Cleaning beeswax

[Nobody Special]

Good evening, beeswax is one of the most important ingredients in a lot of finishing pastes, and I don't know how many other beekeepers we have in the forums, but I got into it through mead making, and ended up with a fair amount of wax from uncapping honey. Unfortunately, with the wax, you often end up with a bit of honey, larva, pollen, and all other sorts of goodies in the mix, so I thought I would share how to clean up the wax to get rid of all the gunky crumbly bits in the bottom, especially for those of you that get wax indirectly. The next time I do this, I'll add some pics, but it might be next year.

First, get a double boiler that your wife won't mind you destroying. Don't ever, ever use the kitchenware for your bee stuff. This includes colanders, sieves, funnels, and if I could avoid it, the stove. Drop cloths in pouring areas are also a good idea. Cold beeswax is a pain in the tuckus to get off. That's why it's wonderful as an ingredient.

Fill the bottom of the double boiler up to the line, then the top maybe halfway or a little and bring the bottom water to a boil. When the top starts to get hot, reduce the temperature, you don't really want it above 180, the wax melts at 140-ish, but you'll drop the temperature a bit when you add the wax.

Add wax to several layers of cheesecloth and then tie it off in a knot, like a hobo's bindle (look at the bag on a stick on old Looney Tunes cartoons). You can tie this to a spoon or dangle it from cord if you like. You can get cheesecloth in the utensil section of the local supermarket. Submerge the bindle and let the wax melt into the water.

Don't try to do too much wax at once, you'll end up with a mess. 1-2 lbs seems to be the limit for a standard double boiler, although you can melt them together or mold them later. Really filthy wax sometimes can take a second filtration, but I have almost never needed one.

You may, if you're as impatient as I am, find it useful to squeeze the bindle from time to time or press it with a spoon, but be careful, as second degree burns suck, and also cheesecloth tears easily. Turn off the water and let it cool completely. This goes faster if you put the boiler in a bain marie (ice water bath), but it isn't necessary. You'll end up with a clean disc of wax on top of the water that comes out fairly easily, although you may have to run a knife around the rim.

Clean-up is also pretty easy, submerge the stuff with beeswax in boiling water and it will float to the top, although inevitably a little will stick to the sides. IMPORTANT NOTE: have fire extinguishers or something similar on hand. Wax is extremely flammable if you boil it over or spill onto the burners!!! Good luck, and holler if you have bee or mead related questions.

 

[wirerabbit]

Have you tried making a solar melter to process your wax? You can decant off quite a bit of the unwanted sludge by putting your cappings in a bit of water. When the sun melts the wax, it floats and pouring off the top through a rough screen can clean up the wax quite a bit. The water will dissolve much of the honey as well. Saves you lots of cheese cloth when you do it the second time.

[Nobody Special]

37 minutes ago, wirerabbit said:

Have you tried making a solar melter to process your wax? You can decant off quite a bit of the unwanted sludge by putting your cappings in a bit of water. When the sun melts the wax, it floats and pouring off the top through a rough screen can clean up the wax quite a bit. The water will dissolve much of the honey as well. Saves you lots of cheese cloth when you do it the second time.

I haven't, although it looks like a fun project. I have played with fresnel lenses and I've meant numerous times to build a fresnel lens solar heater to lessen the heating bill over the winter. My wife starts getting antsy though when I start talking about putting a hole anywhere in the house, can't imagine why....

[wirerabbit]

Super easy. Check out the many, easy versions you can find online. All you will need is a plane of glass and a box. No lensing necessary. Let physics do the rest.

[yt12]

none of my beeswax-------but im gonna add a coupla 3 things----good friend and beekeeper gave me about 3 pounds of the dirty stuff--had done a preliminary clean up-----but this wax was un-usable as was---took a large roasting pan----lined it w foil ( yes---wax clean up is a bear)------added 1 inch water-----on top ----a sheet of chicken wire mesh----mine had 1/ 4 inch mesh-----push center down slightly for a concave slope ( slight dip)   cover w  a single layer of paper towel add dirty wax in a flat layer and into 200 oven------once wax melts , take pan out to cool----slab of pristine wax on surface !!------plus-----the dirty paper  cut into strips is the best firestarter !!

[Ohio]

We use a hotbox I got from a restaurant that was going out of business. Four-gallon rectangular bucket with appx. half a gallon of water in the bottom, with three layers of cheesecloth that's wet clamped or bungee corded to the top. All the wax, cappings, crazy comb, or off the frames, goes onto the cheesecloth. I usually separate capping from other wax but not always. Last batch was twelve five-gallon bucks (at least 20# each) crammed full of scrapped frame wax that was super gross.

Two buckets fit easily into the hot box—is the half-size kind—keeping airflow. The buckets rest on an aluminum tray to keep the hotbox somewhat tidy. Three hours at max temp 170F, the wax is rendered clean but still melted. Next morning, the wax is hardened and they pop right out of the rectangular buckets. Get anywhere from 1-2 pounds per bucket in each batch. We've even dropped the rendered wax into a 1-pound and 1-ounce beeswax molds and the wax melts to the correct size and weight that we sell in our booth.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Beeswax is a major component in muzzleloading.  I use it to make patch lube for round ball loading and minie ball lube for old smooth-bore muskets and later rifled muskets, like used in the AWS (Civil War). It's also used for waterproofing gun stocks and for sealing the flash pan on flintlock rifles in inclement weather. I have restored a lot of original old guns and like to use what was used back in the day. At one time I made a lot of traditional candles from it mixed with tallow. Got a sticking drawer, rub a little bees wax on it. Also if you have dogs, don't leave it where they can get it. They love it and it's good for them (unless they eat a pound at one sitting) especially if it still has honey on it.

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