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Author Topic: Honey in Beeswax  (Read 5125 times)

Offline The15thMember

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Honey in Beeswax
« on: August 14, 2020, 02:10:24 pm »
I seem to have trouble with honey in my wax when I'm processing wax.  My crushed up comb from crushing and straining inevitably has a tiny amount of honey left in it, and when I melt the wax down and strain it, I have some honey coming through the wax strainer as well.  How do you separate out the honey from the beeswax? 
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Offline Skeggley

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2020, 09:51:16 pm »
How are you melting the wax?
When I melt wax in the melter I use water to dissolve the honey and contain the slum gum.

Offline cao

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2020, 12:25:56 am »
I let my bees clean my wax cappings after they are strained.  They do a good job reclaiming any remaining honey.  I then melt it in my solar wax melter to get rid of any impurities(slum gum).  Water in the catch pain will dilute any remaining honey.


Online Ben Framed

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2020, 12:54:38 am »
Member I melt mine in water and strain through a strainer. All wax solidifies on top and all else beneath. I have not had problems with honey as you described, but I do not crush and strain. I have posted the following video here before, the same principle can be done on a smaller scale with a little imagination and the right size tools. I hope this will help you. By the way this is the way that I am considering to melt wax once I am at the point of having enough bees and wax to justify the trouble of building such equipment. (less the flash fire lol)  I have also watched videos of Jeff Horchroff and Ian Steppler using a factory made wax melters which work grand.


https://youtu.be/0aM_F4pS5As
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2020, 02:55:19 pm »
How are you melting the wax?
When I melt wax in the melter I use water to dissolve the honey and contain the slum gum.
I used to use a slow cooker, and I still do sometimes if I have intact combs, but I have trouble getting all the wax melted with that; it's just not quite hot enough.  If I put a lot in, the stuff on the top doesn't melt, and if I put in less, then it's not enough volume to separate.  What I've been doing is just doing small batches in the microwave.  The honey and the wax does separate well for me that way, but I was just curious if there was a more efficient method than having to rinse the honey off the wax. 

I let my bees clean my wax cappings after they are strained.  They do a good job reclaiming any remaining honey.  I then melt it in my solar wax melter to get rid of any impurities(slum gum).  Water in the catch pain will dilute any remaining honey.
I'd like to let the girls clean it off, but the weather around here in the summer is just so rainy that I can't seem to find a day when it'll be sunny enough to put the wax out.  I guess I can always feed the honey back to them in jars.   

Member I melt mine in water and strain through a strainer. All wax solidifies on top and all else beneath. I have not had problems with honey as you described, but I do not crush and strain. I have posted the following video here before, the same principle can be done on a smaller scale with a little imagination and the right size tools. I hope this will help you. By the way this is the way that I am considering to melt wax once I am at the point of having enough bees and wax to justify the trouble of building such equipment. (less the flash fire lol)  I have also watched videos of Jeff Horchroff and Ian Steppler using a factory made wax melters which work grand.
Wow, Phillip!  That looks a little intense for me, and I doubt I have either the imagination or the right size tools to duplicate anything like that!   :cheesy:
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Offline Robo

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2020, 09:52:41 pm »
Wash the honey off the wax before melting it.   I pre-wash my cappings in a 5 gal bucket before melting and feed the honey water back to the bees.
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2020, 01:08:59 pm »
Wash the honey off the wax before melting it.   I pre-wash my cappings in a 5 gal bucket before melting and feed the honey water back to the bees.
That sounds like a good idea.  How do you feed the water to them? 
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Offline Robo

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #7 on: August 19, 2020, 08:49:34 am »
Wash the honey off the wax before melting it.   I pre-wash my cappings in a 5 gal bucket before melting and feed the honey water back to the bees.
That sounds like a good idea.  How do you feed the water to them?

I' not a fan of open feeding but you can do that or your regular feeding method.
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Online Ben Framed

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2020, 01:47:34 pm »
Member, being you are using the crush and strain method, does not some honey get trapped within the crushed wax? Did you come up with a satisfactory solution?
2 Chronicles 7:14
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Honey in Beeswax
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2020, 03:05:34 pm »
Member, being you are using the crush and strain method, does not some honey get trapped within the crushed wax? Did you come up with a satisfactory solution?
A little bit of honey does get trapped in the wax, but it's really not much.  I think I'll just keep doing what I've been doing for now, which is just rinsing the honey off the wax once it solidifies.  I do like Rob's idea, and might give that a try in the future.  I'm about to put some treatments on my hives though, and I don't want to be feeding them back honey water at the moment.  I'll just jar up the overheated honey from the wax melting, and feed it back to them later. 
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

 

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