Author Topic: getting honey out of wax  (Read 3676 times)

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Offline rober

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getting honey out of wax
« on: July 01, 2021, 04:36:08 am »
i've read, picked peoples brains, read some more...and still when i mold what appears to be clean wax there is still some residual honey at the bottom of the mold. currently i run the wax thru my solar melter. the honey accumulates in the catch pan. i pour it off, wash the wax, & run it thru the melter again. then i heat it a pot of water  with wax & pour it thru a grease filter where it falls into a bucket of clean water. i see that a commercial operation that sells wax offers it's wax in bead form. i wonder if the wax went thru a screen after leaving the grease filter would help? i just found 4 5 gallon buckets of cappings from last year & i'm about to extract so i'm about to have a whole lotta wax to process.

Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: getting honey out of wax
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2021, 10:05:51 am »
rober, I use old sweatshirts to filter the wax.  That eliminates a lot of the steps you have described.  I melt the wax cappings in a pot of water then let cool.  As you know the wax rises to the top and forms a disc.  You can repeat this if the wax is still dirty.  When I am ready to filter, I melt the wax in a double boiler and then pour through the cut up sweat shirt, unfinished side up.  Since you have buckets of wax cappings to clean, I would go to the thrift store and stock up on old sweatshirts and hoodies.  I don't have any luck trying to reuse the same piece of fabric twice.

Save the used pieces of sweatshirt fabric.  They make great fire starters.

Offline Gypsi

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Re: getting honey out of wax
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2021, 01:48:29 pm »
I use Tshirt as the top layer in my solar wax melter. If I'm not happy with the color, etc, I do it again, clean t shirt. (I destroy enough clothes to have a good supply)
Fishkeeper first, beekeeper second