though.

[tillie]

I've done both and think it's much neater and easier to clean up crush and strain, but others on this forum disagree. 

When we cleaned the extractor in the beekeeping class I took at the Folk School, we had many sticky parts to wash, it is a large,  awkward contraption which doesn't fit in the sink.  In addition to the extractor, there were the cappings bucket, the uncapping knife, the filters, the spatulas, etc, etc We spent 30 minutes on cleaning the extractor and four of us were working on it.  In other words, everything you use for crush and strain plus the huge messy extractor needed cleaning.

I cheat with crush and strain and put flattened cardboard under everything so neither the counter nor the floor get sticky and I just recycle the cardboard when I am done.  All there is to clean is a roasting pan, a pestle, a rubber spatula, a sharp knife and the bucket.  All of it fits in the sink or the dishwasher - clean up takes about 10 minutes, tops.

Linda T in Atlanta

[bassman1977]

I almost always extract.  I have a 3 frame extractor.  It's a lot faster to get the job done but I must admit, cleanup is a pain in the butt.  Once I get a deep sink installed in my basement, it should be better though.  I guess the one thing I like best about extracting is that the comb doesn't get damaged (minus the occasional  blow out).

[bmacior]

Preserving comb is what interests me.  My husband, a weekend warrior in the home brew dept., is building a brew room with a commercial aluminum 3 deep sink set up.  So that part of clean up shouldn't be too difficult. But it does sound like quite a process.  Got a year to decide.  My first year hive is not going to have any honey to share. :(