Crush n strain at scale

[salvo]

Hi Folks,

I sold this last year, $200. Not bragging, just saying. I had it for twelve years, bought it second hand. I made the stand and tie-downs.

The buyer is happy.

I'm foundationless. This was gentle and controllable, but tiresome inside a hot, hot garage, for hours. I now have a Maxant electric second hand. I'm still getting used to it. The variable speed controller sometimes surges. This Maxant extractor also needed a sturdy base. The center of balance is too high for the legs.

Sal

[yes2matt]

So here's what I did. I spent the afternoon with Iddee.   Which I would recommend.  And he reminded me that there are a bazillion small hive beetle eggs in that bucket too, and I don't have a day to use on some inventive solution. I need to get it done with what I've got.

I have in my arsenal a paint filter bag from a box store or it might be a Little Giant honey filter bag (is the same thing). So I lined my bottling bucket with that, tied it tight as KathyP reminded me.  Then I washed my hands up to the elbows and dove into the honeycombs, smushing and stirring. I tried to make the little balls of wax yall suggested but it didn't really happen right.

Then I poured the mash into the filter bit by bit, til the level of honey was up to the middle of the filter so I wasn't making progress. I got the rest of the mash into the bag in the bucket. I untied it from the bucket and wrapped it up tight into a ball that is bucket sized. I tied it tight at the top.

It is heavy, I don't have a good place to hang it, and my place is pretty humid anyway. So I got a grate out of my oven and put it on the bucket and the filter bag-ball on top of the grate. Of course the ball is going to deform and roll and miss the bucket with the drips. So I got another bucket (clean) and put it upside-down over the ball on the grate, aligned with the bottom bucket. And some weight on top to hold it.

I'm running errands now, but later I'll empty that bag into my crock-pot with some water on low and make a big puck of the cappings.

Then I'll spend a solid half hour scrubbing the honey and stomped wax bits out of the textured floor. Because who would put newspaper down first anyway?

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[yes2matt]

I'd put the strainer on the bucket.  I used a colander over the strainer material- cheesecloth, paint strainer, or whatever.  That way I could take the chunkier bits out without having to remove the material.  You do have to put something really strong around the material to hold it because the honey is heavy.

L'eggs pantyhose, the knee-high stocking kind. You fasten it at about half-length to whatever gate valve or spigot. Then it's like a water balloon it stretches long and expands as it gets full of stuff. When finished you hang/drain it like you would any other filter. The nylon compresses inwards and you get a single loose clod of cappings etc.

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[FloridaGardener]

All I've done is comb honey.  Yes, those trimmings...

Re: SHB eggs - - I freeze the whole frames before cutting to container-size.  Or freeze the cut honey for a few days.

If you extract/scrape the midrib of the frames to salvage the wax, you will get some wax "foundation" for your supers. But the honey comb MY bees make is often only good for end frames - not even drone frames - because they bring it in so fast the comb is usually loopy, overlarge, and certainly not worker-cell sized.  So that frame with a midrib? It has to wait to be used again for honey only...or it may just be a target for moths, if the bees can't patrol it.

Although it's worth it to do a "first press crush & drain" to capture the honey in cut-comb trimmings, bear in mind that wax flakes in it will cause that honey to crystallize faster.  Also it'll have a light foam of wax floating to the top.

I gave up trying to get a "second press crush & strain." Instead I make a lot of customers happy by making "honey for tea" by heating to 130F and killing ALL the beneficial enzymes - which many of my customers specifically WANT to do by using honey in hot tea.  So we have a meeting of the minds.  I can skim wax after cooling, I get a little Maillard Effect in the honey, and they LOVE the stronger taste and they don't need to promise me they won't spoil raw honey by using it in tea. 

[yes2matt]

I gave up trying to get a "second press crush & strain." Instead I make a lot of customers happy by making "honey for tea" by heating to 130F and killing ALL the beneficial enzymes - which many of my customers specifically WANT to do by using honey in hot tea.  So we have a meeting of the minds.  I can skim wax after cooling, I get a little Maillard Effect in the honey, and they LOVE the stronger taste and they don't need to promise me they won't spoil raw honey by using it in tea.

Iddee suggested your second press technique as a first press technique, actually. Ha! I did what I did but I'm having my mind pried open by all this. If I had done this, I wouldn't have had to worry about the (cooked) SHB eggs. And, since it's really not raw anymore, I could just package it in ... whatever jar I found and sell as cooking/tea honey, or ... it's perfect for mead, isn't it!  dun dun dun..

[Bill Murray]

MATT after freezing put them in a jar, Add honey and sell. Youll be amazed

[Occam]

Hypothetically...you've already started the crush and strain from your recent harvest, and have roughly a gallon or so of honey after straining the cappings. How big of a concern are shb eggs in the honey? Should it be frozen to kill the eggs? Or should it be fine? Maybe I missed the answers to these questions, or misunderstood,  but if someone can set me aright I'd be much obliged. Asking for a friend 

[The15thMember]

Hypothetically...you've already started the crush and strain from your recent harvest, and have roughly a gallon or so of honey after straining the cappings. How big of a concern are shb eggs in the honey? Should it be frozen to kill the eggs? Or should it be fine? Maybe I missed the answers to these questions, or misunderstood,  but if someone can set me aright I'd be much obliged. Asking for a friend 

Tell your friend that I usually don't freeze my honey before crushing and straining, and I've never had a problem with suddenly finding SHB larvae in my honey, and some of it is has been on the shelf several years.  If I was doing any sort of comb honey I would freeze it, but for runny honey, I don't think it's an issue. 

[Ben Framed]

MATT after freezing put them in a jar, Add honey and sell. Youll be amazed

Good suggestion Bill, I for one can see the reasoning.. Thanks..

[Ben Framed]

I usually don't freeze my honey before crushing and straining, and I've never had a problem with suddenly finding SHB larvae in my honey

I 'extract' before freezing as well Reagan. No problems for me either.... I let the bees clean the empty comb then freeze those for storage..