Starting to gather extraction supplies and my question is about filters.
What micron filter(s) do you suggest? I like the double filter, but the one I have found is 1000 and 500 micron whereas the plastic filters get down to 200 microns. Is that neccessary? How fine do I need to get bee parts, larvae and bits of comb out?
Thanks,
Jeanine
It depends on what you want. a 1000 micron filter has 1 mm openings. that is a bit more than 1/32 inch.
It will let through some bee parts, like bits of antennae, but nothing large. I haven't tried this, because I bought a 200 micron filter, and it works OK. So that much is armchair science.
a 200micron filter has openings about .008 inch. It will filter out everything you can see, pretty much. There will still be small bee parts in the honey, but you probably won't be able to see them. Virtually all pollen is smaller than 100 microns, so I don't think the 200 micron filter would remove much if any pollen. That is armchair science also, as I haven't verified that. however, here is a list of pollen sizes for different plants. The list is from the UK, so some of your favorites may or may not be on it, but it gives a pretty good idea of pollen size.
Pollen images in size order (cam.ac.uk) Ragweed for example isn't on the list, as it is not native to Europe. I checked, and ragweed pollen is about 27 microns (or 27 micrometers).
If you click on the Latin names, you can see pictures of the pollen, which is pretty neat.
I use the 200 micron bucket top filter I got from Dadant. It works OK, but is pretty slow. If I am extracting like I'm in a hurry it tends to be a bottleneck. However, mostly it gets plugged with bits of wax which would plug any filter.
Any of these will work. Cheesecloth works too. As long as you get the big parts out, the honey looks and tastes fine.
A window screen will work to get the big parts out, and give you nice looking honey. Or you can just let it sit, and scrape off what rises to the top.
So don't stress about it. I don't think you can mess this one up.
Jon