Post by roadrunner on Sept 11, 2013 8:50:53 GMT
In my previous "Thread" I described my hive and frame steriliser which removes the wax and crud a treat.
I have quite a lot of contaminated wax laying about in various buckets and the steam cleaning of my supers and frames gave me some more. If you have read my previous "Threads" you will know that I am having a special stainless steel tray made as the insert for a "Solar Wax Separator". Unfortunately I have still not got it as the firms laser cutter has broken down.
Looking at the steam generator I thought that I could utilise it to process wax. In fact it works so well that in hindsight I really don't need the Solar Wax Separator
In my garage I have an old army aluminium saucepan of about 12 pints capacity, I decided to sacrifice this in an attempt to make a Steam Powered Wax Separator.
First job was to drill a 12mm hole in the edge of the base so half the hole is in the side and half in the bottom. Now take the lid and drill a hole in it to take the steam generator pipe.
Next you need some muslin cloth, I already had a roll that I had bought for cleaning my motorcycles. This is the stuff that is made in a tube and used to make dish clothes etc. I cut off a 15" length and cable tied one end before filling it with old wax. Now cable tie the other end and place it in the pan, trapping some of the muslin with the lid to stop it slipping and covering the hole in the bottom of the pan.
Balance the pan on a couple of bricks making sure its on a slight angle with the hole at the lowest end, then put an old ice cream carton under the hole.
Once a head of steam has built up it takes about 15 minutes or so to extract the wax. You will know when it is finished because clear water will run out of the hole.
Note that there will be some water in the bottom of the carton or tray but it will be clear wax on top. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes before removing the wax from the carton. It can be a little tricky trying to get the wax out the carton but my wife quickly donated an old silicon cake mould which makes wax extraction from the mould easy peasy.
As processed above the wax is clean enough for most purposes. If you want an even better result the wrap the wax in an old cotton T-shirt and pass the wax through the steamer again.
the first couple of times I processed the wax I cut open the muslin bag to check what was left. There was no wax left whatsoever, just a few dead bees and bits of propolis and perhaps a little bit of pollen.
Don't forget to keep a close eye on the water level and top it up every 30 minutes or so.
I can thoroughly recommend this method of wax extraction! OK so it's a little more expensive than solar power but a couple of hours worth of electricity is not going to break the bank, it also works when there's no sun and as a bonus it will be very easy to store away over the winter.
I have quite a lot of contaminated wax laying about in various buckets and the steam cleaning of my supers and frames gave me some more. If you have read my previous "Threads" you will know that I am having a special stainless steel tray made as the insert for a "Solar Wax Separator". Unfortunately I have still not got it as the firms laser cutter has broken down.
Looking at the steam generator I thought that I could utilise it to process wax. In fact it works so well that in hindsight I really don't need the Solar Wax Separator
In my garage I have an old army aluminium saucepan of about 12 pints capacity, I decided to sacrifice this in an attempt to make a Steam Powered Wax Separator.
First job was to drill a 12mm hole in the edge of the base so half the hole is in the side and half in the bottom. Now take the lid and drill a hole in it to take the steam generator pipe.
Next you need some muslin cloth, I already had a roll that I had bought for cleaning my motorcycles. This is the stuff that is made in a tube and used to make dish clothes etc. I cut off a 15" length and cable tied one end before filling it with old wax. Now cable tie the other end and place it in the pan, trapping some of the muslin with the lid to stop it slipping and covering the hole in the bottom of the pan.
Balance the pan on a couple of bricks making sure its on a slight angle with the hole at the lowest end, then put an old ice cream carton under the hole.
Once a head of steam has built up it takes about 15 minutes or so to extract the wax. You will know when it is finished because clear water will run out of the hole.
Note that there will be some water in the bottom of the carton or tray but it will be clear wax on top. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes before removing the wax from the carton. It can be a little tricky trying to get the wax out the carton but my wife quickly donated an old silicon cake mould which makes wax extraction from the mould easy peasy.
As processed above the wax is clean enough for most purposes. If you want an even better result the wrap the wax in an old cotton T-shirt and pass the wax through the steamer again.
the first couple of times I processed the wax I cut open the muslin bag to check what was left. There was no wax left whatsoever, just a few dead bees and bits of propolis and perhaps a little bit of pollen.
Don't forget to keep a close eye on the water level and top it up every 30 minutes or so.
I can thoroughly recommend this method of wax extraction! OK so it's a little more expensive than solar power but a couple of hours worth of electricity is not going to break the bank, it also works when there's no sun and as a bonus it will be very easy to store away over the winter.