# Walter Kelly Wax Melter



## EastCarolinaBee (Apr 9, 2006)

I have an old Kelly wax melter that I acquired (15gal) and have preceded to dump all my excess wax that I have been storing a while. I've drained off 3 or 4 gallons of honey to feed back to my bee's. But now I'm left with the three concerns- 1) What the best way to separate the rest of the wax from the waste to be able the retrieve clean wax from this container? and 2) What is the best container to use to transfer clean wax into? and 3) What do most of you all do with it? Thanks


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## broodhead (May 30, 2009)

I use a beer keg that is cut in half, I add about 2 gallons of water and heat over a old gas burner. I add the cappings and then watch the temp so that the wax melts in the water without boiling. During this process I usually screen out any debris in the wax, a seeve like the one used in the kitchen will work fine. Make sure your wife doesn't know that you stole her seeve, because it will never be used for anything else.
After this is done you can carefully pour the wax water solution into a plastic pail or pan, a cat litter pan works just fine. Make sure you have a couple inches of water in the bottom. Before pouring the solution in the water try placing a #5 wire cloth over the pan, also double layer a cheese cloth filter can and should be placed over the #5 sceen to catch all the debris.
Repeating this process a couple of times will render a beautiful beeswax block that can be used for many purposes. Remember, keep the temp low, melt not boil is the key to beautiful wax.
I am sure others can also give you many ideas for rendering wax, I have seen special built hot houses for this purpose, but only a commercial beek usually has enough quantity to justify the cost. Also look into a solar wax melter, I recently saw one that was beautifully constructed and it did an outstanding job.


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

my dad get nice clean wax out of the solar melter he built.


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## Peter NuBee (Nov 8, 2010)

Does anyone have a web site referance for building a solar wax melter?


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Plans on this site:
http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/solar-wax-melter/


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## nabeehive (Oct 23, 2009)

http://www.nabeehive.com/solarwaxmelter.aspx


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