Our Extraction Process

We did not have enough honey to extract ourselves this year but we like to help Poppop extract his so we headed down to Hampstead.  This post explains our extraction process.

First we collect all of the frames off of the hive.  We have to minimize the bees left on the frames so that when we move inside we are not working around lots of bees.  This is actually a difficult task.  We use a spray that the bees don't care for to try to move them away and then we brush as many bees off as we can and place them in a wheel barrow with a towel on top.  Then we move those boxes of frames of honey to the room where we extract.  The room is my grandparent's workshop where they work on their various hobbies and it is has a cement floor with a drain.  We cover the floor with newspaper so we can easily clean up from any honey spills.

Boxes of frames ready for extracting!

After we have gathered the frames we will extract from, we go frame by frame to cut off the wax cappings sealing off each honey comb.  We use a hot metal knife and sometimes a metal toothed pick to do this.

A frame of capped honey comb

An electric metal knife and a metal pick help us get to the good stuff

Melting and cutting away the wax capping.  See the cells that are still capped at the top?  That's where the metal pick would be handy.

Then, we place each frame into a centrifuge and spin away!  The honey comes flying out of the comb and onto the walls and bottom of a large plastic barrel.  Then we strain that honey through cheesecloth and two metal strainers.  

An above view of the centrifuge and straining bucket over a floor covered with newspaper for easy cleaning.

The last step is bottling the honey which we normally save for another day as sanitizing the bottles is a bit of a job all in itself.  Poppop likes to add a fancy label to his jars if they're gifts for non-family members or if he intends to sell it.

Last year we gathered over 600 pounds but this year poor Poppop only got about 50.  It's sadly been a tough year for bees.  Hopefully we both have better luck next summer!