Extracting Set Up

[BMH]

Looks like I may be extracting after all....

.... What would be your IDEAL extracting set up for 50 colonies?

I've decided that's my ABSOLUTE limit!

 

[enrico]

A clean, easy to clean, sealed room with running water and electricity. And an electric extractor would be essentials.
E

 

[BMH]

Any suggestions on type of extractor? Type of uncapping table? Cappings? Melters? Uncapping machine etc? Creamers?

If you could start again with a blank room, what would your set up look like with specific models etc

 

[Beefriendly]

If I had 50 colonies I'd want one of these for speeding up the uncapping and extracting.

.

 

[Beefriendly]

And then I'd want this automatic bottling machine.

 

[Poly Hive]

Been there and built it.

Twenty by 14 feet. Insulated washable walls and ceiling.

I was working heather and bought a Thomas 6 swing basket extractor. Also invested in a heather loosner which is now busy on a Devon Bee Farm.

I used Manley frames and so had a lot of cappings.

Uncap, extract and run dirty into buckets. Mark using computer labels and writing on as to what it was. Leave to process until extraction finished then wash up.

Meanwhile buckets warming in honey warmer which took 15 or so at a time. Tip into ripner to use the valve to control flow into constantly running spindrier lined with coarse mesh as a spacer and inner liner bag. As the inner liners choked up pause and replace. Clean honey marked up as such and put aside.

Creaming done using pump and 500lb tank. (for sale)

Above system coped with 70 colonies easily which in turn was two to three tons per season.

PH

 

[BMH]

Very interesting.

Definitely interested in a swing basket extractor as there's a fair amount of heather this way.

How much did the heather loosener set you back?

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[Poly Hive]

About £1500 I think. But... that was 20 years ago when the £ bought a bittie more than it does now.

This bit of kit:

https://en.swienty.com/pi/Hain-Honey-loosener---all-sizes_4002685_164683.aspx


PH

 

[Jimmy]

What's the view on 2x small extractors (8-20 frame??) compared to one large (30+ frame)?

 

[foghornleghorn]

How much is your budget?

 

[BMH]

How much is your budget?

I'd like to keep it under 5k for the time being if possible but dont want to buy equipment that will be made redundant over a small timeframe.


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[foghornleghorn]

I'd like to keep it under 5k for the time being if possible but dont want to buy equipment that will be made redundant over a small timeframe.


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Heather loosener is €3800 ex vat so would make a fair dent in it

 

[BMH]

Heather loosener is €3800 ex vat so would make a fair dent in it

I dont think I'd buy a loosener straight off the bat. Need an extractor, a table and a method for uncapping.

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[Beefriendly]

Have a chat with Damien at Abelo's...the beauty of all their extracting kit is it's modular..Buy one bit then add on as you need..

 

[Ian123]

Thomas do a 20 frame extractor that includes a uncapping tank combined

 

[Ian123]

Google thomas beekeeping its on page 119 of catalogue, its called tetra plus. Theres probably more old Thomas equipment knocking arounD with old beefarmers than any other.

 

[BMH]

Google thomas beekeeping its on page 119 of catalogue, its called tetra plus. Theres probably more old Thomas equipment knocking arounD with old beefarmers than any other.

Thanks for the heads up. I've read a couple of reviews about this one and think I'm more likely to go modular.

Not sure I'm keen on the idea of putting all my eggs in one basket

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[BMH]

Have a chat with Damien at Abelo's...the beauty of all their extracting kit is it's modular..Buy one bit then add on as you need..

Yes. I think that's probably what I will go for.

Just trying to get my head around what my priority will be and what extractor and capping table to go for.

There is a lot of heather around here but cant afford everything in one hit, but dont want to buy equipment that will limit future operations.

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[Beefriendly]

Much as I would love a "proper" heather loosener..they are way way too expensive for my operation. I just resign myself to loosing all the heather honey frames.....and then worry all winter that I won't have enough drawn super frames...and (as usual) by the end of May realise all my new undrawn foundation frames have now been drawn and filled with honey....

Processing heather honey, anything not used for cut comb goes into my hydropress...brilliant bit of kit...different sizes to suit different needs. This one cost about £500

 

[BMH]

Much as I would love a "proper" heather loosener..they are way way too expensive for my operation. I just resign myself to loosing all the heather honey frames.....and then worry all winter that I won't have enough drawn super frames...and (as usual) by the end of May realise all my new undrawn foundation frames have now been drawn and filled with honey....



Processing heather honey, anything not used for cut comb goes into my hydropress...brilliant bit of kit...different sizes to suit different needs. This one cost about £500

Just sold my hand cranked 100 litre apple press with a view to buying a hydro press, so that's definitely on the cards!!

what's the wax cake like afterwards? When I tried it on my hand crank press (which was built like a tank) it left loads of honey in the cake which was annoying!

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