# easy wax rendering AND filtering



## jhs494 (May 6, 2009)

Very nice idea!

Thanks for sharing it with us.


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## Brenda (Nov 23, 2006)

Are you just letting the wax filter through into the pot?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Well it all kind of liquefies together in the boil, but yes once it's all melted and the basket removed the wax floats to the top of the big kettle and solidifies.


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## summer1052 (Oct 21, 2007)

Please be really careful with that set up. Beeswax flames out at a low temp (120 F, I think) and could catch fire easily near the propane flame.  Don't stand too close, use low and slow heat, have a BIG fire extinguisher nearby, but no kids nearby, etc. etc. etc. Just like frying turkeys.

Otherwise,

I LIKE this idea! :applause:

Summer


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Fortunately beeswax doesn't even melt until 140F, and flashes at WAY past the 203 that water boils at here (which is why everybody uses double-boilers for rendering; it's a safety thing). Thanks for the concern though!


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

you must have some really neat water cause mine boils at 212


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## KeyBeeper (Jun 7, 2009)

slickbrightspear said:


> you must have some really neat water cause mine boils at 212


Water boils at 212 at sea level, it boils at lower temperatures at higher elevations. Lower air pressure at higher elevations makes it easier for the bubbles to form and escape.


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

so I am wrong sorry


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## letsrodeo (Jun 6, 2009)

something tells me the turkey will be fryed in a diferent pot from now on.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Keybeeper has it. When you've spent as many countless hundreds of hours as I have sitting over kettles waiting for the second the boil starts, you know your temps . I do have neat water though... I backpack to the glacier near my home where the water that comes from my tap melted off of a couple days before.

And yes it takes an ungodly amount of scrubbing to reclaim a wax pot. Good thing I have about 6 15-gallon kettles laying around!


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## KeyBeeper (Jun 7, 2009)

Do you have any more pictures that show the rest of the process (wax floating to the top and how you deal with all that). I've never rendered wax before, thats why I ask.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Sorry, I don't but it forms a cap (this time it was about a half-inch thick), kind of irregular from cooling more quickly on the margins. Break that up into pieces for storage until you can do final rendering on them and you're in the wax business.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I used to live in Laramie, WY at 7200 feet. Water boiled at 198 F. You couldn't cook dried beans so they weren't hard without a pressure cooker...


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## letsrodeo (Jun 6, 2009)

did ya soke them over nite it helps alot.


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## Noelle (Apr 26, 2009)

Back to the wax tho, How do you go about that "final rendering" of which you speak? I am real new at this and am trying to learn everything I can.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

I melt it in a double boiler and filter through old t-shirts or sweatshirts (or paper towels lacking those). The result, poured into block molds or whatever form is pure and ready to use for whatever you want. 

Typically I'll have a double boiler going to melt the chunks of wax in, then when liquified it gets poured into another pitcher that has the filter cloth clothespinned to a funnel sitting in it. That setup goes into the oven at 150F. That way whatever final bits of dust and other draff I'm filtering out don't solidify in the funnel, and so the wax in the filter stays liquid and melts through while I'm liquefying the next pitcher of chunks. When the filtered pitcher gets full I just pour into molds, tubs or whatever SWMBO won't kill me for co-opting to the bee cause . 

What does the soaking overnight do?


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## letsrodeo (Jun 6, 2009)

soaking dry beans rehydrates them so they cook faster...


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Oh, the BEANS. Thought you meant comb :doh:.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>did ya soke them over nite it helps alot

Of course. But the point is that water boils at 198 F at 7200 feet...


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## letsrodeo (Jun 6, 2009)

O K :scratch:


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## PrestonFM (Jul 31, 2008)

Where did you get the mesh bag?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

From a homebrew shop. They're called "sparge bags" or "grain bags" and are used by beer and wine makers, though you can get the material (and maybe the bags) from bee supply places I believe as well.


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## Bee Matt (Aug 1, 2013)

Yes, soaking the beans will help. 

Cool wax melting project !


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

A solar wax melter works very well too. Just take a retired ice chest, add either a glass or plexiglass top, a bucket with 1-2 inches of water, and a 1/2 inch hardware cloth funnel lined with a paper towel. Kick back and let it go. No risks or expense of propane, fire hazard, scalding hot temperature, or attention time. When the sun goes down just pull out your "plug" of clean pure beeswax which is solidified and floating on the water in the bucket. Ice chest cost a buck at a flea market and the sun 300+ days a year.









Steve


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