But if you cannot afford a centrifuge you will still get to enjoy the exquisite taste of your own honey.To do it by hand means that the honey comb and the honey has to be scraped from the frame. A serving or large table spoon can be used to do this; it needs to be done carefully to avoid damaging the foundation.
If some minor damage is done, don’t worry too much as the bees will soon repair it later on. When this is done mash all the honey and the wax together in a clean bowl, basin or tub. Now tip it into sieve and leave it drain. This may take a few days. The wax caught up in your sieve will still hold a lot of honey. You can dilute this with warm water and use it as a feed for your bees.
To make the process a bit quicker it is best to warm the honey. Warm honey runs a lot easier. Bring the supers into a warm room and leave them for a few days. This will also reduce the moisture content of the honey. Some bee keepers warm the supers by using fan heaters. However this can cause problems.
Heating the honey like this can make your honey lose its distinct flavor, and if you overdo it you can make the honey darker and damage it.
Heating the honey like this can make your honey lose its distinct flavor, and if you overdo it you can make the honey darker and damage it.
You can also make the wax very soft which will make the uncapping and scrapping a lot more difficult and you will probably damage the foundation beyond what your bees may be able to repair.Lift each frame from its super, then place one of the lugs over a bucket or large bowl. Remove the capping with a cold knife. You can buy special tools designed to do this if you prefer. Here is a picture of a tool known as a capping's scratcher.
One of these will set you back about $5 to $10.
Some bee keepers use electric knives. Depending on how you actually do it will decide how much wax you contaminate the honey with
After gravity has done its job and the honey is now collected in your bucket or bowl, wash the rest of the honey out of the wax capping's. This can be used as feed for your bees or try making mead (Honey wine) with it!
You can alternatively buy special heated stainless steel trays; these use a heated water supply that warms up a special jacket. Honey runs down the surface of the jacket. But the wax is held back while it takes longer to melt. When the wax eventually melts it also runs down but it now settles on top of the honey rather than be mixed in with it. The wax then cools down and solidifies on the top of the honey. It is then a simple job to remove it. These pieces of equipment will save you a lot of work not to mention the mess
