BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • cappings extractor sack

  • Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
 #11682  by Alfred
 09 Aug 2021, 13:09
The nylon bags that hook inside the extractor type
Has anyone any experience of these?
 #11685  by NigelP
 09 Aug 2021, 18:33
Nope never tried them. Be interested in hearing from those who have myself. I leave my capping's to drain, rake about and let them drain again.....still lots of honey left in them even after all the draining....as judged by what I find in the collection tray of my solar wax melter , which has had a good year!
 #11686  by Patrick
 09 Aug 2021, 21:53
‘Fraid not. I use a large wine straining bag to line a 65lb honey bucket then tip in my buckets of cappings, lid it and put the whole lot In the warmer. 24 hrs later I lift out the bag and suspend the whole shebang to drain. It recovers the majority of honey and the resultant cake I give back to the bees to clean up, which they do with enthusiasm.

The warming gets over the problem of cappings with partial granulated honey which unwarned rapidly clog steel sieves or mesh bags and leaves you with a heavy full bag of honey and wax which stubbornly refuses to drain - a total pain!
 #11687  by AdamD
 10 Aug 2021, 08:44
I did make up a cappings bag to spin out a number of years ago. It wasn't particularly successful.
A lot of my cappings are removed with a heat gun. Those that are cut off, drop into a box with a kitchen cake cooling rack at the bottom so the honey can drip through, although there's still quite a bit of honey remaining in the cappings.
 #11688  by Alfred
 10 Aug 2021, 15:45
Ive ordered a pair
But now I'm thinking 'is there a way of extracting residual honey from nylon bags?
I think I've created another problem instead of a solution.

We will see.
At least they weren't expensive.

This honey palarva had better be worth it Nigel...
 #11690  by NigelP
 10 Aug 2021, 17:23
Look up "Abelo Uncapping Tray with Spike".
I use the spike as my main "rest" and it makes for easier uncapping. The drip tray contains the capping's which drip through into the (very) large tane below. Shuffle them about after 24 hours and you will get approx 2/3 to3/4 of the honey in the capping's recovered for no effort. If you want the lot you need to melt it all and let settle and now you have "bakers" honey.
Spinning, compressing capping's leads to what is called cavitation where liquid honey is trapped behind wax bits and won't spin out regardless of speed as it's trapped.
Of course it's worth it Alfred....that piece of kit is approx 20 x 12oz jars of sold honey. Less than a supers worth...
 #11715  by NigelP
 13 Aug 2021, 18:57
As it happens I have a little used 20L stainless steel press for sale. This is the cross beam type where the you can move everything around.

Image

They cost approx £300 new, will happily accept £150 and throw in the courier costs.
 #11809  by Alfred
 24 Aug 2021, 12:22
They arrived today -ready for evaluation next year :lol:
They can be used on tangent screens but I think the primary purpose
(as theres three sets of hooks -one reversed) is to be hung over a bucket or circular frame.
Theyre pretty big too.
The mesh is incredibly fine so it will need a good spin and/or warm honey to work.