Foolproof way of dealing with wax. Advice please

[warts]

Hi All
Sorry if this has already been added / dealt with, I have done search but cannot find what I am after.

Question: can anybody provide a foolproof way of dealing with wax.

My issue is the mess and the loss of wax through cooling before I can filter it.

This is the second time of trying to do a good job or melting it...but I seem to lose a lot because it cools too quickly. And the mess!



What I am doing: This time I put the washed wax in a bowl with some rainwater over a double boiler. The wax melted and there was crud above and below, stuck to the wax, which was floating on the water. So far so good.

Then I have attempted to filter the crud from the wax. So put the wax with attached crud in a bowl over a double boiler. It melted, so then went to pour it into a temp mould. I used paper towels as a filter (elastic band holding it to the tub it was to go in), but it blocked up...and wax just sat on the top and solidified. Also tried folded over muslin...same problem. Ended up losing a lot of wax. And the bowl is taking forever to wash properly.

Any suggestions, help etc.

I have heard that cooker grease filters are good for not getting blocked up (US website following search) is this correct?

Much appreciated

Sally

 

[REDWOOD]

hot air gun or hair dryer will keep the wax molten

 

[warts]

That is a very very good idea! Hadn't though of that.

Thank you

 

[Swarm]

Buy a load of those cheap dishcloths and line a large sieve with a couple, put your wax on this over a saucepan with some water in it and stick it all in the oven at around 80 degrees. End result, nice clean wax.

 

[whoosling]

Buy a load of those cheap dishcloths and line a large sieve with a couple, put your wax on this over a saucepan with some water in it and stick it all in the oven at around 80 degrees. End result, nice clean wax.

That sounds nice and easy, do you mean those paper like dishcloths or the ordinary cloth kind?

 

[Swarm]

Loosely woven white things, usually have red or blue stitching either end. Dead cheap, you'll find them in any pound shop.

 

[warts]

Hi Swarm
I like this idea...a lot. Though as I am of the cowardly custard variety, and I had read that wax can ignite easily: I feel a trickle of adrenaline beginning flow. I have a gas oven. It isn't great at keeping to the set temperature (though normally cooler that on the dial). But I am assuming I am being silly.

I will give it a go on my next big batch...wish I wasn't such a chicken flit.


Thanks
Sally

 

[DulwichGnome]

If you line the double boiler with muslin then add water and wax you can lift and twist the muslin while it is hot. After, leave on a low heat for an hour to help it to settle then, without moving, turn off the heat and leave overnight. It's easy to scrap off the muck on the bottom when it is still warm in the morning.

I find cheap brio pads work well to clean up, it's the soap in them that does the work but be aware it's animal based for all you veggies out there.

Mike

 

[Swarm]

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27234&highlight=yellow+wax&page=7
This gives you an idea of the results you can get. I don't think you you'll have any problems, let us know how it goes.

 

[warts]

Thanks Swarm, thanks Mike.

I will be having another go in a few weeks. I will let you know how I get on. If I get anything like the images Swarm posted I will be a very happy bunny!

Sally

 

[Heather]

I do solar extraction.
Old polystyrene fish box about 20x12x16. Cut section out of lid and tape on clear plastic sheet.
Inside a tray at one end with some water in. Suspended above -a loaf tin, with hole punched in lower end. covered with cloth. Old wax on cloth produces lovely creamy clean wax that has drained through into the water..

Don't try to use brown comb... wasting time as little wax, lots of crud.

 

[ratcatcher]

so, I have wax and honey left overs from a crush and strain, think I've left it a bit to long to feed to the bees, if I melt the wax, will the honey go bottom or top?
if it easy to get the wax out minus the honey?

 

[oliver90owner]

This depends so much on what amount of wax you have.

Into the toe-end of an old pair of tights, weighted down well under the surface and melted in your double pan (tall and narrow diameter is better). Large crud retained in the 'bag' and wax disc can be removed when cooled, scraped on the bottom to remove fine crud, then gravity filtered through a suitable medium for the cleanest wax.

Alternatives are to steam it out, like the wax melters on big T, but wax is left in boiling water if done in the kitchen.

As for cleaning kit, I don't bother. Wax kit is wax kit only. It should mainly be the ring where the wax cake floats. White spirit will clean off the vestiges.

Solar as H.

Polyhive,s wax filtering contraption - there may still be a video of it. Wax melted in the 'watering can' type of receptacle, filter medium (lint) fixed firmly to the neck of the thing and cold water poured into the 'spout' of the 'watering can'. They work a treat for larger amounts of wax.

 

[Finman]

.
Cheap tights is very good to sieve hot wax.
.

 

[Arfermo]

I am very surprised you didn't scrape off at least a little of the crud before trying to refine the wax. By not doing so all you do is make the refining process much slower and tedious - maybe even fouling the whole thing up so you need to do it several times over to get a decent result..

 

[warts]

Hi Heather
I intend to make a solar extractor. But not quite got round to it yet. Old fish box sounds good. I accidentally sound solar ovens on the internet...but the price! Making my own is the way to go, so a project for later in the year when I have a little more time on my hands.

RAB - thank you. Lots to go on here. And yes, after seeing the results, dedicated was kit is the only way I am going to avoid triple washing my normal stuff. Will look for the Polyhive video. I think I used tights the first time I tried to sort out wax. Not sure why I didn't do it this time. Though I may have repressed the memory because the pollen seemed to make it smell so bad (possibly why I have left it a while before I have attempted another go). I can also see why the amount matters now. Thanks again.

Finman - thanks, forgot about tights. Will locate some cheap ones for my next attempt if I haven't built my solar extractor by then.

Arfermo - I am not quite sure what I was doing to be honest. The first and only time I did this before yesterday was, in my mind, a disaster. I left the pollen in and it smelt so bad (to me, at least, (though my partner didn't think it was too bad) it put me off my dinner (rare occurrence). I followed different instructions this time, to avoid a repeat performance.

Thankfully I only had to filter once, but yes, should have removed the brown crud that had settled on it first. I think it would have made the process much easier. I am going to revert back to tights to help with this. I did remove all the pollen I could find before I began the process, though, which may be the reason why I was lucky and only had to filter once to get nice light wax.

Much appreciated

Sally

 

[whoosling]

Loosely woven white things, usually have red or blue stitching either end. Dead cheap, you'll find them in any pound shop.

 

[Swarm]

If you put a couple of layers of these cloths into a sieve and melt the wax through it into a saucepan below (with some water in it) all the crud is filtered and the wax disc is clean. When you boil it through tights there is always stuff to be scraped off

 

[warts]

Hi Swarm
I will be getting some of these this weekend. Thank you for the tip.

Sally

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I just filter mine through a double layer of tights (not fishnet though) stretched over a tin can with both ends removed and held on with a bit of elastic