# commercial honey filtering



## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

No filters. The Cowen set up you linked is a nice system and works great. I would add a wax separator and/or melter. You are also going to need a pump and a storage tank. Pump to pump the honey after it comes out of the extractor into your storage tank. Elevate your storage tank and then you can fill your drums or buckets much easier and from the bottom. Most commercial guys I know don't do any filtering. Letting it sit in a storage tank allows wax and extra stuff to rise and you drain the tank from the bottom so its pretty clean at that point and the processors filter it further at their plants. You may want to "screen" when you are getting close to emptying the storage tank but that should be enough to rid of wax and extra stuff.

Good luck with your set up.


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## TwT (Aug 5, 2004)

thanks alpha6 but doesn't this come with its own pump, here is the list it comes with because I have a question about that also

*"It includes an Extractor, Uncapper, Spinner, Sump and Pump. You need only to provide an operator and a storage facility"*

isn't this saying I only need a storage tank and what do they mean when they say a spinner? must mean a capping spinner?


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## J-Bees (Jul 12, 2008)

Maby you need to go somewhere an look at a few before investing that kind of money. That system looks like hard work is involved:}:}

HARDY HAR HAR:


I also think you can build something less expencive.


JB:}


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## TwT (Aug 5, 2004)

J-Bees said:


> Maby you need to go somewhere an look at a few before investing that kind of money. That system looks like hard work is involved:}:}
> 
> HARDY HAR HAR:
> 
> ...


I have seen a few big operation but they were not set up like that, they had regular extractors that were hand loaded after being uncapped, the reason behind getting this set up is because its easier and faster to operate being one or two people, everything has a learning curve and that is expected. I have the hand loaded stuff but I want to evolve to something more modern and this thing looks like a great investment, it does cost a lot but looks like it will pay for its self, that's is the important thing to me, beside if I didnt spend the money on something like this someone would have their hand out before long  .


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## Laurence Hope (Aug 24, 2005)

I have a friend who has a similar system (his is larger), and I don't think he filters as a general rule. I have seen two inches of "stuff" on top of a newly opened barrel. As for the system itself, I would love to have one. The one in the video is about the right size for me to go with considering my future plans. It does a lot for the effort that is necessary to run it. Maybe someday.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Cowen makes systems (this type also I believe) that are also ram air. Pros are that it speeds up the loading and unloading process of the extractor with no effort. The one con I have heard about it is that you get more breakage of frames if something gets misalligned.

I am telling you that you will need a wax separator. You get a lot of caps when you use this system and you will want to get the honey and then if you combine the separator and a wax melter you get nice bricks of wax. The second pump is to pump the honey once it is separated from the caps into your storage tank as this is different then what is coming out of the bottom of the extractor.


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## jjgbee (Oct 12, 2006)

I owned and operated the prototype to this system. Mine only spun 18 ea load. I ran 90 boxes a day by myself. The honey was pumped directly to open top drums. My drum filler lid had an alarm horn to signal that the drum was full. I would move the fill lid and hose to the next drum and temporarily seal the filled drum. In about 2 weeks ( depends on viscosity), I would skim about 3/4 inch of wax chips off the top of the drum and seal permanent. With this system ,I processed 40 to60 barrels per yr. The large storage tank between the pump and barrels has it's good and bad features. If you are small scale, there is cost and space. It needs a heating coil. You have to fill the drums later. It has to be cleaned also


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