Crush and strain

[Zante]

I'll be starting with my bees next year, I already have two nucs booked for April.

Since I doubt I'll have enough honey to spin in the first year, even keeping bees in the Italian countryside, I was thinking of going for crush and strain for whatever I might be able to harvest.

I know my crop will be lower because then bees will have to rebuild the crushed comb, but it will still be more honey than I can use, and the crushed wax can be washed to make mead.

This will also give me more beeswax for my crafts.

If I start having sizeable crops in the following years and decide to use a spinner, I'll join the local beekeeping cooperative. As well as getting better prices on supplies I can use the extraction room they have that has all the legal requirements to sell the extracted honey.

Is there anything I should know about crush and strain? Seems simple enough, but I've learnt that very few things are as simple as they seem.

 

[madasafish]

I used crush'n strain on my TBH hives.
(Built my own press).

Use washing bags - as sold in supermarkets to hold delicate clothes in washing machines - to hold the comb when crushing. Makes it easier to control/handle it.

Lots of hot water to wash with as you go along and do it all on top of corrugated cardboard to absorb the inevitable spills.

And do it in a warm room when comb is warm - speeds it all up. The warmer the better..

Hope that helps.

 

[Erichalfbee]

One tip I was given re mead making. Do not use cappings or crushed comb. The better the honey the better the mead
Wash the wax with whisky instead

 

[Zante]

One tip I was given re mead making. Do not use cappings or crushed comb. The better the honey the better the mead
Wash the wax with whisky instead

Why would the honey washed from beeswax be any worse than what went through the strainer?

Also, why whiskey?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well I was told by a few beekeepers who win prizes with their meads that various impurities can be transferred into your washed honey especially if you have crushed and strained. If you want the highest quality mead you need good honey.
As for whisky ( not whiskey ) ...... so that you can drink it

 

[For want of a better word]

If I start having sizeable crops in the following years and decide to use a spinner, I'll join the local beekeeping cooperative. As well as getting better prices on supplies I can use the extraction room they have*** that has all the legal requirements to sell the extracted honey.

***
From a bio-security point of view... buy a spinner and keep everything in[ your own] house.

Horrifying consequences if contaminated equipment [ supers / frames / honey ] get mixed together especially EFB and AFB which could wipe your and possibly other beekeepers apiaries out!
Was a company in the USA offering a" clean downable "separating and extracting facility.

Good luck

 

[Zante]

You do have a point there, but according to Italian law I need an approved extraction room to sell the honey I produce, and it can't be my kitchen, it has to be a dedicated room, which I don't have.

I might have misunderstood the word of the law, I still need to check as I won't be in a position to sell anything for at least a year, so I'm not in a hurry, but that is my understanding.

 

[Swarm]

I'd be surprised if that were the case.

 

[Zante]

Well I was told by a few beekeepers who win prizes with their meads that various impurities can be transferred into your washed honey especially if you have crushed and strained. If you want the highest quality mead you need good honey.

Hmm.. Makes sense I suppose, I guess I can feed it back to the bees and then filter the wax once it's been licked clean.

As for whisky ( not whiskey ) ...... so that you can drink it

Lol, makes sense, but I don't like whisky all that much.
Maybe grappa as my father makes quite a bit of that.

 

[Zante]

I'd be surprised if that were the case.

The problem is that honey is a foodstuff of animal origin, and legally speaking is treated as such, the same as dairy, meat and similar. There is no allowance for extracting in your kitchen in the same way that butchering you pig on the farm is not allowed.

That is why when my parents had goats they wouldn't register all the kids being born. The unregistered ones were butchered on the farm by my father for our own consumption.

Each region though can set up special rules and dispensations for regional products. For example the Lardo di Colonnata is processed on marble in violation of food law thanks to a regional law for this product.

In Lazio, for example, small beekeepers (under 50 hives) have special dispensations that make honey extraction easier, although still difficult to do in a kitchen.
I won't be moving in Lazio though, I'll be moving in Tuscany, and I need to find out if there is local legislation that would allow me to extract in my kitchen and be able to sell the honey, but the fact that the cooperative has an extraction room for its members makes me think that isn't the case.

As I said, though, I need to find out for sure, and for a while it'll be for self consumption only, so no worries there.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Each region though can set up special rules and dispensations for regional products.


and I need to find out if there is local legislation that would allow me to extract in my kitchen and be able to sell the honey, but the fact that the cooperative has an extraction room for its members makes me think that isn't the case.

As I said, though, I need to find out for sure, and for a while it'll be for self consumption only, so no worries there.

That's really interesting. Let us know how you get on?

 

[Zante]

That's really interesting. Let us know how you get on?

Not planning to go anywhere, forum-wise