Extracting Honey using the Crush and Strain Method! Over the weekend past, I decided to remove my honey supers so I can begin feeding my bees. I was surprised to find a medium super I could pull off right away which was fully capped and another I could pull off in about a week (uncapped). Of course, I was without an extractor which I returned a few weeks ago so someone else could make use of it but I knew I had the following items I could use to extract this batch of honey using the Crush and Strain method at home. For this extraction I used an empty 5-gallon pail which I used to collect the wax and honey I scraped from each frame which I then took home with me to process further. To begin transferring the honey from one pail to the other pail – the one with the honey gate, I chose to use a 600 micron filter (coarse) which fits over the lip (rim) of the second pail. Once that was in place, I slowly scooped the contents into the filter, covered it and set it aside overnight to strain. The next day I had a look beneath the filter and found most of the honey had collected in the pail! The wax inside the filter still contained some honey but not that much compared to what it held the day before. To not waste the remaining honey, I crushed the wax with my bare hands to get every drop of honey through the filter and into the pail. It was that effortless albeit a little messy! The only thing left to do now is bottle it or I could run it through a finer filter for a clearer honey but the 600 micron filter I used is plenty for me – I don’t mind eating raw honey with traces of pollen etc. You can purchase the items used above from Propolis-Etc in Carleton Place, Ontario Plastic Filter Set (3) $23 5-gallon Pail with Lid $10 5-gallon Pail with Honey Gate and Lid $24.50
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 22:24:40 +0000
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