I hate honey extracting! so any tips please.

[Worker bee]

The only thing I hate about honey extraction is honey is sticky and I hate sticky. I have plenty of towels and water. I'm a clean freak when I do my honey, nothing I use can touch something unsterile. If it does even for a second it gets cleaned. I probably wash my hands 20 times while extracting.

 

[StephenT]

My top tip is to ensure you rinse out the extractor with vodka before hosing it with cold water. We always end up a bit pissed after extracting.

 

[Worker bee]

My top tip is to ensure you rinse out the extractor with vodka before hosing it with cold water. We always end up a bit pissed after extracting.

I agree nothing like a piss up after extraction. I'll swap you two jars of honey for a JDs

 

[bobba]

sorry, it was a busy day! Here goes with the way I do things! I use a roll of lino which I roll out across the floor. After use it can be taken outside and washed down easily. Remember that honey is soluble in water so have a bowl of warm water ready and an old towel that is used for this purpose only as it will get stained. get all your gear ready before you start doing anything. I put my extractor on castors as mentioned but I have raised it to a comfortable height that also allows me to fit a honey bucket underneath so you don't have to keep lifting to drain off the honey. The castors stop the 'walking'. I have also devised a tipping method to make the pouring easy. It is a big piece of wood that fits under one side and a belt to stop the extractor from tipping and falling! I extract the day I remove the boxes from the hive while the honey is still liquid. I have a tray to which I have attached a piece of wood with a screw sticking point upwards. I put one end of the top bar on the screw and hold the other end. That allows access to both sides without lifting or turning. Just a quick swivel and both sides are visible. I use a hot air gun. The best one I have found is a modelling hot air gun used by modellers to shrink plastic onto the body of model planes. It comes with a direction nozzle and has two heat settings. With the frame on the nail start at the top and keep the hot gun moving quickly. You will see all the dry cappings pop open. They can splatter so don't do it near a wall!!. Move in a downwards motion so you are chasing any melting wax. It takes a few seconds for each side. I keep an electric hot knife to one side for any cappings that have soaked in honey as they will not pop open. (It is important to transport frames carefully to try and avoid this). You will have hardly any honey run off or wax after a whole box of frames. Nothing at the end to melt down. Put the frames in the spinner and spin the honey off, emptying into a honey bucket as it fills towards the bottom of the frames in the spinner. I use a double sieve only. to clean up I simply scrape the sides of the spinner with a flexible silicon kitchen spatula and then wipe the bottom of the tap and take the whole thing into the shower where I use warm water and the shower hose to clean it. Take care not to lose the ball bearing down the plug hole. I leave the honey in the bucket for 24 hours and jar up immediately. Clean the bucket the same way.
There is an art to using the hot air gun but practise makes perfect. Just don't linger in one place too long!
Once finished role up the lino and take it outside for a hose down. Keep it for the next lot!
I like to extract in small amounts of two boxes at a time but that is a personal thing for me to get different honeys during the season. I also use a refractometer frequently throughout the extraction and when jarring up. Better safe than sorry.
Hope this helps

My bees made about 50/50 dry/wet cappings last year. Will the gun work on cappings if they come out of the hive wet? As in the bees capped them wet.

I use a fork thing and like to collect the wax. But I had one particular box of dark honey that was all wet caped thick black stuff, it was hard work and vey time consuming to uncap. If the gun will work on a box like that, then I am sold.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

My bees made about 50/50 dry/wet cappings last year. Will the gun work on cappings if they come out of the hive wet? As in the bees capped them wet.

I use a fork thing and like to collect the wax. But I had one particular box of dark honey that was all wet caped thick black stuff, it was hard work and vey time consuming to uncap. If the gun will work on a box like that, then I am sold.

No, the heat gun only works on white cappings, that is, there has to be an air gap between the honey and the cappings

 

[Worker bee]

No, the heat gun only works on white cappings, that is, there has to be an air gap between the honey and the cappings

Why would you use a heat gun when it's not needed? Taking cappings off frames is so easy. I can take cappings off with a normal carving knife. Just practice your losing nothing

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why would you use a heat gun

I don't know - why would you?

 

[gmonag]

... Extractor has holes on the legs to be bolted down with although I haven't yet. Helps big time to ensure it's balanced though!...

Don't bolt it down to the floor - the legs could fail. Mount the extractor on castors. The movement relieves the stresses on the legs due to imbalance.

 

[madasafish]

I use a heat gun on all cappings. If not white, I still heat it to weaken cappings ,replace comb into super until it is ready to be loaded, then score it and place in extractor.
Stops messy honey leaks.

Rhombus escapes: 24 hour clearance.
Wheelbarrow for supers.
Weigh each before and after extraction.
Remove cappings for next fill while extractor is running.
Cardboard on floor.
Extractor on wheels - for vibrations when unbalanced.
Match heavy /light combs on opposite sides to prevent vibration.
Baisins of hot spoapy water. Wet cloth to hand and towels. Keep clearing up any spills.
Table to place supers on before uncapping - work on two in succession.
Clean extractor with hose in yard.

Wear a neck to knees vinyl apron - prevents clothes getting sticky. Wipe it down with damp cloth

Extracted for two afternoons and now completed year's honey extraction.

Jarring started manual. Easy but boring. Do an hour each morning at 7am. And again in evening at 9pm.

 

[bobba]

Why would you use a heat gun when it's not needed? Taking cappings off frames is so easy. I can take cappings off with a normal carving knife. Just practice your losing nothing

The white/dry capping are quick and easy to remove without loosing much honey.

But the wet ones are a different story, there is no gap between the cap and honey, so a honey will end up in the cappings. To make matters worse the wet ones tend to be bumpy and uneven too. On the plus side they definitely hold more honey.

But they are a pain to uncap compared to the pretty dry white ones if you use a fork like me.

 

[Worker bee]

I tell a lie another thing I hate about extraction is that generally if it has anything to do with beekeeping they tend to slap on 100% on the price tag or more. For instance honey press vs fruit press. Same components same design huge difference in price

 

[Wilco]

I tell a lie another thing I hate about extraction is that generally if it has anything to do with beekeeping they tend to slap on 100% on the price tag or more. For instance honey press vs fruit press. Same components same design huge difference in price

Try taking up sailing or road cycling if you hate gratuitous price bumping. That'll really set you off.

 

[elainemary]

After lecture “advice” from hubbie on thinking through my workflow, much better at it now. Was a car crash at the beginning “ everything in this house is sticky”

I like my large uncapping / draining tray as cappings make gorgeous candles especially from heather cappings. It has a rack you can move a box of supers one at a time onto so closeby and a stick with a recess to rest and swivel the frame, whilst uncapping. Collects several jars honey too after a big batch, if leave to drain overnight. Bought an electric knife from an auction but actually find a serrated quality bread knife as quick

Now use a large gardening propagating tray that a stack of supers sits inside to catch any drips.

Extract in a warm utility soon after taking supers off, so spins out quickly.

Use association extractor only £5, fast, balanced, reliable and don’t need to store more equipment in the garage. Use 2 sets of double seives to speed up process so one set can be draining whilst the other gets rinses out

Newspaper on the floor, gets scrunched up & used to light the log burner after

Set up jet washer outside the back door to quickly clean up extractor and large items such as the tray afterwards.

Enjoy the process, but focus on only doing it twice a year - spring honey early July and heather / late summer honey in September

 

[nikca]

I’ve always used a hot air gun… simplicity itself, quick and almost zero mess.
You don’t get any wax in the honey and waste is virtually zero too.
I can’t understand why you would mess around with knives, scrapers and the like.

 

[polymath]

Rhombus clearer boards are much more effective than porters. You can buy them ready made or make your own View attachment 27630

I made some of these early on, now moved to canadian i.e. the circle as these can be pinned on existing general use crown boards saves having seperate clearing boards.

 

[Rockape83]

It takes over the kitchen leaves a stick mess takes ages and generally is a pain. About 5 years ago I was told at the Devon County show that you could use a paint striper gun to remove the cappings - wow! who would have thought it? I have upgraded to a 9 frame electric extractor, but that 'walks' across the floor. I have a honey box to heat the honey before basic filtering. I have always struggled getting the honey off the bees, and never had any joy with bee escapes. So all tips greatly appreciated.

Get a sheet of heavy gauge poly from Tool Station or similar outlet, cut to floor size and put down, when you extract and transfer use poly or paper overshoes for feet when done recycle shoes/slipovers and fold poly-sheet and wash with warm soapy water outside. As for the movement put brake fitted wheels on you extractor base , also available from same place, built stand for associate with larger diameter wheels (4"), was much better than small 1" ones! PS Poly sheet useful to wrap all you larger kit up in once you have finished washed and sterilized it all, keep dust and bugs off!

 

[enrico]

Why would you use a heat gun when it's not needed? Taking cappings off frames is so easy. I can take cappings off with a normal carving knife. Just practice your losing nothing

That's a bit unfair. I am trying to suggest ways for a new keeper to have less mess. That is why I am suggesting the heat gun. Horses for courses and we all have our favourites!

 

[enrico]

I don't know - why would you?

For less mess

 

[oliver90owner]

Do not ‘smoke’ bees off honey frames. There is a risk, particularly if there is uncapped cells, of tainting the crop, so it should be regarded as bad practice.

Filtering, as opposed to sieving, is better done as a separate entity to extracting.

 

[nerak99]

I use a motorised extractor that I rent from my local association. It is a 12 frame radial. I also put it on a castor wheel plinth.

You really should be able to achieve a stable platform when the motor is running.

If, when spinning, it walks excessively, I look for heavy frames and take some care to balance weight on either side of the rotor.

For an extreme example, If I have just one frame left to extract, I can balance that off with 3 to 5 extracted frames placed on the opposite side. On almost all occasions I can quickly achieve an extraction where I can run the extractor at full speed without even having to hold it.