Any plans for homemade Honey Strainer?

[ncbeekeeper]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping that someone has made a honey strainer and would be willing to share the information. They look simple enough but I am not sure what size screen material would work and actually strain the honey or be to small and restrict flow. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott..

[gunny]

Scott:

Welcome to the forum.

Swing by Lowes and get a paint strainer in whatever size you think you'll want.  They have them in 1, 2 and 5 gallon sizes last I checked.   I use the 5 gallon ones.  Slip it over the bucket you plan to use, let it hang about half way down , use a bungie cord to hold it there, pour in your honey, put the lid on it and set it in the sun for a day or two.  All done.  Strainer is reuseable.  Bees will clean up anything left you didn't get.

[Kev]

I'll beat Michael Bush to a post of his 5-gallon bucket method: http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm

[Robo]

For the $5, the dadant 5 gallon strainers can't be beat.   Don't care how you tie a strainer to a bucket, eventually one will fall in.   Just have it happen once and you will wish you had spent the $5 for the dadant one.   I find the course (600) to work the best for me.

[tillie]

I'm with Robo - it's cheap to buy a bucket with a honey gate from Dadant and the set of three strainers. 

https://www.dadant.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=422

For $30 you've got everything you need.  The honey gate is amazingly helpful for bottling and I now stack the filters although last year I used the 400 (the middle sized one) all the time.

I have a video on my blog showing how to do crush and strain easily:

http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2007/06/honey-harvest-crush-and-strain.html

Good luck - it's so much fun to harvest honey  :-D

Linda T in Atlanta

[doak]

I use that double bucket deal that has a heavy metal flat piece in the bottomless top bucket.
The strainer sack that came with it lasted me 6 yrs. just got a new sack last week. My top bucket will get over half full and I will have to stop and let it drain. So I don't overflow my gate bucket, (the bottom one).
Only trouble I have had was the wing screw that tightens the gate up broke last year. good thing some one else was around and I had an extra bucket.
The first year I didn't have much so I used the kitchen strainer.
doak

[Robo]

Only trouble I have had was the wing screw that tightens the gate up broke last year. good thing some one else was around and I had an extra bucket.
doak

Dadant sells metal replacement wing screws for like 60 cents.  I replaced all mine after I broke the first one when I dropped the bucket.  You can really get in a pickle if you break the only one you have :shock:

[ncbeekeeper]

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much for all the help, it means a great deal..

[doak]

Robo, I have a decapping tub that has one in it, so I swapped them and replaced the tightning screw with
 a regular bolt.
But I have got to get two or three more.

By the way, I found a bee brush I lost last year. It was half covered with leaves and had some mold like stuff on it, but it cleaned up nice and the wood is as hard as it ever was. Now I have two bee brushes.
doak

[Scadsobees]

I got a few free buckets with lids from a local bakery. 
I drilled some 1/4 or 1/2 in holes in the bottom of one. 

I cut out the centers of 2 lids, so that a bucket can still set on top of the lid.

2 5 gallon paint strainers from the hardware store, $3.50.

Put the 2 strainers togather inside of the bucket with holes, secured by one of the lids snapped on the bucket.  Put the other lid with a hole on it ontop of the other bucket (This is actually a gate bucket from dadant, $20).

Just pour the honey into the top bucket, that will strain down into the bottom bucket.  Then when finished, throw all of the cappings into there too, and let them drain.

Doesn't strain too fine, but is really quick to get most of the wax out, and can handle almost the capacity of the top bucket at one time, just empty the bottom bucket when full.  Works for crush and strain too.

Rick