The cold months are reserved for projects. While the bees snuggle up together in their hives, beekeepers use this time to manage their supplies, plan for the next year, and make fun things out of the product the bees have given us: beeswax and honey.
I purchased some sad looking pots and pans from my local thrift store to dedicate them to beeswax rendering. Over the summer, I collected a large coffee tin and a large tupperware container of beeswax from overgrown burr comb (out of place honeycomb) and wax cappings from processing honey. I wasn’t sure how much wax I’d end up with, but I was excited to find out.
I followed beeswax rendering instructions as described on this video. The electric saucepan from thrift store never worked, so I took the risk of rendering wax on the gas stove, and poured and hardened my wax in the garage.
First, I melted the wax in a tall canning pot with a lot of water, and let it boil covered for 30 minutes. I stood there the entire time, making sure it wouldn’t boil over or sputter (beeswax is very flammable – please do this outside if you can). Then, I carefully walked it to the garage where I poured the wax through a mesh strainer covered with cheese cloth.
After I poured the boiled beeswax water through the strainer, I let it sit for 24 hours. As the wax cooled, the wax floated to the surface, while the water and dirt particles floated to the bottom. Below are photos of freshly poured wax (yellowish), and one that had been sitting our about an hour (white bubbles, bottom). I did two rounds. You can see the hour-old wax already hardening up and separating (the white color is the wax).
After 24 hours, a perfect circle of wax formed on top. Back inside, I set a pot of water to boil, and a stainless steel bowl atop that to create a double boiler. I broke up the wax circles, and melted them down. There was still fine pieces of dirt in there – the purpose of this step is give the wax one more fine strain… with pantyhose.
I bought a cheap pair of pantyhose and pulled them over a waxed coffee cup. I carefully poured the melted wax into the coffee cup, then pulled the pantyhose out before the wax hardened, removing almost all of the dirt.
And here you have it! About 3/4 of a coffee cup of pure beeswax, and a little bit more in a second cup with a dirty pantyhose stuck in it. I almost threw the pantyhose away, but you can see good wax that strained out of it – I’ll probably chip away some good wax before I throw away the nylons.
What will I do with my beeswax? I have enough for a couple candles, or a salve or balm. We’ll see. But, I’ll have to choose carefully because I didn’t end up with very much.
Meanwhile, the mead (“honey wine”) is continuing to sit in my front closet. I am waiting for it to clear up and ferment a little bit more. They say that the number one ingredient for mead is patience. While we wait, I ordered some smaller jugs (carboys) to strain it at least once more, more airlocks, and new wine bottles. If I’m lucky, I might be able to give out some mead for Christmas. Ho ho ho.
Barrington Bee 