collecting honey

[gojo]

I was planning on making comb honey so i removed all the foundation except for a 1 inch section, but i never got around to buying the boxes:doh:. I couldn't use an extractor so i cut the comb off of the frames into a canning kettle and mashed it up. now i have the canning kettle sealed up in a room with a space heater to get the wax and honey to separate. but i was wondering if i put the kettle in front of the heater the wax might melt and when i allowed it to cool it could form a solid bar on the top, but i was worried that it might combine with and ruin the honey.:no:

[Hillside]

Separate as much as you can without heating, but when the time comes, go ahead and gently melt the wax. The honey will drop to the bottom of the pan and the wax will float on top. Once the was re-hardens, you can remove the wax disc and pour off the honey. The honey may darken a bit if you heat too much. I do this with my cappings each year and then use the slightly darkened honey for baking.

[IABeeMan]

An old garage sale crock pot for 2 or 3 dollars makes a nice cappings melter when set on low, or in this case a good way to seperate the honey and wax.

[mike haney]

i believe you would be better served to put the crushed comb in a salad collander above the kettle. if sufficently crushed, 90% of the honey will drain away from the wax. thats close enough for most to just put the wax out for the bees to clean the last drops,then they melt the wax into a filter to clean. good luck,mike