# How to extract honey without spinning extracter?



## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

If you try to get the honey out with heat the combs will be ruined. other than extracting I see no shortcuts. good luck


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## LampBurner (May 4, 2011)

Yes I had thought about the comb melting, espeasualy if laying on their sides. If it was plastic comb it might work but its wax comb. I have seen even plastic things melt at least enough to warp in a hot car on a hot day. Yes indeed I can just give up that idea., but how does a solar extractor work without melting the comb? I don't know much about them. I guess they DO melt the comb.


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## Tom Brueggen (Aug 10, 2011)

I believe a solar extractor melts the comb as well. But it is my assumption that the wax is much lighter than the honey. clearly wax is far less dense than honey, and should float on top of liquid honey, whether the wax itself is liquid or solid. I would think in solar extractor you could just melt the whole thing down, then let it cool and peel the solidified wax off the top of the collection container. It would peel some honey with it, but you could recover that in the same fashion. 

Be careful of how hot it gets though. If the honey gets too warm it can be damaged and is no longer considered raw. If the wax gets too hot it can change colors. It's pretty tough to control how hot a solar extractor will get. 

Do you need to save the comb? If not you can just crush and strain it. After a day or so the bulk of the honey will have dripped off, and you just have sweet wax left over. Return this to the bees to allow them to salvage what they want. Anything they don't take you can render down for pure beeswax.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I have tried laying them flat and they don't drain for me. The surface tension of the honey holds it in. I never pursued it further, but if I were going to, I would try a stand that holds the comb upside down from how it was built but at something like a 45 degree angle. That might be enough to let the air in if it was warm enough and drain one side at a time. I still have my doubts that it will work.


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## LampBurner (May 4, 2011)

I erased what I first wrote at the top honestly because I though it might make me look stupid because I had fortotten the comb would melt inside my car parked in the hot sun. I hadn't yet had my morning coffee when I wrote that. That might not be a bad idea whenever I decide I want to melt wax down but there is special burners and pots for that too.


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