# Couple Balm Questions. Labels - Pouring



## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

How did you get your wax really clean?

I am melting cap pings for the first time.

I got some lovely honey as I melted them slowly..they had drained for months

The top of the wax was lovely but it had what looked like propolis adhered to the under surface.

How to remove that?


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

When I made lip balms from purchased bees wax years ago I used catheter tip syringes to fill them.

Burt's Bees lip balm only has ingredients on the display box that holds the tubes..not the individual tubes. ...but given beeswax,oil,antioxidant oil,flavour +\- sunblock there aren't that many ingredients anyway.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

WBVC said:


> How did you get your wax really clean?
> 
> I am melting cap pings for the first time.
> 
> ...


This is what I did, but this is my first time so take this for what it's worth. I put my cappings in a 5 gallon bucket. Filled it with cool tap water and put the lid on and brought inside. Next day I poured out the water through a standard colander/strainer that I use for spaghetti. Did this for three days. Probably 2 more days than needed. Then I did a straight water and cappings boil. It settled and the wax looked ok with a lot of gunk settled, the water was really dirty. So tonight I cut up my wax put it in panty hose (see Panty Hose Thread) Boiled some water and placed panty hose in water, once all melted out I pulled the panty hose out and held above the pot and squeezed with some tongs until it stopped dripping. Worked out well.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Thanks so much...the panty hose will make it a lot easier in the future!

I am not certain what the reddish brown fine crumbly stuff is. It separates just below and adhering to the wax...it doesn't dissolve in the water. Wondered if it was propolis. I would think the panty hose would do a good job with that.

I didn't wash it in cold water before heating it. Other than that layer of brown stuff there was no other debris of note.

Thanks again.


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## jredburn (Feb 25, 2012)

In order to get your wax really really clean, run it through a cheesecloth / paint strainer first. Then melt it in a double boiler and pour in into a 1 1/2" dia. x 8 or 10 " long piece of PVC tube with a cap on the bottom. Let it stand upright until it hardens. Put it back in really hot water for a few minutes and take the cap off. The wax will slid out of the tube if the tube is heated. The bottom of the wax will have a layer of gunk and the top may or may not have some. Cut the ends off. Thats as clean as you can get it.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

That's a good idea. Thanks!


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

All these are great ideas.

I have found that the honey that is in with cappings and propolis is dark and delicious. So I have tried this...warm the cappings until just melted. Let cool. Lift off cappings and gunk. Strain honey through fine honey strainer.

Then put water in a low rectangular roast pan about 1/2 full. Put piece of #8 wire over this, the regular paper towel on the mesh. Trim off the wort of the gunk from the wax then place the wax on the paper towel and put in the oven at 200 degrees. Doesn't take long for the wax to melt and drip through the paper towel. Turn off oven. Clean wax block gloats on the water and you lift from the pan.

I may try the PVC tube idea but with my luck it would get stuck in there

There is a recipe on line that uses honey in the lip balm recipe have you tried that.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

I was bored last night and didn't have a pvc pipe. A Dixie cup caught my eye so I tried it. I poured boiling water in it to make sure it wouldn't melt. It didn't. I got a jar put it in some boiling water, added wax to the jar. Hillbilly double broiler. Melted the wax and poured into the Dixie cup. Ripped the cup off this morning and I only have a small amount of gunk to cut off the bottom and the rest is good clean wax.


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

Hambone,
Rather than use a dixie cup, use a clean, waxed carton from orange juice. Put a little water in the bottom first then add the (filtered) melted wax. Rip off sides when wax is hard.


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

These are great ideas. I am new to lip balm and wax processing. I let the wax cool in a large bowl the part that needed to be scraped off was very wide. Using a narrower tube to cool the wax seems obvious but I hadn't thought of it. Thank you for sharing


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