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Author Topic: Juicers for honey comb?  (Read 4083 times)

Offline damienpryan

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Juicers for honey comb?
« on: October 14, 2016, 06:27:20 pm »
Hi all,

Has anyone ever tried putting honeycomb through a centrifugal juicer to seperate the honey and wax?
Or possibly cappings through it?

Possibly by heating it to 45 Celsius (110 Fahrenheit) first?

I currently use whole plastic frames but have been experimenting with foundation less frames.
My 4 frame extractor works fine on plastic frames but might blow out my foundationleas frames.

Now juicers are cheap I thought it a possibility.

Cheers

Damien


Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2016, 09:17:49 pm »
My bet is that the wax will foul up the blades.
I would not heat the honey over 104 degrees unless you do not care about the medicinal  properties if your honey.
Let us know how it works out if you try it.
Jim
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Offline divemaster1963

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2016, 09:24:52 pm »
I predict a mess. I use a juicer to remove seeds from small fruits like blackberries and strawberries when i make jams. for this it works great. but with honey still in wax it is going to clog the juicer up. the wax will mold into the screen. now if you can chill the frames maybe but then you make the honey to thick to move.

to me it would end in a lose-lose

john


Offline damienpryan

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2016, 10:57:40 pm »
There seems to be 2 types of juicers out there.
http://thejuicerdirectory.com/masticating-vs-centrifugal-juicers/
But I don't think either would do a good job of honeycomb.
As you say. Just too much chance of the wax molding to any sort of screen.
If you warm the honey so if flows then the wax becomes more flexible and sticks the the screen.
But cold honey/wax might not go through at all.

Was just checking if anyone has tried it.

Cheers

Damien

Offline herbhome

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2016, 02:00:08 am »
I am not aware of a juicer that could hold frames. I would be really interested at looking into it. Could you post a link to one?
Neill

Offline little john

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2016, 04:29:20 am »
I would have thought that old-style pressing - as you might do with (say) apple juice - would be the way to go.  Maybe using a hydraulic jack instead of a screw thread ?
LJ
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Offline Acebird

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2016, 09:50:22 am »
I have a Squeezo for removing seeds from fruits and vegetables.  It operates similar to a wax separator made in Europe.  I don't want to ruin the Squeezo so I am not going to try it but I wonder why some equipment manufacturer has not made something like it for the little guy, hand crank or motor driven.
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Offline mtnb

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2016, 10:18:45 am »
I've been doing all foundationless frames so far. This year I bought myself a cheap tangential two frame hand cranked extractor. The basket is made of a large spaced grid and my first two frames definitely blew out. I modified it by adding a 1/4th" screen along the outside edge, the length of the basket which helps to hold the comb in place and haven't had any blow outs since.

I think the wax would really clog a juicer. Crushing and straining through a $7 strainer might be a little time consuming but works great. I have not found juicers to be cheap.
I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
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Offline divemaster1963

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2016, 10:58:10 am »
more on crushing and straining. i got several 5 gal paint strainer bags from paint store. when i have cutouts with lots of honey comb i put them in a 5 gal bucket and then use a stainless steel paint mixer atachment for my drill and spin i thu the bucket to bracke up the comb then pour it into the bags in another bucket. pull it together and let it hang  just above the bucket. it will gravity drain for a day or two in a warm room the i just sqweez the last out. it then have a big ball of wax and a half to three quarter bucket of clean honey. then just bottle it or pour it thru a 200 micron bucket filter. then bottle it.

john

Offline damienpryan

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2016, 07:17:51 pm »
John,

I love the paint strainer Idea.I never knew they existed!
It follows in the long beekeeper tradition of adapting other commonly available equipment :-)

What do you do with the remaining wax/honey mixture?
Do you heat it or press it to get the remaining honey out ?

Herbhome,
No such juicers for frames exists. It was only speculation on my part that a domestic juicer might work.

Cheers

Damien


Offline herbhome

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2016, 07:22:22 pm »
I have seen video of folks in Europe who do crush and strain placing the comb in a cheesecloth bag and pressing the remaining honey out with a fruit press. Looked like it worked pretty well.

Also, Warre, in his book talked about extracting using a hardware cloth box to hold the comb in the extractor and thus protect the comb.
Neill

Offline divemaster1963

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2016, 12:03:37 pm »
John,

I love the paint strainer Idea.I never knew they existed!
It follows in the long beekeeper tradition of adapting other commonly available equipment :-)

What do you do with the remaining wax/honey mixture?
Do you heat it or press it to get the remaining honey out ?

Herbhome,
No such juicers for frames exists. It was only speculation on my part that a domestic juicer might work.

Cheers

Damien


with the bag. afte it drains for a day or two i use sterial disposable glove and sqweeze the bag to get the rest. you could make a press by building a plywood box with raised sides on bottom half and braced top them place ciderblocks on top to press the bag.just make sure you have a slot for the honey to run off into a bucket.

john

Offline Beeboy01

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Re: Juicers for honey comb?
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2016, 12:56:26 pm »
Using a paint strainer is a great idea for comb honey wish I had thought of it back when I first got into bees. I had a hive that was all burr comb so I put the comb into a small wine press. Talk about a sticky mess, the press just squeezed all the comb into one big sticky chunk, looking back it was kinda funny ;).   

 

anything