Honey Extractors

[E&MBees]

This will hopefully be my first year extracting honey. I am hoping to borrow an extractor from my local teaching apiary, however if the Covid 19 lockdown / social distancing measures continue through the summer and into the autumn that may not be possible.

I have had a quick look on the internet at extractors, but the price and quality seem to vary greatly. What model would be a sensible one to buy for a beginner, if I need too?

I have purchased / acquired honey buckets etc and intend to make a warming cabinet using the plans posted on The Apiarist's blog.

Many thanks.

 

[Angry_Mob]

How many hives do you ultimately envisage yourself owning?

The old adage of buy cheap buying twice is particularly true for extractors, if you think you are going to stay 2-3 hives then maybe a four frame manual might suit. If you want to go say 20 eventually you might want to buy yourself a larger capacity now and electric.

I went for an electric Konigin myself this year, they seem the best value for money; Old Castle Farm Hives and Thornes stock them.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I'd vouch for the Konigin as well. Very good value for money.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

This will hopefully be my first year extracting honey. I am hoping to borrow an extractor from my local teaching apiary, however if the Covid 19 lockdown / social distancing measures continue through the summer and into the autumn that may not be possible.

I have had a quick look on the internet at extractors, but the price and quality seem to vary greatly. What model would be a sensible one to buy for a beginner, if I need too?

I have purchased / acquired honey buckets etc and intend to make a warming cabinet using the plans posted on The Apiarist's blog.

Many thanks.

Why shouldn't it be possible to collect a loan extractor while maintaining separation?
I hope you do have honey to extract but there's no guarantee

 

[Ian123]

I think the simple answer is to get the best/electric largest model you can afford and accommodate the rest of the season. Extraction at the best of times is a pain. The sooner it’s done and cleared up the better. And yes think about how many hives you will eventually have. The plus side is there’s a ready market for most second hand kit.

 

[Millet]

I payed £120 for mine 5yrs ago and it is still going strong..it was advertised as a four frame extractor but I modified it to take eight shallows and four deeps..I have also modified it again and changed it from manual to electric which cost me £20 for a speed controller and forward and reverse switch.

 

[madasafish]

I went a different route.
Started with a 4 frame manual plus settling tank. £180 s/h from ebay.

After extracting over 400lbs manually in 2018, I sold it for £170 and bought a s/h 4 frame radial electric for £310 - ebay hardly used.. A good clean and grease and it worked perfectly. Now new over £600..

(but I am a mean Scot)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why shouldn't it be possible to collect a loan extractor while maintaining separation?
I hope you do have honey to extract but there's no guarantee

as long as the whole unit can be disinfected then it would be possible. the virus can survive on metal surfaces for some time

 

[Newbeeneil]

as long as the whole unit can be disinfected then it would be possible. the virus can survive on metal surfaces for some time

Put the unit into isolation for 72hrs+ should be clear of virus by then.

 

[enrico]

as long as the whole unit can be disinfected then it would be possible. the virus can survive on metal surfaces for some time

Wouldn't that be taking the same risks you criticised me for? Moving something from a to b, a bit hypocritical methinks!!!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Wouldn't that be taking the same risks you criticised me for? Moving something from a to b, a bit hypocritical methinks!!!
E

Nowhere did I say I would do it, for a start do you really think disinfecting a whole extractor at the point of exchange is possible? I certainly don't think so and definitely think it's an unwise move.
I certainly didn't put forward the ridiculous idea of setting up a countrywide relay for moving the damned thing

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’m surprised somebody hasn’t mentioned irradiating the bloomin extractor.
That’ll fix it

 

[Beefriendly]

This will hopefully be my first year extracting honey. I am hoping to borrow an extractor from my local teaching apiary,

Often the association extractors are booked out at the exact time of year you need one......I got very frustrated in my first year of beekeeping on finding there were no extractors available to borrow for the next 6 weeks....so I bought my own.
As others have said how many hives are you planning to go for? How deep is your pocket?
There are usually at least 10/11 frames in each super so only being able to extract 2 or 3 at the same time becomes a real bottleneck in a decent summer.
I'd say 6-9 frame extractors is minimum to go for. Go for radial, not tangential as radial you only extract once. With tangential it takes 3 lots of spinning and turning frames over, a real faff.. (although you can get self turning tangential extractors....at a price).
If you can afford one with a motor do it....you will never regret that. Hand cranking is fun for the first few frames but a real pain if several supers to extract honey from.
Have a look at the Abelo minima range, a 6 frame extractor with motor will set you back £499.
https://www.abelo.co.uk/shop/extractors/electric-6-frame-tangential-extractor-minima-line/

 

[Beersmith]

This will hopefully be my first year extracting honey. I am hoping to borrow an extractor from my local teaching apiary, however if the Covid 19 lockdown / social distancing measures continue through the summer and into the autumn that may not be possible.

I have had a quick look on the internet at extractors, but the price and quality seem to vary greatly. What model would be a sensible one to buy for a beginner, if I need too?

I have purchased / acquired honey buckets etc and intend to make a warming cabinet using the plans posted on The Apiarist's blog.

Many thanks.

I think it would help if someone explained the advantages and disadvantages of radial versus tangential extractors. Also while manual extractors are more work they provide good control to extract gently and slowly avoiding damage to valuable comb.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Abelos range is good
Speak to them and they might even upgrade you fir the same price.
I got a brilliant deal with a third off my extractor

 

[peteinwilts]

if you are not planning to expand rapidly, consider whether you NEED an extractor.

You can strip the honey off with a flat edge spatula into a bowl, or over a baking tray before straining.

This is not the most efficient method, and you will hear it takes six pounds of honey to make a pound of wax, however, a pound of wax is a LOT of wax! Consider, you will be removing a good amount of wax before putting it in the extractor anyway.

If you try this method, you can use the strained wax to make mead, and once that has finished, make candles, or some other waxy product. However, you will find you have such little wax, that it will not go particularly far, as the amount of scraped off wax from a couple of supers is really not that much...

This method also allows you to randomly pop outside on a sunday morning, grab a frame, and take it inside for ultimately fresh honey on toast/cereal/whatever.

Cleaning extractors is one of my least favourite jobs! By the time the extractor is cleaned, you will probably have saved time by doing the above method..

 

[madasafish]

I think it would help if someone explained the advantages and disadvantages of radial versus tangential extractors. Also while manual extractors are more work they provide good control to extract gently and slowly avoiding damage to valuable comb.

Radial: usually takes more frames. Key advantage vs tangential is you only have one cycle extracting.

WIth tangential, you insert frames.. usually four. And spin first time - usually quite slowly if the frames are unbalanced with more honey in one than the others. Then you open extractor, tuurn each frame so out facing turns in and infacing turns out.. Extract much fatser this time. Then stop and change frame poistions again.. So three cycles vs one for radial.
In 2018 I extracted 460 lbs of honey this way. I was totally knackered - all manual turning..

Radial: the frames are extracted once.

If you go electric radial, you can uncap next frames whilst spinning last frames...so saving a lot of time.

BUT : electric costs money But control is a sgood as manual with variable speeds.
radial costs money - larger extractor..

As I said previously I started cheap and then became more expensive.. If you start expensive and then give up beekeeping - for whatever reason - and lots do - then you take a big hit on a new radial electric sold s/h..

If you have only 1-2 hives then a manual tangential will be fine.. 7-8 hives and the work is time consuming and VERY tiring...

I adopted the cheap method...

Apologies for any typos.. Wine at meal.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

If you outgrow a small extractor it can be sold and the proceeds put towards a bigger one

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you outgrow a small extractor it can be sold and the proceeds put towards a bigger one

Last year I finally took down a 4 frame manual extractor from the attic - it had been there nearly ten years and hardly had any use as I quickly realised that I needed something much larger and less work. I took it to the Pembrokeshire bee auctions and, being a rather quietish day, sold if for about £20.00 less than what I'd paid for it all those years ago.

 

[Repwoc]

I went for an electric Konigin myself this year, they seem the best value for money; Old Castle Farm Hives and Thornes stock them.

Will the Konigin radial extractors take national deep frames? According to the specs the max frame height is 180mm; National deeps are 215mm.