# Necessities for honey



## MTP55 (Jan 23, 2017)

Aside from an extractor and uncapping tank are there any other necessities to bottle honey? I'm not to this point yet but want to know before then. I'm having a hard time making sense of some of the things I read. What do you do with the cappings? Throw them out or sell them? Just curious.


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## Bkwoodsbees (Feb 8, 2014)

It's good to plan ahead but first and foremost is the care of the bees. Sick and struggling bees won't produce much if any. That being said there are several different ways to extract. Each way requires some different tools and supplies . Heated knife, cold knife, capping scratcher, capping punch, chain uncapper, uncapping plane and so on. If you can spend some time with someone and see the process it would help you alot. Robert


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

You'll need some sort of bottling tank. I drain my extractor into a bucket that has a honey gate on the bottom edge of it, and use that bucket as a bottling tank. For when I have more than a bucket of honey extracting, I have two buckets with honey gates on them, so as extracting I can swap one out for the other and have one draining into a non honey gated bucket for storage. When bottling, I pour stored buckets into a honeygate bucket and then fill bottles from it.

I put the cappings into a paint strainer bag and squeeze as much honey as I can out, then hang it in a tree for the bees to suck out what they can. Then I melt them down in water and let cool to get the wax back for candles or using to coat plastic foundation with.


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## I'llbeedan (Mar 31, 2013)

I have nothing and have 16 hives all of which produced at least 1 super of honey. Years ago I had a mentor. he has a huge extractor that can do like 60 frames at a time. he also has a settling tank and a filter system. with a pump that doles out a preset amount of honey when bottling. Fortunately I have become good friends with him and he does all my extraction and bottling, All I have to do is put the labels on. 

So what one needs depends on ones situation. a small operation can easily get away with what Ray does or you can get as fancy or involved as you choose. I know it makes me feel good knowing my honey is processes in a state licensed and inspected facility.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

capping wax and freshly drawn wax are the premium stuff Don't throw it out; melt it into blocks and let forks know you have it. I have reenactors that take all I have but lots of folks use it lotions, balms, etc. 

Realize an extractor is expensive and may not be justifiable with only a few hives. Explore the possibilities of crush & strain or renting a club's extractor (obviously you'd need to be a member) and making some of your equipment. An uncapping tank can be as simple as a plastic container with a board across it and a bread knife.


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## IsedHooah (Jan 13, 2015)

You can certainly get lost in all the equipment out there to extract honey, process wax and the like. I would recommend looking in your area for bee clubs that may offer a "community" extractor. In my area there is a beek who offers to extract supers at a price, and he also keeps the cappings. I personally just melt my cappings down, and sell/gift the small bars to friends and family. I haven't crossed into the soap, lip balm, hand cream arena just yet. Just do some searching around in your area, and you might find the answer you are looking for.


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## BadBeeKeeper (Jan 24, 2015)

I'llbeedan said:


> ...So what one needs depends on ones situation. a small operation can easily get away with what Ray does or you can get as fancy or involved as you choose...


Yep, I do pretty much the same as Ray. I have no intention of buying a bunch of expensive, fancy equipment until such time as I'm selling enough honey to pay for it, and that -not- having it is causing me to lose money because I don't have enough time to process all of it...if I should ever reach that point.


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