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Thread: Wax processing - best solution !?

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mellifera Crofter View Post
    Apart from the poor poly hive having been chewed, Neils, will it withstand all that heat?

    And how is it that the hive got so badly chewed? What make is it?

    Kitta
    i think it should be ok, with a cheap wallpaper stripper type affair can’t see the steam getting that hot.

    it’s a payne’s hive from several years ago, there was no mention of needing to varnish it so i just put bees in it and they very quickly chewed out around the top bars. it’s been a frame store ever since.

  2. #22
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    I thought it might be a Paynes, Neils. I've had bees gnawing upper entrances for themselves in Paynes hives. I've sold mine now. Please let me know if the hive survived the steam ok - or not.
    Kitta

  3. #23
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    Interesting thread. Been trying a few options myself and seem to have hit upon the reverse approach to Caluna. I take a used jute shopping bag (99p each at LIDL) and tie it like a funnel over a large bucket. (I add water to the bucket first). Wax to be melted on top of jute bag (your filter) and stick in oven at around 80C overnight. Filters most of the crap out and leaves a nice round wedge of clean wax floating on the water. Might want to run through a coffee filter (or similar) afterwards if showing or making candles.
    I've also found that the stuff that comes off from a solar wax melter is good as the crap tends to stick to the slope as the wax and hiney slides down leaving a relatively clean wax block on top of the now bakers honey.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calluna4u View Post
    Easiest and cheapest for small quantities. Get a 200litre metal drum. Half fill it with water, put burners underneath and bring to the oil. Shove all your wax into a cloth bag, including a brick or heavy stone. Place it in the drum (can be easier to do this BEFORE you heat the water) and allow it to boil for a couple of hours. Turn off the heat and leave it overnight. In the morning you should have a nice cake of pure wax on top and a bag of slum. Tip it all out and repeat again with another load if you have it to do.

    If the bag is too big and ends up fouling the wax later (not fouling as in contaminating, fouling as in contacting and getting tangle with) you can just stick a couple of heavy things on top to hold the top of the bag down.
    Ive been wanting an excuse to get some burners for a while for homebrewing so this provides the perfect excuse

  5. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thymallus View Post
    Interesting thread. Been trying a few options myself and seem to have hit upon the reverse approach to Caluna. I take a used jute shopping bag (99p each at LIDL) and tie it like a funnel over a large bucket. (I add water to the bucket first). Wax to be melted on top of jute bag (your filter) and stick in oven at around 80C overnight. Filters most of the crap out and leaves a nice round wedge of clean wax floating on the water. Might want to run through a coffee filter (or similar) afterwards if showing or making candles.
    I've also found that the stuff that comes off from a solar wax melter is good as the crap tends to stick to the slope as the wax and hiney slides down leaving a relatively clean wax block on top of the now bakers honey.
    That's works too....there are a load of options out there.

  6. #26
    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    I don't have a solar wax extractor so old combs are binned or go into the chimnea in summer as fire lighters. (Or they sit in a plastic bag in a pile in the corner of the shed as a breeding ground for wax moth ).
    Should I buy or make a solar extractor. Could I put cappings in one for example? Are they worth getting?
    Last edited by Adam; 12-12-2019 at 02:18 PM.

  7. #27
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    I don't have a solar extractor, Adam - but thinking about it now, it might be a useful way to keep on top of rendering old combs as they become available over the summer (rather than leaving them for the wax moths, or rendering at the end of the season). Somebody else will have to let us know whether they like their solar extractor - or not.
    Kitta

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