Extracting mess

[bpmurray]

I crushed & strained a couple of frames, just so I could taste some sweetness after what seems like a panic-stricken season. This is my first attempt, so I strained into one bucket and then strained through muslin into another bucket and then filled a few jars from that. This all went remarkably well, with the exception of the stickiness. I cleaned out the buckets with hot and even boiling water so that they appear quite unsticky now with no honey residues, as far as I can see. I left them outside the door and within about 5 minutes, there were bees all over them!

So my questions are:

• How to clean stuff to guarantee that there's no honey residues, i.e. so that it won't attract bees & wasps?
• How to get the inch of honey out of the bottom of a bucket through the valve? I tried tipping but it was rather difficult to manage the slope and pour simultaneously (sticky jars!).

 

[YorkshireBees]

I crushed & strained a couple of frames, just so I could taste some sweetness after what seems like a panic-stricken season. This is my first attempt, so I strained into one bucket and then strained through muslin into another bucket and then filled a few jars from that. This all went remarkably well, with the exception of the stickiness. I cleaned out the buckets with hot and even boiling water so that they appear quite unsticky now with no honey residues, as far as I can see. I left them outside the door and within about 5 minutes, there were bees all over them!

So my questions are:

• How to clean stuff to guarantee that there's no honey residues, i.e. so that it won't attract bees & wasps?
• How to get the inch of honey out of the bottom of a bucket through the valve? I tried tipping but it was rather difficult to manage the slope and pour simultaneously (sticky jars!).

First of all I ONLY use cold water as if there are any wax deposits in any of the honey hot water will make a mess!

In terms of my bottling tanks, I almost never empty them completely so don't worry about the small amount under the valve. Otherwise you need to make a wedge so that you can tilt the tank (safely) and have both hands free for jarring.

 

[wessexmario]

So my questions are:

• How to clean stuff to guarantee that there's no honey residues, i.e. so that it won't attract bees & wasps?
• How to get the inch of honey out of the bottom of a bucket through the valve? I tried tipping but it was rather difficult to manage the slope and pour simultaneously (sticky jars!).

Warm water with a bit of soap will completely remove honey residues (no magic required just wash it).

For the last inch, just tip and pour the bucket as if there was no honey gate.
Hold the open end of the bucket at the top above the gate with one hand, leaning the side of the bottom of the bucket on a worktop or sink edge. With the gate at the top when pouring it too will drain back into the bucket.
If the bucket has a handle, put it on the honey gate [top] side first so it doesn't swing when pouring.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

[*]How to get the inch of honey out of the bottom of a bucket through the valve? I tried tipping but it was rather difficult to manage the slope and pour simultaneously (sticky jars!).
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Honey is sticky but it DOES flow given time. You need a dry, warm environment (so large exposed surfaces of honey do not attract water - and insect-free, natch) and a way to hold the container on a slope overnight. The suppliers sell some but it's part of the fun of the process to make it work. And depending on your floor, layer newspaper/plastic sheeet/ newspaper and you can ball the whole top layer up when done.

 

[Swarm]

That last bit is the beekeepers honey, tip the bucket as mentioned above and scrape/pour it into the jar/s.

 

[yeogi75]

get yourself a large pickling jar the sort with glass lid that flips over, and drain the last dregs into this and keep topping it up for your self you may get different layers but still nice,
crush and strain is messy but is cheaper than an extractor,get your self one of them double strainers worth there weight in gold when filtering, I use two buckets both with honey gate mash it up in one put on table top overhanging and trickle thru filter into bottom bucket, leave to stand and jar, when finished put on lawn get the hose out and wash down to almost clean then take inside and wash in cold water then hot water no residue left,

 

[bpmurray]

Thank you for your suggestions. I have one of those double-sieves, and it is fabulous for getting the wax out, although the honey's cloudy at that point. That's why I filtered it again through cheesecloth. I used a flexible silicone spatula to scrape the remnants into a jar, but I think that simply turning the thing over and letting it eventually run out makes more sense.

As for the idea that the last bit is for me, I have to admit that my sweet tooth means that it's all for me (less a few little portions for friends and family).