Uncapping and Extracting
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Jon Reining
May 22, 2025, 6:50:53 PM5/22/25
to The Alameda County Beekeepers Association
This year, I switched to a double sieve strainer to filter my honey as it exits the extractor directly into a 5 gallon bucket. The strainer works pretty well for the first few gallons, but after about gallon 2 or 3, it slows to a crawl. Trying to clean it in the middle of extracting is a messy affair.
I'm uncapping my frames using an uncapping roller.
This is the sieve I'm using:
I suspect the uncapping roller is creating a lot of small wax bits that are clogging the filter.
In the past, I've used a 5 gallon paint strainer bag for filtering my honey after extracting. That worked pretty well since I could squeeze the bag and get the honey out. I do like how the double sieve is filtering to a much finer honey.
I'm looking for suggestions on how to get the double sieve to work better. I've never used an uncapping knife. Would that result in larger "chunks" that don't clog the filer? The uncapping roller definitely gets gummed up and that tends to tear apart the frames a bit and is somewhat cumbersome to clean when trying to spin a number of frames and keep things moving.
I feel like there's a way/s to fix this issue and would love suggestions!
Thanks!
Jon
Paula Breen
May 22, 2025, 6:57:23 PM5/22/25
to Alameda County Beekeepers Assn.
I was JUST THIS MORNING researching the same thing, lol. What a coincidence! I found a Beesource thread where folks were talking about draining from the extractor directly to a bucket with no strainer. Let it sit for 24 hours or so, so all the schmutz rises to the top. Skim that off, THEN pour through the strainer into a bucket with a gate for bottling. I have not tried this but intend to next extraction.
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Andre Kruglikov
May 22, 2025, 7:16:32 PM5/22/25
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Hi Jon,
I sometimes use a roller if the cappings do not protrude past the edges of the frame. Uncapping fork can be used to handle these as well.
I used an uncapping knife for a few years but then I found this uncapper (https://simpleharmonyfarms.com/shop/ols/products/united-states---simple-harmony-farms-uncapper). It must have been popular enough so now you can find it on AliExpress, and I haven't touched my uncapping knife since. Apparently, this uncapper does not work so well if you don't use plastic foundation, but I do, so I swear by it.
To address your issue with the strainer getting gummed up with beeswax, let the honey sit in the bucket for a day or two, and pretty much everything that's less dense than honey will come to the surface. Scoop it off, then pour your honey through the strainer.
Mind you, the strainer may still get clogged up if the honey contains lots of glucose crystals (i.e. if the honey you extracted was partially crystallized.). If this happens, you can gently push the crystals towards the edge of the mesh with a spoon until the honey in the strainer pours through, then remove crystals from the strainer with a spoon.
Good luck
Andre, Chief Bee Herder, Honey Squeezer and Beeswax Melter
On Thu, May 22, 2025, 3:50 PM Jon Reining <jon.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
Deborah Insel
May 22, 2025, 7:18:11 PM5/22/25
to the-alameda-county-b...@googlegroups.com
We use this same sieve and it seems to work well for us. We keep the honey gate of the extractor closed as long as we can and then open it for the honey to run out through the sieve into a five gallon bucket. We keep an eye on it and DO have to sort of scrape the wax bits to one side of the sieve a couple of times in the process for the honey to run faster. But that gives us a break anyway to enjoy the (messy) beauty of it all. We use an uncapping knife (this spring upgraded to a heated knife for $25.) But we recently filled a 5 gallon bucket this way.
By the way, we uncap into the paint strainer in the five gallon bucket set-up you use. That works well, too, for squeezing out later.
Gerald Przybylski
May 22, 2025, 7:39:23 PM5/22/25
to the-alameda-county-b...@googlegroups.com
To each his own.
This bit applies to honey extraction using an uncapping tank, and tank-extractor --- not crush&strain.
I have a double strainer, but only use the bottom half of it. You'll see why.
I contrived a hanger that suspends it from the honey-gate valve on the extractor.
With the sieve suspended high enough I can see how full the bucket is getting.
The (fine) hemispherical screen of the double strainer gets plugged up with granulated sugar crystals and tiny bits of wax.
I have a big plastic spatula that i use to mix the honey with the white stuff I scrape off the screen. Plastic won't damage the screen.
We mix whenever the flow rate slows down.
(When finished extracting, after the strainer drains for two or three days, the wax & honey crystals can be transferred to the capping tank to drain some more) *** (btw, the bees do a really nice job cleaning the screen ... vs washing it out)
As for the buckets of honey, let them "settle" for a day or two while the bubbles/foam, bits of wax, etc. float up to the top.
With the back of a large spoon I clear the white "foam" from the top.
Stick the back of the spoon down on the foam so the foam adheres, and lift and rotate the spoon so most of the honey is left behind and the surface isn't disturbed much. It takes practice to get efficient. You won't get all the foam on the first pass; some finds its way below the surface again. Repeat the settling and spooning until perfect.
Remember to scrape the meniscus where the honey meets the side of the bucket. Gunk accumulates there too.
Scrape the foam off the spoon into a jar to let IT settle for a day or two.
Scrape that concentrated foam back into the capping tank to let the honey drain from it.
***
Once cappings in the tank are well drained, I give them back to the bees to clean up.
Put a medium or shallow box, or some shims on top of the inner cover.
Spoon some of the cappings onto the inner cover, and give the bees (in a moderately strong colony) a chance work the cappings over.
They lick off all the honey, and either use it for the brood, or store it in the super below.
Stir daily. If you see SHB larva under the cappings, scrape them out and into the wax melter immediately. Not a common problem)
When the bees done with the cappings, then put the remaining wax + propolis + junk into the wax melter.
No cooked honey to deal with. No honey degradation with heat.
(no honey-rinse water either... and no drying of the cappings to keep them from growing mold or whatever)
I've made most of the other mistakes, and this is what we settled on.
Setups and priorities vary, so other approaches are likely to lead to a happy beekeeper and happy bees.
Setting cappings out on a picnic table for bees to rob out may lead to robbing in the yard, and some bee fatalities.
I don't find a feeding frenzy of bees to be an attractive look.
that's my 2¢
This bit applies to honey extraction using an uncapping tank, and tank-extractor --- not crush&strain.
I have a double strainer, but only use the bottom half of it. You'll see why.
I contrived a hanger that suspends it from the honey-gate valve on the extractor.
With the sieve suspended high enough I can see how full the bucket is getting.
The (fine) hemispherical screen of the double strainer gets plugged up with granulated sugar crystals and tiny bits of wax.
I have a big plastic spatula that i use to mix the honey with the white stuff I scrape off the screen. Plastic won't damage the screen.
We mix whenever the flow rate slows down.
(When finished extracting, after the strainer drains for two or three days, the wax & honey crystals can be transferred to the capping tank to drain some more) *** (btw, the bees do a really nice job cleaning the screen ... vs washing it out)
As for the buckets of honey, let them "settle" for a day or two while the bubbles/foam, bits of wax, etc. float up to the top.
With the back of a large spoon I clear the white "foam" from the top.
Stick the back of the spoon down on the foam so the foam adheres, and lift and rotate the spoon so most of the honey is left behind and the surface isn't disturbed much. It takes practice to get efficient. You won't get all the foam on the first pass; some finds its way below the surface again. Repeat the settling and spooning until perfect.
Remember to scrape the meniscus where the honey meets the side of the bucket. Gunk accumulates there too.
Scrape the foam off the spoon into a jar to let IT settle for a day or two.
Scrape that concentrated foam back into the capping tank to let the honey drain from it.
***
Once cappings in the tank are well drained, I give them back to the bees to clean up.
Put a medium or shallow box, or some shims on top of the inner cover.
Spoon some of the cappings onto the inner cover, and give the bees (in a moderately strong colony) a chance work the cappings over.
They lick off all the honey, and either use it for the brood, or store it in the super below.
Stir daily. If you see SHB larva under the cappings, scrape them out and into the wax melter immediately. Not a common problem)
When the bees done with the cappings, then put the remaining wax + propolis + junk into the wax melter.
No cooked honey to deal with. No honey degradation with heat.
(no honey-rinse water either... and no drying of the cappings to keep them from growing mold or whatever)
I've made most of the other mistakes, and this is what we settled on.
Setups and priorities vary, so other approaches are likely to lead to a happy beekeeper and happy bees.
Setting cappings out on a picnic table for bees to rob out may lead to robbing in the yard, and some bee fatalities.
I don't find a feeding frenzy of bees to be an attractive look.
that's my 2¢
Mimi
May 22, 2025, 7:46:52 PM5/22/25
to the-alameda-county-b...@googlegroups.com, Beekeepers Assn. Alameda County
It seems like the bottom strainer of double strainer gets gummed up. My solution is to buy a second double strainer. When one gums up I replace it with a newly washed clean strainer. I boil my strainer in big pot to clean it.
real...@aol.com
May 22, 2025, 8:38:15 PM5/22/25
to the-alameda-county-b...@googlegroups.com
I have found that using a layer of film wrap Aka stretch-tite plastic film does a good job at removing the impurities that float a day after , then i hang it on a tree for the bees to have less work for a few hours , it does not remove 100 % . I had one comment in so manny years , I simply said you deserve the dollar store honey . Ever since they live it .
On 5/22/25 3:57 PM, Paula Breen wrote:
I was JUST THIS MORNING researching the same thing, lol. What a coincidence! I found a Beesource thread where folks were talking about draining from the extractor directly to a bucket with no strainer. Let it sit for 24 hours or so, so all the schmutz rises to the top. Skim that off, THEN pour through the strainer into a bucket with a gate for bottling. I have not tried this but intend to next extraction.
--On Thu, May 22, 2025, 3:50 PM Jon Reining <jon.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
This year, I switched to a double sieve strainer to filter my honey as it exits the extractor directly into a 5 gallon bucket. The strainer works pretty well for the first few gallons, but after about gallon 2 or 3, it slows to a crawl. Trying to clean it in the middle of extracting is a messy affair.
I'm uncapping my frames using an uncapping roller.--
This is the sieve I'm using:
I suspect the uncapping roller is creating a lot of small wax bits that are clogging the filter.
In the past, I've used a 5 gallon paint strainer bag for filtering my honey after extracting. That worked pretty well since I could squeeze the bag and get the honey out. I do like how the double sieve is filtering to a much finer honey.
I'm looking for suggestions on how to get the double sieve to work better. I've never used an uncapping knife. Would that result in larger "chunks" that don't clog the filer? The uncapping roller definitely gets gummed up and that tends to tear apart the frames a bit and is somewhat cumbersome to clean when trying to spin a number of frames and keep things moving.
I feel like there's a way/s to fix this issue and would love suggestions!
Thanks!Jon
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