Blowtorch for uncapping?

[Dishmop]

This is how you do it.

So thats what you've got in your garage then.

 

[RoseCottage]

So today I tried the brule gun to deal with capped frames and I have to say...

WOW!

No capping, no mess at all, no toffee flavoured honey, and no house fire from flaming wax.

Superfast.

Instead we have our purest ever honey. So light in colour. As it passed through the Th ornes 2 sieve strained no wax built up in the top sieve.

We are very pleased and surprised. We cannot decide if forage has caused the light honey or whether the improved process. So we are looking forward to the next super being ready for uncapping.

Sam and Linn

 

[louiseww]

A local Beek suggested using a kitchen blowtorch to uncap frames for extraction. I'm a bit skeptical, (visions of melted super all over the floor) anyone else heard of this?

At a honey extraction meeting last year we were shown how to do it with a hot air gun used for paint stripping - I bought one and will be trying it this year. A blow torch seems a tad excessive!
Louise

 

[The Apprentices]

Not only does the hot air gun do far less damage to the comb, have a look under a microscope to see where the capping actually goes to, it retreats away from the centre and forms a kind of rolled edge which the bees use again more efficiently.

 

[vonclatt]

Found the link to the You Tube snippet.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL7vbrJ6Pvw[/ame]

 

[rockdoc]

I've always taken the assumption that all or any heat is not good for honey. Not sure whether the science has come up with a definitive here, but I will always err on the side of caution. The only time I use gentle heat is to melt crystallized honey. I've tried a heated blade and other methods but prefer above all the stripping fork. Messy yes, but the quality of the honey is assured.

 

[Ely]

Heat guns are a lot cheaper than rip off niche market heated uncapping knives too!

 

[richardbees]

thanks Linn

" Brule gun" a classy new addition to my vocabulary (but unlikely to the kitchen - I've still got an unused stainless steel "Fondue set" from the Sixties)

Richard

 

[Elaine]

Maybe a "blowtorch" is the wrong tool - what is really inteneded is a hot air gun - we have one, it's just like a hair drier - but with attitude! it has a vairiable heat setting, and an optional directional nozzle -