Filtering wax

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Currently filtering wax. How many times should it be done, before it is clean enough to use? Is it normal to loose some in the process, ie on the filter, sieve, etc. Are these losses to be expected, or am I being careless? Thanks
 
Currently filtering wax. How many times should it be done, before it is clean enough to use? Is it normal to loose some in the process, ie on the filter, sieve, etc. Are these losses to be expected, or am I being careless? Thanks
You can expect losses , however these can be reduced by placing all sieves etc in a large vessel of hot water , the molten wax will float to the surface for recovery after cooling !
 
Every pass through the filter material will result in loss. If you save each piece of filter I suppose you could retrieve it by heating water in a pan with the filter material weighed down so the wax melts to the surface.
Unbelievable stuff isn't it?
When you melt your wax in the bain marie, do you see any tiny debris at the bottom?
My first filtering is hessian (with brace and such) and after that, varying layers of muslin. The hessian is good for nothing else but the muslin ones can be reclaimed.
 
This was the result today after a third filter. There was fine debris in the bottom of the Bain Marie. It’s brood wax, reclaimed after the CBPV saga. Hoping to turn it into polish. Do you think it’s clean enough now? The wax has darkened now it has set and is cold. Thanks
 

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This was the result today after a third filter. There was fine debris in the bottom of the Bain Marie. It’s brood wax, reclaimed after the CBPV saga. Hoping to turn it into polish. Do you think it’s clean enough now? The wax has darkened now it has set and is cold. Thanks
One method is to pour the hot wax through linen filter and into hot water... some of the "bitticulates" will be on the bottom of the wax that can be scraped off,
Recover all the wax you can.
I put all the cloths and scrapings into a funnell in the hot* filter oven and collect and reclaim that way
Themo controlled to 70 C
 
This was the result today after a third filter. There was fine debris in the bottom of the Bain Marie. It’s brood wax, reclaimed after the CBPV saga. Hoping to turn it into polish. Do you think it’s clean enough now? The wax has darkened now it has set and is cold. Thanks
Is that a new cloth used for the third filter? If that much gunk collected, at least twice more. My cloths were clean looking but even then look to the bottom of the melted wax and there are fine, fine particles that always seem to get through. I stop pouring before they go in and the final block is really clean.
 
best way to do it is melt the whole lot in a bain marie with a few inches of water in the bottom, then stretch a double layer of discarded stocking over a cylinder made from a bean tin with both ends removed if you're careful you'll get most of the clean wax out without the water and slumgum - the clean wax can then be put into a mould (I use 1KG stork margarine tubs)the remaining wax and water can then be put through the filter and kept separately - this will separate into dirty water with the wax on top which when cooled will have a small amount of crud underneath. If you are rendering particularly dirty wax such as brood frames, this can then all be melted down and filtered again using a clean stocking.
If you want it particularly clean melt and pass it through a piece of surgical lint fluffy side inside the cylinder.
 
Is that a new cloth used for the third filter? If that much gunk collected, at least twice more. My cloths were clean looking but even then look to the bottom of the melted wax and there are fine, fine particles that always seem to get through. I stop pouring before they go in and the final block is really clean.
Yes, that was a clean cloth. Will keep going then. Thanks Steve.
 
best way to do it is melt the whole lot in a bain marie with a few inches of water in the bottom, then stretch a double layer of discarded stocking over a cylinder made from a bean tin with both ends removed if you're careful you'll get most of the clean wax out without the water and slumgum - the clean wax can then be put into a mould (I use 1KG stork margarine tubs)the remaining wax and water can then be put through the filter and kept separately - this will separate into dirty water with the wax on top which when cooled will have a small amount of crud underneath. If you are rendering particularly dirty wax such as brood frames, this can then all be melted down and filtered again using a clean stocking.
If you want it particularly clean melt and pass it through a piece of surgical lint fluffy side inside the cylinder.
I did try your baked bean tin method at the weekend. It worked well, apart from when the tongs holding the tin slipped and I dropped the lot covering the draining board in wax and burning my fingers! I have bought a fine conical sieve so it doesn’t happen again. I have a Bain Marie, and will add some water in with the wax block to lift the melted wax away from the grot when I do the next filter. Thanks
 
Hi E&MBees, Did you start off with a solar extractor? If not, I strongly recommend it. My attempt at cleaning brood frames indoors was rank! I always start off putting the wax into cut up tights to get rid of most of the dross.
 
Hi E&MBees, Did you start off with a solar extractor? If not, I strongly recommend it. My attempt at cleaning brood frames indoors was rank! I always start off putting the wax into cut up tights to get rid of most of the dross.
I have made one now, but didn’t have one when I originally filtered the wax the first time after the CBPV saga. I did it outside and have a fairly strong stomach, but as you say it’s grim fishing out the dead bits of larvae etc. :sick:
 
. It worked well, apart from when the tongs holding the tin slipped
Tongs are never wise - I find if you pour at more or less the same rate as it goes through the filter it never gets too hot. Or just invest in a pair of Coolskin oven gloves They look like 'normal' woolen gloves' - only twenty quid a pair but well worth it.
 
I throw it in a konigin wax melter.
if I need clean wax I collect it from the top of the bucket while liquid and the rest sets and has the bottom scraped and is sent to thornes.
I burn brood frames.
 

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best way to do it is melt the whole lot in a bain marie with a few inches of water in the bottom, then stretch a double layer of discarded stocking over a cylinder made from a bean tin with both ends removed if you're careful you'll get most of the clean wax out without the water and slumgum - the clean wax can then be put into a mould (I use 1KG stork margarine tubs)the remaining wax and water can then be put through the filter and kept separately - this will separate into dirty water with the wax on top which when cooled will have a small amount of crud underneath. If you are rendering particularly dirty wax such as brood frames, this can then all be melted down and filtered again using a clean stocking.
If you want it particularly clean melt and pass it through a piece of surgical lint fluffy side inside the cylinder.

So water in both the bottom pan and the top pan?
 
So water in both the bottom pan and the top pan?
yes - that means then that the slumgum settles in the water and doesn't clog the filter up every few seconds. even if some water gets into the wax after the first filtering, it doesn't matter as it will settle to the bottom of the mould as the wax cools, you can then dry off the wax before the next fine filtering.
 
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That is a thing of beauty.
I can imagine the aroma
Picture doesn't do it justice really, it's a much brighter yellow. Gorgeous aroma. Finished looking at them now so stacked away. One last 514g disc to fine filter into a block mould so I'll be able to look at that for a while. :)
 
I would like to share some information concerning the melting and rendering of beeswax. As a fairly new beekeeper I have not had access to very much wax, and have therefore regarded every bit of it as precious, even old brood comb.

Most of the information I have found, both on this forum and on other websites, has referred to repeated renderings of the wax, and the use of cheesecloth, or stockings, or coffee filters to capture the fine particles of dross which can be made to settle out of the wax. Some of the people who have used these types of material have referred to the fact that this method of filtering causes some loss of wax. Some of the comments in this discussion thread refer to methods which can be used to recover wax from the filtering material.

The information I want to share is that I have been able to get very clean wax as a result of a single rendering of quite dirty wax, without the need for any fine filter material. I hope that this may be of interest to other members of this forum.

The first requirement I have found is that plenty of water should be used in the saucepan or pot, in comparison to the amount of wax. I have used about three times as much water as wax, when I have purified my wax. If the wax has any residue of honey in it, I would suggest that the wax should be washed in cold water to remove any honey residue before commencing the wax rendering.

I have made a sieve which uses a fine wire screen, similar to one which you may have in your kitchen, but my sieve has a long handle about 18 inches (45 cm) long. This protects me from reaching too close to the pot of boiling water and wax mixture. While the water is boiling, I repeatedly scoop my sieve through the water and melted wax mixture, to remove every bit of course debris, whether that is dead bees, or silk cocoons, or any other foreign material. It is very easy, with this method, to collect the debris, allowing wax to drain back into the pot, and to shake the sieve it until it is virtually free of wax.

After removing this coarse material, I then transfer the saucepan into a large insulated box. The purpose of this is to shield the saucepan from any breeze or draught, to allow the mixture of wax and water to cool as slowly as possible. If a close fitting lid is fitted to the saucepan, and the box is well insulated, it will remain quite hot for a number of hours. The fine particles of debris which are still in the hot water and melted wax mixture will only settle slowly, so we want an environment in which the wax remains molten for a long time, providing the opportunity for the dross to settle down to the water level. The chief reason why people have had problems of impurities remaining in their block of wax is that the wax has cooled and congealed before the dross has had time to settle down to the water level.

When my wax block has cooled down, and I have been able to shake it out of the saucepan, it has been easy to scrape the dross from the underside of the block of wax. I have found it helpful to actually shave a thin layer of wax from the bottom of the block, to get back to really clean wax, and to set aside those shavings for the next batch of wax which I wish to clean. The saucepan which I use has tapered sides, because this makes it so much easier to shake the wax block out of the saucepan.

Using this method I have been able to get wax clean enough after a single melting, to then be able to use the wax to make wax foundation sheets with my silicone mould paddle, using a process similar to that used by Tim Rowe. I have been able to do this without the use of any cloth, or gauze, or other fine filter material.
 

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