#HONEY PRESS FULL#

This he 'sealed' by twisting it's opening, then placed it on his home-made press. There was one video link in particular which was nothing short of brilliant - a Russian/Ukranian guy boiled-up a load of old wax combs and then placed them into a fruit-press type of bag. The other possible lead also comes from Greg - he posted some time back about methods of extracting wax. The honey extractor is a single-use and expensive device for a small-scale beekeeper hobby beekeepers don't really need that money-waste no matter what they are told (unless they are awash in disposable cash).ĭunno how relevant this is but Greg posted a while back about a small-scale DIY extractor - I don't know what the outcome of the thread was, or how relevant it might be - but just thought I'd mention it. Just too expensive for a limited use device.Ī press is just a little bit better than the honey extractor since it has a multi-use property. I thought of buying a press and every time turned the idea down - not worth it for me (even if I factored in fruit/berry pressing). The press should apply lots of force to dry the residue on the very first pass - so that should work well. Now, these are cheap, kitchen projects done regular utensils. fine chopping) of the combs and NO pressing them - drains the combs really well with minimal effort (in warm conditions). Reason - the while mashing produces faster results initially but - the mashing also plugs up the utensils and captures a lot of honey in the residue.Īnd so you end up doing and redoing and redoing this again to dry the residue better. So, mincing and draining is faster and easier overall AND leaves drier residue also. mashing and draining (using a potato masher). The main advantage I see with foundation is the straight comb they build.

They actually amaze me with the speed they build it when they need it. It did appear to me that once the colony is strong and there is a nectar flow, they will build comb like there is no tomorrow. I cannot really say with certainty that bees take much longer when they have to build comb too.

#HONEY PRESS FULL#

My experience is limited, and I generally just use full sheets of foundation, but I did start off with foundationless/starter-strips. I'm not really counting kilos of honey, this is just a hobby but I'm still not 100% sure that will make much difference anyway. I am also aware of the fact that like crush and strain, there are no stickies to return, so the bees have to start from scratch. Very easy to clean too - just hose it off on the lawn, after you let the bees take most of the left over. It has large holes in the inside bucket and after pressing I think it should be all good in an hour. On further research the biggest one of those presses should be able to take 6-8 frames. It still is a very rudimentary apparatus (unlike my Flow Hives where many things can go wrong) What I want to avoid with a honey press is the day of dripping waiting for all the honey to drip out. I like the simplicity of that filter bag. Not many videos on YouTube, so obviously they’re not that popular (maybe for a good reason?) Is one preferable over the other for honey? Will a 10L one let me press them all at once? Some come with just one perforated bucket on a large spouted saucer, others have an external bucket. My question is, are honey presses a viable long term extractor for just two hives? Or are they a romantic blast from the past that I quickly start hating after a season pressing? I can see them being a great family activity with my young kids, but want to make sure I keep on enjoy using the honey press.Ĭhances are I won’t be extracting more than 6 or 8 deep frames at a time. I can also see the advantage of being able to harvest wax, which I can’t do with my Flow hives. It has got the advantage of being multi purpose pressing other produce. So I’ve been looking into the viability of a honey press. That’s why a Flow hive seemed ideal at the time.

I’m only allowed to keep two hives here, and storage space for an extractor is limited, with no garage and a full small shed. My experience with them has been rough and am seriously considering selling them and use a traditional extraction method. This is my fourth beekeeping season and been using only two Flow hives.

Honey press