Cleaning Beeswax
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- čas přidán 4. 04. 2017
- How to Render Beeswax from honeycomb #Beekeeping Basics - The Norfolk Honey Co.
Rendering Beeswax from old honeycomb or old frames can seem like a real chore but it can be well worth the time. In this video I show you how to remove the wax honeycomb from the empty frames and render them down to produce useable beeswax for either candles or for wax exchange with one of the large wax suppliers.
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Great video as usual. :)
Have fun at the convention this weekend. I wont be going, ( even though Newport is only a 20 min car trip for me!) unfortunately money is a bit tight at the moment,
OMG, you got 85 sheets, THAT'S AWESOME, I don't know much about what we have available here in the US (I'm just getting started), but I really like that idea, and after watching people make molds, and molded foundation, I don't think they have much in the way of wax exchange here...
Awesome thank you 🐝
You're very welcome.
Stewart
Equipment required (only used for Wax / Beekeeping)
Large pan & some fresh water.
Sharp knife
Grater (if doing beeswax wraps)
Heat proof gloves
Ladle & scrapper
Plastic tub with lid.
Thanks for the vids . I'm getting back in this spring after a break. How do you clean rescued hive boxes??
Hi,
Thanks for the comments and the supportive comments on other pages.
Once the frames have been dealt with I remove the runners and scrape out the boxes with a hive tool and then scorch the insides with a flame from a gas torch.
Stewart
Your vids pop up high when one searches the CZcams site for apiary instructions. (Shows you are being consistent and thorough) After your series, I found some others. I Liked a lot the idea of steaming the bee boxes directly...one old guy uses a backyard boiler from an old gas cylinder. Looked good to me. I Wonder if you've got any experience around anything like that? I liked it because I'm lazy and it combined so many steps. And it seems it would sanitize out potential pestulance like mites and such.
czcams.com/video/Wzkxq7qGqxQ/video.html
Steam cleaning would also be a good method.
I don't have the facilities to be able to easily use steam cleaning hence I go with the gas torch.
Stewart
what was the actual temperature here?. i have queens show up April 21st and im splitting no matter. we should have daytime highs from 13-15*C by then, if im lucky i will get a nice warm summery day to do it.
It was around 8 degrees first thing and then warmed up in the afternoon. I would think given 2-3 weeks things should warm up a bit here (Hopefully) and then I'll be into queen rearing and other manipulations such as splits, comb exchanges, artificial swarms etc. I always like to see the colonies growing well before I do to much with them.
Stewart
Sir for a backyard apiary with a few hives.....would you not recommend moving frames between colonies?
Hi Rabbit,
Great to hear from you again.
Moving frames is always a calculated risk due to the possible movement of bugs and diseases. As long as you are happy your bees are disease free as far as you can be certain then it is not a problem and can of course be helpful in building up colony strength or rescuing a colony that is Queenless.
Stewart
lol, if i used my "best" bread knife for that task it would have cut right though the frame as well. (i do a bit of cooking and hate blunt knives) so a bees bread knife is on order.
Quick question, why tranfer to another bucket, why not just let the stove pan cool over night?
Hi,
I'm surrounded by blunt knives! You could just let it cool in the pan, I tend to render a lot of wax so am constantly filling other buckets. Also, I find that using a plastic bucket to allow it to cool in means it normally pulls away from the sides of the bucket making it easier to remove.
Stewart
I am very new to this so please bare with my stupidity. I recently tried to melt honey comb down to get the wax but all I ended up with after three days was a bucket of liquid gunk, any help or advice please?
hey stewart....i was going to get a solar melter but sure like your method. Whats the major difference you have found between the two? thanks!
Hi natserog,
Thanks for commenting,
I just find it takes a lot less time to cut out and boil up. If you have a lot of frames to render then this is definitely a way to get through the volume of frames quickly.
Stewart
thanks for the demo....love your videos!
Hi Stuart, do you simply skim off the cocoons and debris from the wax when it melts in the pot? Do they float?
Hi Brigsy,
Yes, a regular skim keeps it free and workable., most float but you can skim down to the bottom and get other debris out too.
Stewart
Thanks. Seems a quicker method than my current steam clean first.
Great videos these, Stuart. I'd noted the drop in temperatures so held off any significant works and will be holding off until things are warmer. Would you say it is safe to lift the crown board for pollen patties to be put in or would you delay. I'm fairly certain I have one hive that is slow to respond coming out of winter. Do you always exchange your wax once rendered or do you ever produce your own foundation sheets?
Hi Tr1ckster100,
Thanks for your comments.
Yes, perfectly ok to lift the crown board and add pollen patties now even if the temperature is quite low, just don't keep them open for any longer than needed.
Currently I just exchange but this season I may try hand dipped candles or making sheets of foundation if I can get an affordable press or mill for the foundation.
Stewart
I've watched Don The Fat Bee Man make his own. He creates a base sheet with a wooden panel, puts them through a roller to create the imprint for cell size and then trims them up. They can be rolled without imprint just with a rolling pin. I've made a number of these and once the process is running it does work though I'm only working with two hives so easy enough. I'm not sure how many hives you work with or whether that would be too labour intensive for you if you have a lot of hives but the exchange rate of wax for foundation has always struck me as fairly poor which is why I looked into it.
Patreon link not live Stewart xx
Have you ever used a croc pot with paint strainer cloth? Seems like that would also work? =thanks!
Hi natserog,
Yes I have used the straining method before which works just fine for smaller quantities of rendered wax. Larger amounts need a slightly different approach. I'm sure I will modify and improve my methods but this works well for now.
Stewart
Can you tell me what you do with the leftover slurry? Both the residual water/gunk from the bottom of the bucket after the wax cooled as well as what you scraped off of the bottom of the disks. Can this go in the compost bin or????
I'm in this quandary right now as I don't want do put it down the drains (obviously) but should I just pour it on the ground or I was wondering about putting it in the compost bin? I can't just put it in the trash because the slurry water is... well liquid. I refuse to add extra plastic to the trash when not absolutely necessary so I'd rather not go the route of just putting it in a plastic tub and then in the trash.
Please let me know how you dispose of this. Thanks
Hi,
Yes, I put it on our allotment compost heap and the compost gets used around the allotment.
Hi Stuart. A year later with this comment! I have some honey that was in the old brood combs I melted and rendered. Not sure what to do with it. Can I use it as feed for bees or is this too risky for disease transfer? Otherwise I guess I just dispose of it down th drain with hot water?
Hi Dorothie,
I don't feed honey back to my bees if I don't know it came from the exact colony. For me the risks are too great.
Stewart
Maybe use it for making mead?
Have you ever used a solar melter?
Hi Rabbit,
Yes, when I first started I had a solar melter and it worked great for cappings and brace comb but not for old dirty combs as there was so much "crud" left over.
Stewart
I do not have any bees yet. but will in the near future. I have seen meny vedios on all aspects of bees but have NEVER seen or heard any one say one way or another that bees wax can be placed in a hive for the bees to use instead of having to make their own. I under stand that it takes 20000 bees to make 1 lb of wax and would think if it could be placed in a hive for their use it would help starter hive bees emencley.
what is your opinion on this
thank.you
Hi Steve,
Thanks for commenting. I think most beekeepers prefer to have their bees produce their own wax as it is then pure and natural. Some beeswax collected commercial could contain contaminents that would potentially be harmeful in the hive. Also I think the bees would find it difficult to manipulate large amounts of beeswax in the hive unless it was in fine shavings and this could increase the risk of other pests getting in and causing problems. It's an interesting thought but not one that I have heard of any beekeepers using.
Stewart
The Norfolk Honey Company thank you for the reply.
i never thought about purchesed wax only wax from the beekeepers hives.
The idea of bug infestation is a good one and also some thing i wondeted about.
Thanks again
Thanks as ever Stuart...am ex Norfolk myself and now one of your chief ambassadors in Sussex!
New to beekeeping and looking to render first wax myself...did you use a sieve to filter from main pan into second and then back again? You show a pan with all the waste in it next to the original, with the molten wax in the original?
Thanks
Paul
Hi Paul,
thanks for commenting. Nice to hear from a local lad :)
Yes, the wax is sieved and then passed through a pair of old tights (my wife's!) that cleans it up pretty nicely.
Stewart
is there a wind sock shaped like a cow or something at about 6:30 ? what am i seeing over your shoulder?
Scott,
That made me laugh, all that effort I put in and you spot the kite in the background :)
It's a neighbouring allotment's attempt to scare pigeons using a kite with some kind of hawk printed on it. Needless to say it doesn't work.
Stewart
i thought of that when i sent it. i said to myself " im that guy pointing out shit in the background"
scott
I'll see if I can find some other background interest for you to spot at some point over the Summer :)
Stewart
Hah! I was wondering the same thing!! I'm glad I'm not alone. Great video, Stuart!
Make sure it's rain water that you use.
Why do some of the panels look moldy?
Good question. Is it okay to use old moldy wax from frames?
What's an allotment?
In the UK the Allotment Act allows Local Authorities to lease out small parcels of land (Typically around 500 sq yards) to citizens to grow vegetables etc. The size is ideal for an apiary. Mine does not allow "livestock". I therefore keep my bees in an apiary elsewhere. In Stuarts allotment contract, bees are obviously permitted.
As usual, skip the first couple of minutes where he blathers on about Patreon and so-on and then you'll get to the useful stuff.
Why not encourage and support my efforts rather my criticising?
I've now posted over 200 videos trying to help beginner beekeepers.
All I'm asking is for people to help me produce more content for just $1 per month.
Is that really so difficult?
Robert Stallard don't you say hello before you start stuffing your gord at the table?