How to Remove Honey Without an Extractor

Commercial extractor are large, expensive, and unnecessary for the home beekeeper.

Beekeepers who use a top bar method of beekeeping, or bee removers who cut combs out of walls or ceilings will often end up with irregularly shaped combs that won't fit in a standard honey extractor. Hobby beekeepers, even if they use standard hives and have rectangular combs, may not be able to afford an extractor. For these people, the crush and strain method will extract honey from the comb almost as well as a honey extractor.

Things You'll Need

• Cured honey combs cut from the frame
• Newspapers or cardboard
• Apron
• Large shallow pan
• Flexible silicon cutting mat that will fit inside the pan (optional)
• Pestle or a potato masher
• Tweezers or tongs
• Five gallon paint strainer or 600 micron filter
• Two five gallon food-grade buckets
• One lid for a five gallon bucket
• Rubber spatula
• Electric drill with a 1/2 in. drill bit
• 5 to 6 binder clips or clothes pins

Instructions

1. Prepare the straining bucket.

   Drill several 1/2 in. holes in the bottom of a five gallon bucket. Wet the paint strainer with water and squeeze it dry. Line the bucket with the holes with the strainer. If you need to, you can attach the strainer to the rim of the bucket using binder clips or clothes pins. Nest the bucket with the holes and strainer inside another five gallon bucket.

2. Set down newspapers or sheets of cardboard under the shallow pan and the straining bucket. Put on the apron. Crushing honey can be sticky work.

3. Line the shallow pan with the silicon cutting mat to make it easier to remove the honey later. If you don't have a cutting mat, you can manage without it. Put the comb into the shallow pan. Using the potato masher, crush the comb to release all the honey. If you see any cells with pollen in them, remove them with a knife. Don't crush them into the honey. If you see any dead bees, pick them out with a tweezers or tongs. Crush until all the cells are broken open and the wax is smashed into small chunks.

4. Transfer all the honey and crushed honey comb to the strainer. Use the rubber spatula to get the honey off the silicon sheet and the shallow pan. The honey will run through the strainer, through the holes in the top bucket, and will collect in the bottom bucket. Put the lid on the top bucket to keep out insects. Set the strainer buckets in the sun or leave them in a hot room. The ideal temperature is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It will take anywhere from several hours to several days for the honey to flow through. How long depends on the temperature, the coarseness of your strainer, and the consistency of the honey.

5. Bottle the strained honey in jars for storage or sale.

Tips & Warnings

• Crush and strain the honey as soon as possible after collecting it to avoid attracting insect pests.

• You will not be able to get all the honey from the combs using this method. Letting the honey strain for a couple of days will extract most of the honey. The rest can left next to the hives to give it back to the bees. Or it can be rinsed away if you want to keep the beeswax.

• If you have one, you can use a cider press to crush the honey combs.

• Some people crush the combs with their hands. If you do so, be careful of dead bees. A dead bee stinger can still sting you.

References

• Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences; Summer Management Honey Production
• Bush Farms; Honey Harvest
• Picasa; Honey Harvest without an Extractor; Linda Tillman
• Linda's Bees; Honey Harvest - Crush and Strain

Resources

• Learning Beekeeping