# Double Sieve Stainless Strainer



## BonnieBee

https://www.dadant.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=457

I'm using one of these to strain the honey as it exits the extractor into a bucket.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody know roughly what the mesh size is; ie 200 and 400 micron?

Wondering whether or not I may be wanting to do some additional filtering with something finer.

Any comments?


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## Ravenseye

I use one of those as well, although I don't know the mesh size. Last year, I used that strainer and then ran the honey through it again but with cheese cloth laying on the strainer. It did a good enough job for me. No particles, just pure honey.


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## BonnieBee

The wife seems to think that running the honey thru the double sieve is enough. I just don't know. This is our first honey crop so a lot of what we're doing is by the seat of our pants.


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## Ravenseye

It is enough. It all depends on how you want your honey. Some firms make a filter paper to clarify it even more. You could even use coffee filters if you have lots of patience. Much of what you take out is good stuff though, so it's a balance between looks and taste. The double strainer is perfectly fine by itself. I used the cheesecloth because I wanted a little more straining.


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## Ross

I generally go to 400u with the plastic strainers.


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## NorthALABeeKeep

*Double Sieve SS Strainer*

The Double Sieve Strainer is all I use. Just like you, it is used as the honey is coming out of the extractor. I have in years past used cheesecloth but find that it sometimes leaves little cotton fuzzies in the honey. These days I find people are more interested in "natural" or "Raw" honey at least around where I live. I tell my customers that I don't filter the honey as this would filter out some of the pollen and this is one of the main reason that local honey helps with algeries and sinus problems. This seems to make them happy.


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## Swobee

So, the question remains and I'm curious to know... What is the double seive strainer equivelant to regarding strainer size?

On a side note, when doing straws, I recently started to use a 100 micron screen for the 5 gal buckets. The straws give a good show of what gunk, good stuff or not, is floating around in the honey. To some consumers, it's about presentation and visual perception and not whether those floaties are good for you.


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## BonnieBee

With all that's been said thus far, still would like to know the mesh size. Even fired off an email to Dadant asking them. No reply as yet.
You would think that the mesh size would be listed but browse thru any catalog listing them and not one tells you the mesh size.
Just would like to know so I have a frame of reference.


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## BonnieBee

Surely somebody has the double sieve and also the set of plastic strainers with the known mesh size and is able to compare them.

Or how does the double sieve compare to the paint strainers we're able to get at LOWES/HomeDepot?


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## honeyman46408

I use the seive and then run it through the nylon "bag" strainers like the ones you can get from Brushy Mt


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## honeyshack

I use the double seive and then strain through 100 mesh straining cloth from bee maid or mann lake.

I do not think that the strainer is 100 mesh cause i still get particles in the honey. The 100 mesh cloth makes the honey real clear.


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## BonnieBee

According to a reply I got from Dadant the mesh sizes of the stainless double strainer are 1000 and 500 micron.


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## Swobee

Thanks for the research, Bonniebee. Now we know. I belive I'll stick to the 600/400 plastic strainers and the 100 for straws.


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## BGhoney

I use the double ss strainer, the only problem I had was It didnt keep up with my 20 frame extractor, the honey would not flow through as fast as I could dump. I put a rougher screen over it to remove the bigger bits of wax first, then it did better.


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## vajerzy

I used a paint strainer from Lowes then some nylon (pantyhose)- I still find some particles in the honey- looks like fine crystals and a few dark particles- does anyone use anything else to strain it further? How about heating the honey in hot water to lose the crystals?


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## odfrank

What is a "micron"?


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## Otter

According to Wikipedia and my Pocket Ref, it's short for a micrometre, which is one thousandth of a millimetre, or 0.00004 inch.


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## GRIMBEE

Swobee said:


> floaties.


 LOL


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## Daniel Y

odfrank said:


> What is a "micron"?


the period in the text of this site if you have not changed the size it appear to you is probably roughly 600 microns. Very very tiny unit of measurement.


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## snl

BGhoney said:


> I use the double ss strainer, the only problem I had was It didnt keep up with my 20 frame extractor, the honey would not flow through as fast as I could dump.


Have two double strainers and switch off when the first gets "plugged." You may still need to "skim" a little once it all settles, but not much........


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## Solomon Parker

This is a very interesting thread. I had some troubles with the honey not flowing through my 600/400/200 micron strainers this year, I guess it was a little thicker than usual. I use two sets of them, each in the top of a 5 gallon bucket with a honey gate for bottling. I'm thinking of upgrading to three or four buckets, each with a stainless set and the plastic set. Perhaps with the 1000/500 stainless set, I can forgo the 600 micron sieve.


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## kincade

Good thread, although there seems to be some discrepancy about the size of the mesh. When I called a few days ago to order I was told it was 13 and 40 mesh (micron equivalent of 1500 and 400). I'm curious if anyone else can compare them to a known size? I don't want to filter down below 400 microns.


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## beemandan

I extract directly through a double sieve stainless strainer only. Nothing more. No cloth. No nylon. Zip. Pour it into the bottling tank, leave it for a couple of days then bottle. Any remaining junk floats to the top and since the bottling valve is located at the bottom....clean honey.
Mesh size? No idea. Small enough to catch the big stuff, large enough for pollen to pass.


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## kincade

Found the same product at Mann Lake and asked them for the specs of the mesh... Again, I don't want to filter down too far in order to leave the pollen in the honey.

The supplier tells Mann Lake that the mesh is 20 and 40 mesh, or the equivalent of 841 and 400 mesh. No idea the cause of the discrepancy, but it sounds like it will work for my use.


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## Seymore

*Re: Double Sieve SS Strainer*



NorthALABeeKeep said:


> The Double Sieve Strainer is all I use....I tell my customers that I don't filter the honey as this would filter out some of the pollen


Not trying to bust you, just wondering what I'm missing. Isn't filtering the same as straining. Read most of the thread that went into what is filtering - so I'm wondering if it is a widely accepted practice that straining is not filtering because no heat is used?


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## Solomon Parker

*Re: Double Sieve SS Strainer*

By definition, there is little difference. However, colloquially, a filter is generally understood to remove much smaller items from liquid than a filter. 

Perhaps a better word to use instead of strain is screen. Screens by definition block large particles while allowing smaller particles to pass. 

So we could say, "My honey is not filtered, but screened to [insert] hundred microns." That would eliminate the friction between filters and strainers.


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