How to Render Beeswax

Beekeeping is becoming a popular way to produce honey, pollinate orchards and encourage bees to stick around and do their job of pollinating home gardens and flowers.

But what do you do with the wax after you've removed the honey? There are several ways to render the wax so that it can be used for candles, lip and skin balm, and wax for bullets or skis.

Things You'll Need

• Honeycomb
• Pots
• Knife
• Cheesecloth
• Brick, rock or other heavy object
• Bread pan
• Clothespins

Instructions

Rendering Beeswax--Water Bath Method

1. Remove the capped ends of the wax from the hive with a hot knife. Let the honey drain into a pot. This may take several days.

2. Cut the remaining wax into chunks. Wrap in two layers of cheesecloth and tie the cheesecloth securely.

3. Fill a large stainless-steel or tin-plated pot with water. (Other metals can discolor the wax.) Put the wax in cheesecloth into the pot and weigh it down with a brick or other heavy object.

4. Bring the water to a temperature of about 190 degrees F. Do not let it boil, as this will damage the wax, causing it to be brittle.

5. Simmer the wax until it is all melted. As it melts, the wax will flow out of the cheesecloth, leaving most of the debris behind. The wax will float on the top of the water.

6. Remove the wax from the water and let cool. If the wax still has a lot of debris in it, repeat this process using four layers of cheesecloth. Some debris, called slumgum, will remain on the bottom of the wax. Slice this off with a hot knife.

Rendering Beeswax--Solar Method

1. Cover a bread pan with two layers of cheesecloth and secure it with clothespins.

2. Put about 1/8 inch of water in the bottom of the pan so the wax will release easily.

3. Cut the wax into chunks and put on top of the cheesecloth.

4. Place in the sun and let the wax melt. As it melts, it will flow into the pan, leaving the debris behind.

5. Remove the wax by running a knife around the edge of the bread pan.

6. If the sun doesn't do the trick in your geographical area, put the pan into an oven heated to about 200 degrees F. Again, if the wax is still full of debris, repeat the process using four layers of cheesecloth.

Tips & Warnings

• Get old pans from Goodwill. It is very hard to get all the wax out of the pans, so you will want to have some you can use exclusively for this process. If you don't have old pans, use a clean, 3-lb. coffee can to hold the wax. Set it inside the pan of boiling water.

• Hot beeswax is sticky and can cause serious burns if you get it on you. Use extra care handling melted wax, and supervise children.

References

• Pacific Crest Apiaries
• More on Solar Rendering
• Ol' Buffalo Beeswax Page