Recovery of Honey and Beeswax from Cappings and Combs

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 78, Issue 5, 16 May 1949, Page 523

Recovery of Honey and Beeswax from Cappings and Combs

By

L. H. Johnson,

Apiary

Instructor, Department of Agriculture, Palmerston North.

NOW that the honey-extracting ’ season is practically over, most beekeepers will have realised possible shortcomings in the system used to dispose of cappings. Almost all cappings melters will recover practically all the honey and beeswax, but often both are darkened in colour and the flavour of the honey is impaired.

ANY melter which operates so that the honey has to contact hot metal should not be given further consideration if it is desired to market the honey. The beekeeper’s aim should be to recover honey of the same condition as that in the combs. The darker honeys appear to be more sensitive to heat than those of the very light colours. No cappings melter yet designed appears to be absolutely fool-proof. Certain principles to maintain cleanliness must be practised or a melter can soon become a very unsatisfactory appliance. Other methods such as whirling the cappings in the honey extractor until they appear to be dry, or dealing with them in a specially-constructed type of press, will recover the honey in good order, but if the cappings are cold, a good deal of the honey will be left in the cappings and for this reason these two methods are not popular with a great many commercial beekeepers. . Electric Top-heat Melter A melter which was designed and made by Mr. N. C. McKinnon, of Patea, has been used for the past two seasons, and although it may be possible to make minor improvements to it, the appliance as at present constructed appears to function satisfactorily. Cappings accumulating from a day’s extracting can be successfully dealt with overnight and honey thus obtained appears to be in good order, as it does not come in contact with any heat. The materials, which cost under £lO, are obtainable, and construction of the melter, with the, exception of the fitting of the electric elements, can be done by the beekeeper. A very great saving can thus be made, as a factorymade appliance would cost 4 or 5 times this amount. Construction of Melter . The construction of the melter is simple. An oblong tank is made of 24-gauge sheet metal 4ft. 3in. long by 22in. wide by 19in. deep. This forms the inside walls. The outer walls are made larger to allow lin. space on the sides ana ends in which slag wool is placed for insulation purposes. Galvanised plain iron, black iron, or asbestos cement sheets should be suitable for the outer casing. If asbestos cement sheets are used, they should be

screwed to light angle irons at the corners.

A capping piece of sheet metal with all joints made flush on top to fit over the inside and outside walls will cover the lin. space holding the insulating material.

As it is not likely that any heat will reach the bottom of the tank, the lower cavity wall may be closed with a piece of 2in. x lin. timber. A fall of 2in. toward the outlet should be sufficient slope on the bottom of the melter to ensure complete drainage of all honey. Three baskets to hold the cappings, each measuring over all 16in. wide x 20in. long x 15in. deep, are made of Jin. mesh wire-netting fastened on to a framework of hoop iron either riveted or welded together. These cappings containers rest on a pair of Jin. water pipes which run longitudinally. These basket supports are better made movable than fixed, as this is an advantage when removing wax from the bottom or when washing the melter. Two metal uprights to carry the ends of the pines should be riveted and soldered to the wall at each end of the melter. A strong job is required to carry the weight of the baskets when full of cappings. The top of the pipe should be 15Jin. down from the top edge of the melter, and this should leave a space of about 6in. under the basket at the outlet end. A simple and effective gate may be made to work as a slide. The opening required is 4in. wide by 2in. deep. This is specially suitable for controlling the flow of honey and retaining the wax inside. A suitable stand may be built of timber as illustrated, showing the provision of a toe space for more comfortable working. The lid shown is made of galvanised flat iron and is the same size as the melter. A lin. space is provided for slag wool insulation. To strengthen it on top two ridged strips of sheet metal are riveted on. Light T irons would also be suitable or, if obtainable, a sheet of corrugated galvanised iron would be strong enough to prevent sagging. Two electric oven elements are fitted to the underside of the lid to supply the heat required. The closed element used on the top of an electric range would also be suitable. All bare wiring from the elements to the switch in the centre on top are run through small porcelain rings to give protection and insulation. Another handy idea is the provision of a light block and tackle to hoist the lid up to the ceiling so that it is out of the way while combs are being uncapped. A wooden framework to rest on top and telescope the outside for lin. will not only cover the space between and outside the baskets so that cappings can fall only inside where intended, but will also provide a firm support on which to attach the bar for holding frames while uncapping. It must, of course, be removed before closing the lid. Operation of Melter Hoist the lid up to the ceiling out of the way and place the wooden framework in position. A piece of scrim should be laid on the bottom of each basket to retain the slumgum..

Combs are uncapped direct into the baskets until each is filled. This will be a day’s work for one man, during which time honey will be draining into the compartment below.

If the gate slide is raised Jin. it will allow the honey to flow through but will not permit any liquid wax to escape.

The cappings should be levelled out, the lid lowered into position, and the heat turned on. The lid is fairly weighty and should fit neatly to avoid much heat escaping, but if some of the steam and gases do escape under it, it may be an advantage.

It is not advisable to leave the cappings to drain for a few days, as they set and it is then much more difficult to achieve separation. The heat should be applied while they are saturated with honey, when there is a much quicker get-away. As beeswax is a non-conductor, little if any heat will penetrate the mass of cappings, only the top Jin. of which will melt and continually run off, the honey always escaping down through the cappings or out the sides of the baskets into the space below and out through the slide. Any melted wax which will run out through the sides of the baskets will chill and remain in the lower compartment. The scrim on the bottom of the basket will retain the slumgum. When after about 7 hours honey ceases to run out of the exit the heat may be switched off, the lid hoisted up, and the scrim containing most of the slumgum can then be removed. After the three baskets and two pieces of piping have been removed the wax may be lifted out in pieces to be later melted up in a copper boiler and run into moulds. The baskets must ’be thoroughly cleansed of all slumgum and burnt honey before being used again. A suitable solvent which will quickly remove this tenacious residuum by means of ordinary washing methods has not yet been discovered, but thorough cleansing is possible if the baskets are immersed in water and boiled for some time. It has been stated that the addition of a soap powder to the water greatly assists the cleansing action. The size of the baskets is such that it would require a 40-gallon drum with a fire under it to do the boiling, properly. If more but smaller baskets were used, they could be treated in a 16gallon copper boiler. The boiling will make the baskets as clean as new ones, and although it takes time, it must be attended to, as no fine-flavoured honey will come out of a blackened melter. On no account should the melter be used time after time and the cleansing left until the ■ final wash-up at the end of the season. . If the melter is properly insulated to retain the temperature and the baskets are clean, this melter will recover honey and beeswax from the usual type of easily-extractable honey in a better condition than can be done by the majority of melters in common use.

-- Honey is difficult to recover in good condition from cappings containing a considerable quantity of manuka honey. Cappings Press Another method of recovering honey from cappings is by pressing them in a specially-constructed appliance. This can be made to work satisfactorily only in a continuous warm temperature. Many beekeepers have recently incorporated in their honey-extracting buildings a small insulated warming room. Supers of honey when brought out of this compartment are ideal for extracting. Under these conditions the press can be fairly successfully used. The honey thus obtained is in good order and the small amount left in the wax may not be worth recovering. Like the melter previously described, this appliance can be home made and thus considerable savings can be effected. Method of Construction The method of construction of the press is illustrated on this page. A bench with a slight slope to one end is built of sin. x 2in. bearers, 4in. x 2in. legs, and decked with lin. thick boards. The two uprights are 4in. x 3in. with a top cross-piece of 4in. x 4in. To take the strain of the screw under the decking two 9in. x 2in. pieces of timber, running crosswise, are checked fin. into the sin. x 2in. bearers between the uprights. The framework should be held together by two Jin. tie bolts, one above the top bearer and the other below the bottom cross-piece. A metal drip .tray with a lin. turn-up on all sides and tapering to the outlet is made to the same dimensions as the bench, On top of this a grille made of strips of lin. x pin. timber and spaced at approximately 2in. intervals the full length of the tray will provide channels for honey to flow to the exit. Three circular tubs of. 18in. diameter and 15in. high are made of lin. x fin. staves spaced each 3-16 in.

apart on the inside and each riveted to three metal bands. The bands should be of heavy hoop iron approximately lin. wide and jin. thick. If each of these bands is jointed and held together by a bolt, the bands can be unscrewed and the tub allowed to spring open a little for easier removal of the block of wax after pressing. A circular top and bottom each made of gin. thick timber screwed together with the grain of each piece placed at right angles will complete the tubs. It is an advantage for uncapping combs to make an oblong framework to be supported and kept in position above the tubs by four uprights. The outside of the frame is made of 4in. x lin. timber and the rest of the timber is jin. thick. The frame should slope inward and the circular openings should be a little smaller than the top of the tubs. Pressure may be obtained by using a long, heavy screw which will pass down through the cross-beam and a plate tapped to take the thread. Another piece of heavy plate iron should be screwed to the centre of the circular lid to withstand the end of the screw. A bottle jack could be made use of instead of the long screw. It would work under the beam. There are no precision measurements given, as a good deal of latitude can be allowed. The taller and narrower the tubs are the better the work will be, because the only escape provided for the honey under pressure is horizontally. The height of the framework should be from 2ft. 4in. to 2ft. 6in. from the floor to be right for uncapping. On the other hand, the minimum height of the exit should allow for honey draining off to run into some receptacle, unless the building has a lower floor, in which case the bearers could be set on the floor. How the Press Works Two tubs are placed in position under the top framework. Combs of

honey are then uncapped into one tub until it is filled, after which it is slid along under the cross-beam, the lid is , placed on top, and pressure is applied by the screw or bottle jack. Honey will squeeze out between the staves ’ and run down the outside on to the tray and then drain off into the receptacle provided. Uncapping is then continued into the next tub, while at intervals more pressure is applied. It will take about 3 hours to get the cappings down to a solid block from which no more honey will be yielded. To remove the wax unscrew the bolts holding the hoops together and spring the tub open a little. The circular blocks thus removed may be stored for melting down and clarifying when convenient. If uncanping is continued until the end of the day, the press will still require attention at intervals for another 3 hours. The domestic beekeeper may not consider it worth while making either a cappings melter or a press to deal with a small amount of cappings., but if cappings are placed in a container with a wire-screen. bottom thev will drain comparatively dry when kept in a warm temperature. Drainage can be further aided bv breaking the cappings un so that there is no, place for honey to lodge and also by turning them over occasionally with a wooden spoon. The bulk of beeswax is secured from cappings and is bv far the'best quality. If treated correctly, it should not be darker than butter. Often it is found when uncapping combs that the ton bars are heavily coated with pronolis. in which case it should not be trimmed off and put in with the cappings, as in addition to tainting the honey the wax is also stained. Inferior combs will show up at extracting time and later when sorting dry combs. Every year a number of these require to be rendered down and the wax thus obtained converted into comb foundation. The only satisfactory appliance vet devised for this purnose is the Hatch wax press. The methods of operating it have been previously dealt with in the “Journal.” and it .is described in most beekeeping textbooks, including Bulletin No. 267 of the Department of Agriculture. Discoloration of Wax Only rainwater should be used for the washing of the combs, as water, from reservoirs will often discolour wax. Old bee combs should be placed in a tank filled with rainwater and allowed to soak for 24 hours or more. After the combs have been well stirred up to wash them the water should be run off. It is surprising how much colouring matter can be carried away by this simple means. Hot wax should not come in contact with iron. Large presses, in addition to not recovering all the wax, will turn out an inferior product. A dark-brown wax with a slight greenish shade is mainly caused by unsuitable water, contact with iron, and prolonged heating. The colour and texture of many lots of beeswax either for conversion into comb foundation or for the market is such that there appears to be a need for improving the methods of treating it.