Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => NATURAL & ORGANIC BEEKEEPING METHODS => Topic started by: Apis_M_Rescue on June 17, 2010, 10:09:55 pm
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Doing foundationless deep frames so far & slowly converting to mediums.
Inspected a cut out rescue that I did in January 2010. Last Friday was trying to lift 2 deeps that were on my lower 3rd deep brood box. Hell of a lot of weight & discovered the one was choc full of honey, near 100lbs & the other was bout 80lbs w/ some brood in center & honey on sides. Added nother deep box (#4) near the brood area & pyramided up frames as numerous ladies were on porch more than usual. Bees were pissy as harvested 6 sealed combs of deeps bout 10lbs each near evening. I put in olde/falling part plastic decapping tank friend gave me. Later friends helped cut out the comb into 5 gallon plastic bucket.
Going to local bee store Friday. Was wondering what to ask for for crush n' strain equipment (friend told me he has a spinner but not sure foundationless deeps withstand? Maybe foundationless mediums?). Need 5 gal buckets, filters, stainless steel filters, honey gates to replace broken ones, etc, anything forgetting?
Also anyone know where to find food grade buckets w/ tops new or used? Also what does honey go for in bulk rate? Is their a commodities listing to get an idea of the price? Some folks that sell local veges & foods were wanting to buy my honey but not sure how to price in bulk.
If anyone can point me to previous links or current advice would be grateful as looks like this El Nino we had in southern Calif. is going to be with extra honey. Hope to buy better equipment for this coming year so bees will have square roomy abodes & me less acupuncture.
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You can strain it through about anything, fine screen or cheesecloth, or the nylon sock filters on top of a bucket. Just work a little at a time. If you sell it by the bucket, get at least $2.00 a pound, but you will make more in jars. Look in the bee catalogs for all this bottling equipment. I use pint and quart mason jars with white one piece lids.
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Last year I had great success with a kitchen knife, a glass cutting board, a potato masher, a large stainless salad bowl, a rubber spatula, a large home depot paint strainer bag, and one or two food grade buckets (in which I installed a 1/2" PVC valve for bottling). I would then get some nice jars or honey bears from the bee store. You really don't need much equipment to harvest. I got a couple of supers off of a first year hive and harvested about 4 gallons of honey this way.
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http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm)
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I harvested for the first time last year and used Michael Bush's crush and strain idea. I did not have a solar wax melter but I have a guy working on one for me. Everyone I GAVE honey to was told there was no heating up of the honey and that I only used the double sieved strainer. There was a small bit of wax on the top of the honey for each jar but everyone loved that.
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Thanks all for the links & honey processing tips.
Got a 5 gal food grade bucket w/ honey gate, an extra honey gate & Dadants stainless steel double sieve. Chasing more swarms, cut outs, & trap outs but will crush & strain this week after build more hives stands, frames, nuc's, med, & deep hive boxes. Yes Shawn gotta finish my project of solar wax melter as well w/ wax coming avail. Have a great honey harvest all.
Cheers, David
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Check out Linda Blog
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2007/06/honey-harvest-crush-and-strain.html (http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2007/06/honey-harvest-crush-and-strain.html)
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Search for "honey press."
And no..it's not a pickup line... :-D
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The way I get honey from my foundationless frames is easy and hardly messy at all. I just cut the comb out of the frame right into a cooler by the hive. In the kitchen, I put it into a large stainless steel mixing bowl and crush it with a potato masher (only takes a few minutes). I put a mesh paint strainer from Lowe's over my honey bucket (no, NOT my honey's bucket!) and secure it with a bungee cord. Dump the crushed honey/comb into the strainer and leave it overnight. Put the lid on to keep ants out. Next day, remove the strainer and wax, wash it and I'm done!
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5 gallon frosting buckets may be free from your local bakery. especially if you trade them a sample of your honey.
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Forget the stuff you bought!!!
I arrived at the same method that Michael did.
a bunch of bakery buckets with covers(free!!) and a new 5-gallon paint strainer ($3 for two) is what you want!!
Cut the middles out of 2 bucket covers, leaving enough of a lip to hold a bucket. Drill 1/2 inch holes in the bottom of one of the buckets. Put the paint strainer in the holey bucket, and hold it in place with one of the cutout covers.
Put the other cutout covers on top of an intact bucket, and place the holey bucket on top of that. Now just throw all your crushed comb in the strainer and sit back and watch it strain out!!
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Rather use stainless steel than plastic for filtering & the 2 mesh strainer is a start & good investment. Yes Scads looking into the buckets. Do what works for you Scad's but free is a relative term. Ended up after giving cut/chunk comb to folks, filtering honey to get 20lbs of unheated delicious southern Calif. honey. The potato masher good idea & used it in this small batch but need another way to crush bigger batches that are coming up.
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I got a bunch of free 5 gallon buckets for maple syrup collection this year. I went to Meiers, Walmart, etc, and got the icing buckets...BUT I then spent hours cleaning them, over and over, and soaking them overnight, trying to get the icing smell out, which can potentially change the taste of the syrup or honey, depending on contact time. I risked it with the maple syrup (which went buddy on me so it didn't matter anyway).
Don't even think about using pickle buckets, I hear they really absorb smell from acidity. I went to several restaurants and that's all they had.
I hear that Tractor Supply has the 5 gallon buckets with lids for $2 right now. That's a good price, and a much better use of time than cleaning buckets. You can buy plastic liners for the buckets. Home Depot and Lowes also have the buckets.
Be aware that those dang buckets disappear into thin air. Yesterday I found one of the wiley guys, full of used tractor oil. :-P
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Annette--great post, I love Linda's bucket with the gate/tap at the bottom. Anyone have an idea of where to get that for a good price?
(Not that I'm expecting any honey this first year!)
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You can get a bucket with gate for $18.
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Plastic-Bottling-Pail/productinfo/805/ (http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Plastic-Bottling-Pail/productinfo/805/)
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or 10.95 :-D
http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=1025&idCategory=15 (http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=1025&idCategory=15)