# Best way to clean beeswax?



## Sky (Jul 7, 2015)

yep - melt it with some water, let it cool, scrape the gunk off the bottom. 
alternately, once that whole mess is melted, you can pour it all (wax, water, gunk) through a piece of cheese cloth or other filter material to remove the larger chunks, then let it cool...... 

Sky

Sky


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

I use a turkey fryer and a few gallons of water. Heat it all up...then let it set until the next day. Recover the "cake". Scrape the stuff off the bottom, repeat with fresh water. Do it like 3 or 4 times. Then on the final time I'll pour the water and wax thru an old t-shirt. Let it harden...get the cake and then MAYBE scrape it but generally it's good to go on the final "rinse". You'll get excellent quality wax that way.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

Melt, cool and scrape work pretty well especially if it's already pretty clean. To speed things up, I'm a little aggressive when I scrape so that nearly all the gunk comes off the first time along with some wax. When I melt the second time I pour through an old t-shirt and I'm pretty much done. The scrapings are saved for the next time I use the solar melter and I toss those in along with any comb I'm melting down.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Remelt ontop of water.I have found the best is to use a tall container with a cylinder shape. You'll waste less wax and the scraping is easier and quicker.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Ravenseye said:


> Melt, cool and scrape work pretty well especially if it's already pretty clean. To speed things up, I'm a little aggressive when I scrape so that nearly all the gunk comes off the first time along with some wax. When I melt the second time I pour through an old t-shirt and I'm pretty much done. The scrapings are saved for the next time I use the solar melter and I toss those in along with any comb I'm melting down.


Same here...


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## orthoman (Feb 23, 2013)

I use to melt wax in water and filter it through cheese cloth and T shirts but not anymore. Now, wax capping and dirty wax is cleaned up very nice by going through the solar melter a couple of times. The key is to use clean trays and filtering material (paper towels) inside the melter.

The wax to be cleaned is placed on top of a clean piece of paper towel - and this is all in a clean aluminum baking pan. 

If you are starting with really cruddy stuff like brood comb, put in inside a nylon stocking before it is placed on the paper towel and into the melter. Stretch the stocking over a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe so there is a large and easy opening to push the wax into the stocking. 

The paper towel will catch all the gunk and the wax will filter through.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

orthoman said:


> I use to melt wax in water and filter it through cheese cloth and T shirts but not anymore. Now, wax capping and dirty wax is cleaned up very nice by going through the solar melter a couple of times. The key is to use clean trays and filtering material (paper towels) inside the melter.
> 
> The wax to be cleaned is placed on top of a clean piece of paper towel - and this is all in a clean aluminum baking pan.
> 
> ...


Brilliant! Awesome tip!
How does it work in December in Illinois? Got any tips for sub-freezing solar wax melting when it's gloomy for weeks?


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Multiple passes through the solar wax melter also tends to lighten the color. I use a double boiler instead of melting on water. Pour it out in 1/4 inch thick layers in cookie trays and leave it in the sun for 2 weeks to really whiten it up.

I extended my solar wax melting season with a Fresnel lense on top of the wax melter. I get at least 2 more months than I used to. Being in the end of the 4th year of a major drought, I pray it will all stop soon and rain.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

I have found steam melting does pretty good also. I used a wallpaper steamer's hose stuck into a hole in the top lid of a double stack of bee boxes that contained a 5 gallon paint strainer of packed in brood combs. Wax came out the front reduced entrance and dripped/ran into a bucket. Wax came out very clean and pale yellow. One thing I've found is to melt the wax through a paint strainer bag, and don't squeeze it too hard to get the last bit of wax out, if I do, I'll get darker wax that I can't seem to get cleaned up.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I also found it easier to clean steam melted wax over solar melted in one pass. Mostly because the box I do it in makes it easier to force the wax to run through a large piece of filter fabric. When I try that in a solar melter the slum gum clogs the filter and backs up. 
This wax has only been melted and strained once.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

When I use my solar wax melter, it all drains into a bread pan topped with a paper towel and yes, that does a GREAT job filtering. But if it's in the cool season the approach is different, hence the hot water method.


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## ritan1 (Nov 10, 2015)

I use a cheap slow cooker/crock pot. Line it with filter cloth so it hangs over the side. Add the wax and add a quart or so of water, and put the top on, wrapping the fabric on the top. Then "cook" for several hours. Remove lid and pull the filter bag up, leaving clean wax and water in the cooker. Let cool.

This video is pretty close to what I do - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHmoP2qqlj8&index=1&list=FLMtDYNMHjViqVyByaoLOJ1w


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