Recent Posts91
General Beekeeping / Re: Cleaning honey extractors
« Last post by MudSongs on January 20, 2024, 01:08:40 pm »Good point. All beekeeping is local beekeeping.
My bees don't forage exclusively on anything with a high glucose content like Canola. My bees get plenty of white clover and then goldenrod at the end of the year, but it's all mixed in with nectar from various deciduous trees and woody shrubs that add fair bit of fructose to the mix. I get very little if any crystallization in my extractor between sessions. Neither does the liquid honey ferment between sessions.
I followed the example of a local commercial beekeeper who helped me out when I started. He does the same thing, cleaning his extractor once a year with a pressure washer.
Another point would be the size of the extractor. I'm small scale. I extract 6 medium frames at a time with Maxant 3100p, probably no more than 4-5 medium supers in one go. A larger extractor, I assume, would leave more honey in the bottom. I'd say at most there's a litre of honey left in my extractor after I've tilted it to pour the last of the honey from it.
If I did clean between sessions, though, the pressure would still be my preferred method. The extractor looks fair large but weighs practically nothing. It's easy to lift. I take outside, remove the cage hit everything hard with the pressure washer, the inside and the outside of the extractor. It so much easier than washing it by hand. It just about looks brand new when I'm done. I never looked back once I got the pressure washer.
My bees don't forage exclusively on anything with a high glucose content like Canola. My bees get plenty of white clover and then goldenrod at the end of the year, but it's all mixed in with nectar from various deciduous trees and woody shrubs that add fair bit of fructose to the mix. I get very little if any crystallization in my extractor between sessions. Neither does the liquid honey ferment between sessions.
I followed the example of a local commercial beekeeper who helped me out when I started. He does the same thing, cleaning his extractor once a year with a pressure washer.
Another point would be the size of the extractor. I'm small scale. I extract 6 medium frames at a time with Maxant 3100p, probably no more than 4-5 medium supers in one go. A larger extractor, I assume, would leave more honey in the bottom. I'd say at most there's a litre of honey left in my extractor after I've tilted it to pour the last of the honey from it.
If I did clean between sessions, though, the pressure would still be my preferred method. The extractor looks fair large but weighs practically nothing. It's easy to lift. I take outside, remove the cage hit everything hard with the pressure washer, the inside and the outside of the extractor. It so much easier than washing it by hand. It just about looks brand new when I'm done. I never looked back once I got the pressure washer.
