I have several frames to extract and don't want to spend $ to rent an extractor for such a small amount.
This is my very-first harvest , so we are excited about getting some honey, even if it's a little.
Frames have both capped and uncapped cells.
I have a knife, uncapping fork, and some fine mesh filters.
I've heard of two separate methods: 1) cut off and crush - to allow honey to drip down through filter, OR 2) mildly heat pot inside another pot of water to melt wax away from honey, then separate by filtering.
definetly NOT #2. Wax melts atlike 165 or so, and honey taken to this temperature will affect it's flavor and color. What kind of frames are they? What kind of foundation? If you have plastic foundation in there you can just take a spatula and scrap it down in to the filters, let it drain and then mash up what's left to see if you can release any more honey. enjoy. If you have foundationless or wax foundation then probably crush and strain is your best bet. You lose the comb, but the honey will be wonderful. Good luck.
The bees did not cap all the cells. About half were uncapped. Is it ok to mix the uncapped honey with capped honey?
These are plastic frames. If totaled, the capped honey would only equal about half a side - so indeed precious little. But I really appreciate the feedback!
Just scrape off all of the capped honey first if you want to keep it separate. Strain the open cells last and just consume it first. It will be fine in your tea... or on your finger...
I would shake the comb. If the open cells have nectar, it'll shake off. If not, the moisture content is somewhat higher and you have somewhat less to worry about. As said you could crush and strain and it would be fairly easy to crush the open cells first and use it sooner.
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