Our Method of Beekeeping
Honey Extraction
Basic Tools
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As you can see from this image we have an uncapping fork and a modified washing up bowl. In other images you will see a homemade centrifuge, a coarse filter, some fine filters, a honey bucket, a honey settling bucket and a honey refractometer (used to measure water content).
The uncapping fork is probably one of the cheapest you can buy. It causes the least amount of damage to comb that the bees have expended a lot of energy making. You will notice that our fork has flat tines which we think is the best for removing the wax cappings from the comb.
Preparation
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When we select frames for processing if they are not fully capped, such as this one, we give it a vigorous shake over the hive to see if any honey comes out of the comb, if it doesn’t then although it is not fully capped it is ready to be harvested.
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Carefully remove sections of the cappings exposing the honey in the comb.
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Continue to work across the frame until all of the cappings have been removed. The cappings on the fork can be scraped across the wooden bar so that they drop into the bowl.
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We are showing just one example frame for processing. However if you have many frames of cappings then you will have quite a lot of wax and honey in the bowl. This wax is the finest wax the bees produce and has a number of uses beyond candles, such as lip balm, hand cream and other cosmetics. If you want to make use of this wax and honey you can place it in a filter bag and hang it inside the centrifuge so that the honey is collected once you have finished spinning the frames. This fine wax can then be washed and used in the cosmetics but it must be dried carefully otherwise it will start to go mildew.
The honey and wax can alternatively be given back to the bees when we next visit the hives. They will reuse the wax and either store or eat the honey. Nothing will be wasted.
Centrifugal Extraction
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As you can see the frames are mounted radially within the homemade centrifuge. Some commercial centrifuges will mount the frames tangentially. We would advise against this type of centrifuge as the combs can easily be damaged (especially in a warm room) and the frames require reversing (i.e. turned over so inside becomes outside) to complete extraction from both sides of the frame.
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To power the centrifuge we use a battery drill with a burr removal tool that grips the rubber bung that has been pushed onto the centrifuge spindle.
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Frames must be chosen with roughly equal weight. They are spun for two minutes at a low speed and then two minutes at a high speed. The low speed spin extracts most of the honey (and weight) at the outer edges of the frame. The high speed spin then extracts the remaining honey nearest the spindle – which is moving at the slowest speed.
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As you can see the frame (now termed a wet frame) is more or less empty but with very little damage to comb. The bees can immediately start to fill the comb and they will either store or eat any residual honey.
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All of the processed frames are boxed up ready to go back to the hives for the bees to work on. Giving them back wet frames and checker boarding these frames across two supers means that the bees are less aggressive because you are not “stealing” all of their honey. In fact you are helping by creating space for further storage.
First Filter
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The centrifuge will be left to stand for a couple of days so the honey on its walls runs down to the bottom. The honey coming out of the centrifuge honey gate passes through a coarse filter in to a honey bucket.
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This first filter stage removes large bits of wax and any other debris within the honey.
Second Filter
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The honey is filtered through two filters; a very fine nylon mesh and metal strainer which fits neatly onto the settling bucket.
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This stage of filtering can take many hours for the honey to pass though the fine filters. It very much depends on two factors; the viscosity of the honey and the room temperature.
Once filtering has been completed the settling bucket is left to stand for several days to allow air bubbles to escape.
Jarring Up
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Testing the honey for water content is done using a refractometer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ljt7E7rZ0A).
A thin layer of honey is spread on the prism. The daylight plate is placed over the honey and the result can be viewed through the eyepiece when held up to the light. International guidelines define high-quality honey as having a moisture content of below 20%. If it is above this figure then the honey will over time ferment. Honey with 20% or more water content can be sold as “Baker’s Honey”. Our honey is typically between 16-17.5%. Generally the lower the water percentage the more likely the honey will set (crystallise). This process can be reversed by gentle warming.
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Once we have established the water content we can start to pour the honey into a very clean set of jars. The number of jars required is based on two 1lb jars for every frame of extracted honey plus two or three extras. Generally we find we get two pounds of honey from each National Hoffman frame.
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The honey is carefully measured into each jar.
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Just need to add labels.
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Sunshine in a jar – nothing added nothing taken away. Top class local honey.