Straining Wax

[Jen]

K, So! I got this wax all melted down last night, but it was too late for me to get set up and strain it. Can I strian this the same way I strained my honey? I used cloth screening for screen doors lined with cheesecloth. And how many times should wax be strained?   

[riverbee]

jen,

the cleaner the wax is the better for anything.......i don't remember how you strain your honey, but wax is a little different. you want wax as clean as it can be for candles, lip balm, etc........

i use a solar wax melter, so i am not the best one to say how to strain this in the winter months from heating in a double boiler or crock pot.  would think the same concept applies. strain it through a threadbare t shirt. in my solar unit i will run it through two to three times using different materials from start to finish but the  use of cotton material, or multipurpose wiping cloths (for staining, etc...these work well)  from a big box store gets me very clean wax. 

[Jen]

This wax also came from a solar wax melter ~

[LazyBkpr]

T shirts like to absorb a lot of valuable wax, but when done, boil some water and drop it in to clean it up.. it will retain some wax, but you will get most of the crud off/out, and that will allow you to use it for the next straining job, and you will lose less wax from absorption.
   I do this with the cheesecloth I strain with as well..  I layer the filter, ..  window screen, cheese cloth, T shirt, that way each of them traps some gunk without plugging any of them up completely.. 

[Jen]

Do you have this event on your website Scott?

[riverbee]

"This wax also came from a solar wax melter ~"

lol!......i send my wax through a melter about 3 times.

"T shirts like to absorb a lot of valuable wax"

scott paper towel will absorb more wax than threadbare t shirts or layers of cheesecloth.  some wax loss is to be expected but your wax will be very clean.

this is the method i use in the solar melter:
How to deal with Beeswax (solar)

melting and straining wax indoors with whatever methos is a little different than the solar unit, but really the materials are the same.  what you want to achieve is very clean wax....... 

[Yankee11]

I boil my wax in water first, pour the melted wax/water through a metal kitchen strainer into a container and let it cool. When you dump it out most of it will separated. I scrape the bottom of the cake until I get down to the wax.







Then I take the cake and melt it again, this time no water. When melted I pour the melted wax through a restaurant grease
filter. Comes out clean, clean, clean.










The metal bracket to hold the filter is like 12 bucks and the filters come in a box of 50 for around 5 dollars. Use and toss. 10 cents each.

[Jen]

Scott- " I do this with the cheesecloth I strain with as well..  I layer the filter, ..  window screen, cheese cloth, T shirt, that way each of them traps some gunk without plugging any of them up completely.. 

      I'm going to use cloth window screen for the main filter. So I would put window screen, then cheese cloth, then a tshirt? And strain one time?

[Perry]

In the winter I do almost exactly the same as Yankee11.
I even have the same bracket and grease filters but couldn't get the wax to go through the filters. I just use cheesecloth now, held up with #8 hardware cloth.

[Yankee11]

Hey Perry,

Wonder why the wax won't go through your filters? Any idea?

[LazyBkpr]

Yes Mrs. Jen..  It just keeps the thicker stuff from adding to plugging up the finer filters.  If filtering a lot of wax i just use a stick to sort of wipe the bottom of the shirt or cheese cloth to pull the stuff plugging the pores to the sides.
   As Yankee said.. re melting in water and letting it harden will also continue to move residue to the bottom of the cake where it can be scraped off..  If my wife wants the wax for candles I run it through the filter set up twice, and then melt/scrape a third time before melting into the muffin tins for her to use.

   I'll have to look into the grease filter set up.. I like the simplicity of that!

[Jen]

I'm liking this set up of Yankees as well with the restaurant grease filter. I won't need that set up for this year, but when I do get a good amount of wax saved up I'd like to use this method.

Where do you obtain the restaurant grease filter?

[Perry]

Hey Perry,

Wonder why the wax won't go through your filters? Any idea?

I'm wondering if maybe I just didn't get it hot enough? I'll have to try it again next year.

[Yankee11]

May be.

Here is another thing I found out. When the wax is completely melted, you know how all the sediment falls to the bottom. If you just
dump the melted wax in the cone filter all at once, all that sediment will fall to the bottom of filter and clog filter. So, pour it slowly through filter
trying to keep most trash in pan until the end.

If that makes sense.

[Jen]

Hey! I"m working on that invention as we type. I'll take pics 

I am amazed at how long and how much heat is needed to melt honeybee wax! Good learning lesson

[Perry]

That's why most of us do it in the summer with solar melters.

Yankee11, I think you probably have diagnosed the problem. I recall thinking the filter was getting plugged and then the wax started setting up.

[Jen]

Think I may have to get me one of those solar melters 

[Yankee11]

And a,

Extractor
Bottling Tank
Warming Cabinet
Uncapping Tank
Honey Pump
Clarifying tank
Queen Castle
Table Saw
Miter Saw
Observation Hive
Truck
Finger Joint Jig
Bigger Extractor

It never ends....

My wife says, You just bought frames didn't you.. You just bought a 9 frame extractor 2 yrs ago. Why did we just get a 18 frame extractor with a motor on it... Women..

[LazyBkpr]

LOL

[Jen]

Okay    We have the...

Truck
Table saw
miter saw

That's a good start