what do you do with your honey cappings

[MuswellMetro]

i have heard of people making mead with the cappings but whats the receipy, so what else do you lot do with then,

i just pile them up in a large kitchen sieve over a le crueset casserole in batches and place in a Fan oven at 40c to extract the honey and use it a cooking honey

then melt the wax later

 

[beeatshellards]

I do the same as you but dont use an expensive le crueset , reminds me I have some I meant to do from last year in the shed , I had better get it out and get on with it, it is in a sealed plastic container, and no the wax moths dont go near it for some reason.

 

[susbees]

I do the same as you but dont use an expensive le crueset , reminds me I have some I meant to do from last year in the shed , I had better get it out and get on with it, it is in a sealed plastic container, and no the wax moths dont go near it for some reason.

Cos it's in a sealed container perhaps?

 

[Steve Dyer]

I have a small press, that looks like this: http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/fruit-press-for-home-brewing/80714808#full-gallery-wrapper

Mine wasn't £100, it was £1 in a car boot, and I've seen them there quite often (I think home brewing kit is often bought and not used and dumped

If you bung cappings in such a press and wind down slowly they will compress to a neat wax cake that can be melted in a solar, and they produce a surprising quantity of perfectly saleable honey...

Steve

 

[MandF]

This year, so far, we have infused some vodka and dark rum with cappings. Seemed like a civilised way to clean the honey off ;-)

 

[aberreef]

This year, so far, we have infused some vodka and dark rum with cappings. Seemed like a civilised way to clean the honey off ;-)

Why haven't I thought of that

I washed the spare honey out of mine with a little water to make mead later on. Not found a recipe I like yet though

 

[sputnam]

The palest of my cappings I leave undrained and eat, spread on toast.

 

[Headnavigator]

The palest of my cappings I leave undrained and eat, spread on toast.

When I was a kid we always had a bowl of cappings on the table to eat with bread and butter for tea, when the cappings were all gone we had to revert to cut comb or 'chunk in a jar', which were always seen as inferior.

 

[simonf]

The palest of my cappings I leave undrained and eat, spread on toast.

I'm hungry

 

[kazmcc]

Wax on toast? Really? Other than that, what else can you do with them? Will the bees be able to make use of it? I'd rather not waste anything.

 

[Headnavigator]

I'd class cappings as beekeepers' perks, Kaz

 

[terryme]

Wax on toast? Really? Other than that, what else can you do with them? Will the bees be able to make use of it? I'd rather not waste anything.

I think if cleaned/dried they are supposed to be a handy hayfever remedy - chewed and swallowed (or not) but the pollens etc contained are beneficial for building immunity

 

[MandF]

After we have cleaned our cappings (with vodka/rum or whatever else to get the honey out) we will probably use the wax to make balm or candles maybe. Seems a waste to chuck it in with the rest of the wax.

 

[busybee53]

I put my cappings in the feeder back on the hive and the bees cleaned them up so they were just crispy clean wax. I have saved it to make candles.

 

[circe]

I've just uncapped 3 supers and will be feeding the cappings back to the bees in one of those jumbo rapid feeders after draining out what honey I can overnight. They work so hard, they deserve a little treat and I can use the wax.

 

[freethorpe bees]

After we have cleaned our cappings (with vodka/rum or whatever else to get the honey out) we will probably use the wax to make balm or candles maybe. Seems a waste to chuck it in with the rest of the wax.

Do you just soak the cappings in the rum? Then strain it out? Sounds like a great idea!

 

[kazmcc]

I'd class cappings as beekeepers' perks, Kaz

Let me see if I've got this right.

So if I pack all the mush down, squeeze the honey out of it with muslin, will the honey be useable?

Then give it back to the bees who will take the remaining honey out, and leave me with clean wax to use for candles etc.

If not muslin, then what is recommended to use? Forgive me if I'm a bit numb this evening and need things clarifying, I'm on new medication and feel a tad wobbly lol

 

[psafloyd]

Why haven't I thought of that

I washed the spare honey out of mine with a little water to make mead later on. Not found a recipe I like yet though

Well, mead is a very different drink from the beers of yore, even before we used hops in our brewing.

I found it not unpleasant when imused t make it years ago, but now I will beagle to try making it with my own honey. Maybe.

 

[MandF]

Do you just soak the cappings in the rum? Then strain it out? Sounds like a great idea!

Yeah, I think the term is "steeping". Put some cappings which you have already fairly well drained - so they feel fairly dry but just a little tacky - in a bowl, then pour over your bottle of rum or vodka. Cover with clingfilm, leave it in a coolish/darkish place (ie out of the sun) for three days. Once a day give it a little swirl around, then after a few days drain into a saucepan or something else it is easy to pour out of. I use the Thorne$ fine mesh filter for this. I then pour from the saucepan back into the original bottle through a screwpull port funnel/filter which is a finer mesh than the Thorne$ one.

You will need to experiment a bit with the amount of cappings to use for the taste you like, but I use maybe 2 handfulls of "dry or slightly tacky" cappings for a litre. My vodka turned a lovely gold colour and is sippable neat at room temp. I will probably only use it in cocktails, or drink from the freezer as a honey martini as the cold will reduce the sweetness.

I then rinse the cappings in water and leave them out for a few days to completely dry, and they pretty much end up like the wax flakes you buy to make balms/candles.

Let us know how you get on

 

[freethorpe bees]

Thank you, I will!