DIY Extractor

[moby]

I have been looking at prices for an extractor and some seem pretty steep for my pocket. The cheaper tangential plastic ones look like they won’t hold up to much nor do I find swapping the frames around particularly appealing ......
Does anyone have plans for a DIY radial extractor?

 

[taff..]

do intend to sell your honey?

 

[moby]

No not at first, I was hoping to increase my hives before I started along that route, do you think I should Hire the local association's until some honey sales can contirbute to the purchase of a flash shiny one?

 

[barratt_sab]

I made one last year using a plastic bin, various bits of angle aluminium, a steel rod and an electric drill. It wasn't suitable to process honey for sale, but I only used it for home consumption.

It was fun to use, but given the cost of the bits, time taken to make it and its effectiveness, I think I'd hire an association one!

 

[taff..]

No not at first, I was hoping to increase my hives before I started along that route, do you think I should Hire the local association's until some honey sales can contirbute to the purchase of a flash shiny one?

yes

 

[hedgerow pete]

it does not matter what you build it off as long as it can be properly cleaned before use.

yes stainless is the better option as it is easy to clean and if it is shiney it shows up any muck. but there is nothing stopping you using a plastic barrel cut in half.

now i am certain that loads of beekes are going to blow there top for that statement quoting millions of elf and safety regs and food regs. and to tell you the truth alot of them are right ethicly but not legaly.

i had the council food inspector round at the rabbit hutch ( our house is very small terrace) and he mate the elf and safety bod due to registring as a food producing business they do that.

they were more intrested in drinking my coffee and chocy bickies

there point of view to my set up was remove every thing from the kitchen work tops , inc the microwave and completely wash and scrub the work tops. mop the floor and remeove the kitchen floor mate, and give the cupboard doors a wash to.

now as for my equipment.

we looked at four items i have avalible to use and his comments.
9 frame radial extractor, german made and made out of stainless."fine just wash it out"

4 frame tang extractor GALVANISED TIN PLATE 60 YEARS OLD, RE-POWDER COATED THREE YEARS AGO, LOOKS TATTY, "YEP, ok just give it a good wash first"

Home made apple press made from cut up gas cylinder and powder coated white 8 years old, " wow thats impressive, i will have to see if i could make one"

burco boiler, "fine, but i would try to remove the scale at the bottom first"

clothes spin drier, " realy , for cleaning honey?"

large electronic shop scales. "take them down to the council offices for the weights and measures people to check over to make sure they are ok, i dont know what they charge for them"

and finaly a few other none stainless foody items. wooden beer barrels and wine casks, wooden cheese molds, there are loads of things, but i would try to start with stuff from the food indudtry, a plastic barrel that contained orange juice would be a good start rather that and oil drum

 

[Skyhook]

yes

That's what it's there for!

 

[hedgerow pete]

you must r emeber taff that that there are many many beeks that are not a member of an assoc. the closest one to me is the birmingham assoc and i wouldnt ever send anyone to them as they are soooooooooooo bad even drug dealers have better maners, the whole lot want kicking into touch,

as for using the assoc extractor, as a new bee you will be the very last one on the list to use it, if your lucky you might be able to harvest your osr crop in july!!!!!

jjutst because you have a great assoc dont think they all are

 

[taff..]

you must r emeber taff that that there are many many beeks that are not a member of an assoc. the closest one to me is the birmingham assoc and i wouldnt ever send anyone to them as they are soooooooooooo bad even drug dealers have better maners, the whole lot want kicking into touch,

as for using the assoc extractor, as a new bee you will be the very last one on the list to use it, if your lucky you might be able to harvest your osr crop in july!!!!!

jjutst because you have a great assoc dont think they all are

Pete, if you read back it was Moby that asked if they should borrow, I didn't suggest it, I just agreed that borrowing the assoc one may be a better alternative to making one out of a washing-up bottle, 2 toilet rolls and some double sided sticky tape.


just because you have a poor assoc dont think they all are

 

[hedgerow pete]

sorry

 

[taff..]

sorry

no need

 

[moby]

Thanks for all the comments, I may borrow one from the local association but being a new bee availability might be a problem.

I found this on google 'Roll your own extractor' which seems quite a straight forward home built extractor and if you can keep it clean (washable) would there be any issues with the local inspector?

 

[REDWOOD]

Hi, I made my own extractor last year, the problem is food quality, I used a barrel from ebay that was used to import olives into this country, the cage was fabricated from stainless steel and the cranking bits I used a old hand drill, If I have some time this week I will post a few photos

 

[moby]

Will be interested to see pics, I found a new food grade drum 120L online for £25 plus postage which I am hoping that if I go down this route the size will be ok, you mentioned you had problemswith food quality?

 

[VEG]

Items used in food preparation should be made of food grade materials.

 

[REDWOOD]

A few pics of my extractor it took me 8 months to work out and fabricate, making the stainless steel rings was a bind as I used a local engineering company to bend them, in all the materials cost about £65 as stainless is not cheep and you become a "stainless Magpie" looking for it. Good luck and any more info let me know.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Looks good Redwood - if this is its first year must let us know how you get on. Presumably restricted to super sized frames?

 

[REDWOOD]

Hi, Thanks for the kind reply, I used it last year for the first time and it worked fine, "quite suprised"

 

[moby]

Impressive piece of kit Redwood

 

[hedgerow pete]

the dogs danglies, well impressed