Extraction Room Plan

[SteveG]

Afternoon, My life expectancy and fellow BK's in the area could seriously be reduced next season If we continue to extract in our kitchens.
To increase our years as BKs I plan to change an outside store room to a Extraction room this winter, not the largest area approx 5m x 5m+
Any ideas / help / Links with plans or pictures of extraction room setup would be greatly appreciated. Water / Power all available. Thanks

 

[Amari]

Afternoon, My life expectancy and fellow BK's in the area could seriously be reduced next season If we continue to extract in our kitchens.
To increase our years as BKs I plan to change an outside store room to a Extraction room this winter, not the largest area approx 5m x 5m+
Any ideas / help / Links with plans or pictures of extraction room setup would be greatly appreciated. Water / Power all available. Thanks

Great idea SteveG. Sign me on! Will it have one of those robot thingmies that hoover/steam clean/polish/sweep etc after we've finished - or will that be your missus?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Afternoon, My life expectancy and fellow BK's in the area could seriously be reduced next season If we continue to extract in our kitchens.
To increase our years as BKs I plan to change an outside store room to a Extraction room this winter, not the largest area approx 5m x 5m+
Any ideas / help / Links with plans or pictures of extraction room setup would be greatly appreciated. Water / Power all available. Thanks

Here’s something to aspire to
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/extracting-set-up.44545/

 

[coffindodger]

If you are to offer it for use be other beeks who may sell their honey then you'll need to register with the L.A. as it is food preparation. They will need a HACCP plan (Own use no problem). If you're stuck, I may be able to dig out an old one I did for a local group.

Physically the key is to plan all the flows and then consider the 'furnishings' .eg. ventilation direction clean to dirty, cool to hot. No natural lighting via glass windows would be an example of a physical area to consider and, of course keeping out curious bees and wasps is going to be fun. Whatever you look at physically, ask yourself, 'how am I going to clean it. Surfaces obviously need to be easy to clean but don't be fooled by people who talk about stainless steel or huge plastic sheets. Keep it simple. 5x5 is small; can you have two doors? Separation of activities can be by time, e.g. straining and labelling can be on the same bench at different times; easy for one user, more difficult for several, so you need a plan of what you are going to do and how before thinking of the structure.. Hope these thoughts set you in the right direction for planning.

 

[WoodenBeam]

SteveG, budget is key - how much wonga are you willing to spend.............
Altro flooring, Whiterock internal lining - plus ceiling........bee poo is a pain but does wipe off plastic very easily - Elite Interiors, Lowestoft. I have heard of people using milking parlour paint as a cheaper alternative but is meant to be a bugger to apply.
A decent size sink, two if possible, Ambitt Stainless in Ipswich is a very helpful fabricator.
Same applies to Stainless, so easy to keep clean, honey, propolis, bee poo......the list goes on.
Already covered warming cabinets on another thread - a real benefit to take the pressure off extracting.
I wouldn’t bother with worktops for worktop sake.......mobile tables allow for better use and look at the height at which is ideal for what you are planing to do.
Lighting is important also, LED striplights make for a pleasant light environment to work in.
After taking all the above into consideration you just need to plonk ya extractor down & get started......apimelter might make life easier without going to a full extraction line.
Also where is all your honey going to live? Might have to convert/build another building

 

[enrico]

You need a place for everything without having to move things. I have an industrial sink and drainer, hot and cold water, tiled floor and walls, roll of lino as floor covering that I can take out and hose down. A place to put a stack of full supers and another for the empty ones, I have a stand on wheels that takes the extractor on the top with a simple tipping mechanism to tip it into the settling tank. I can remove the extractor and put the settling tank in its place for jarring up. Electricity. Lighting, a radio, room for empty and full jars and lids. A surface for all the odds and ends such as refractometer etc.
It is a pleasure to use and is only two metres X four metres so yours would be luxury!

 

[SteveG]

Great idea SteveG. Sign me on! Will it have one of those robot thingmies that hoover/steam clean/polish/sweep etc after we've finished - or will that be your missus?

The Missus says ' Steam mop could help with negotiations"

 

[SteveG]

Thanks for all above information, Plenty to get started.

 

[WoodenBeam]

I picked up a steam cleaner thinking it would help in the extraction room........nightmare, melted the wax/propolis & spread all over the place, not good

 

[jimjam]

I'm lucky to have a south, rear facing house with a conservatory attached, it does back on to the kitchen which is out of bounds from swmbo, (although I'm allowed water and to wash my hands as and when), the great part about this is the fact that the temperature rises very quickly with just a little sunshine, which really helps with the honey flow,also using this room means that the operation does not interfere with the rest of the house, so peace prevails.
I also place plenty of layers of newspaper on the floor which catches most of the drops of honey, which invariable happens during the extraction process, this enables me to clear up much quicker and return the conservatory back to normal.
I do not have the space to build a separate room to extract honey from my two hives. for which is only going to be used for a couple of days a year, good luck Steve with your venture and the future relationship with your partner!

 

[Newbeeneil]

I built a honey room last year, it is basically a timber box built in the corner of a barn. The room is only 3.4x2.3m but is big enough for the extractor, settling tank 2 stacks of supers and a couple of guys.
I put in a 1 1/2 bowl sink from freecycle with a small water heater and a 2.4m work bench.
All wooden wall and ceiling surfaces were coated with a 2pack epoxy and the floor coated with MMA resin for easy cleaning.
Lighting is 5 cheap, thin 10w LED flood lights fixed into the ceiling. The construction cost me about £400.
I have no windows as I wanted it as "bee tight" as possible but I need to install some extractors this winter as 4 hours extracting today was a little on the warm side!

 

[understanding_bees]

In my search for knowledge I have watched many Youtube videos showing how other people have approached various tasks.
I have seen the honey extracting setups used by two beekeepers, Ian Steppler in Manitoba, Canada, and Jeff Horchoff in Louisiana, USA, whose operations are large, although Ian's are much larger than Jeff's.
My impression is that having a concrete floor which can be hosed down, and which has drains built into it is of very great benefit.
One other point relates to lighting. It seems that there is always the possibility that at least some bees will enter the honey room by sitting on honey frames. If there is a window in the honey room (even a small window, and not lots of windows) then any bees in the room will be attracted to that point.

 

[SteveG]

I built a honey room last year, it is basically a timber box built in the corner of a barn. The room is only 3.4x2.3m but is big enough for the extractor, settling tank 2 stacks of supers and a couple of guys.
I put in a 1 1/2 bowl sink from freecycle with a small water heater and a 2.4m work bench.
All wooden wall and ceiling surfaces were coated with a 2pack epoxy and the floor coated with MMA resin for easy cleaning.
Lighting is 5 cheap, thin 10w LED flood lights fixed into the ceiling. The construction cost me about £400.
I have no windows as I wanted it as "bee tight" as possible but I need to install some extractors this winter as 4 hours extracting today was a little on the warm side!

thanks.

 

[Hachi]

I hate uncapping with a complete and undying passion. When I get my room it will be built round a automatic uncapping machine. Have a look at Richard Noel's set up, I think he did a video on it in which he could have gone into a little more detail but good nonetheless. He also shares it with local beeks. Planning both in terms of capital expenditure and process flow will be time well spent as honey processing machinery is not cheap and is surprisingly more variable in quality and capability than you would think.

You could do a blog type thread with photo's about your journey and progress with a lesson learnt type ending. Now that would be a really interesting thread for everyone.