Honey Extraction

Honey extraction is the process of separating ripe, capped honey from the comb through uncapping, a centrifugal extractor, straining and settling, and preparing it for the jar. Honey that comes out of the hive in perfect condition can absorb moisture, overheat or become contaminated at this stage; that is why a ripeness check, a clean bee-proof extraction room and the right materials decide the quality. Below you will find extraction step by step, from preparation to cleaning.

When is honey ready to extract? Checking ripeness

The criterion is not the calendar but capping. When the bees have evaporated enough water from the nectar, they seal the cell with a thin wax cap (capping). If most of the frame is capped, the honey can be extracted.

In a partly capped frame, moisture must be measured. As a practical test, hold the frame horizontally with the uncapped cells facing down and give it a gentle shake; if honey drips from the cells, it is not ripe. For a definite decision use a refractometer: honey with a moisture content below 18 per cent can be extracted safely, while honey above 20 per cent is also over the legal limit. Honey taken too early ferments and can spoil the whole batch.

How do you take honey supers off the hive?

• Bee escape board: A board with a one-way passage, placed under the super a day or two before the harvest, lets the bees go down but not come back; the super is left almost free of bees.
• Brushing and shaking: With only a few supers, the frames are shaken one by one and cleared with a soft bee brush.
• Blower: In large operations the bees are driven off with a stream of air.
• Smoke: Use little, cool smoke; the smell of too much smoke gets into the honey.
• Do not use chemical repellents: Their smell and residues can get into the honey.

Carry the removed supers in a closed, bee-proof vehicle and stand them on drip trays in the extraction room. The harvest must be done quickly and tidily so as not to provoke robbing.

What should an extraction room be like?

• Bee-proof: An open door or window starts robbing; bees fill the room and work becomes impossible.
• Dry: Honey draws moisture from the air; honey left open in a damp room absorbs water.
• Warm: Cold honey flows poorly and does not come out of the comb completely. The room is kept warm, but honey is never left in a hot environment for long.
• Clean and washable: Food production rules apply: a clean floor, washable surfaces, running water, clean clothing, a hairnet or headscarf.
• Organised: The workflow should move in one direction: full super → uncapping → extractor → strainer → settling → jar.

How do you uncap honey frames?

Honey will not come out until the wax caps over the cells (cappings) have been removed. The main tools used are:

• Uncapping knife: A long, straight or serrated knife; used warmed in hot water or as an electrically heated model. Fast on evenly drawn combs.
• Uncapping fork (uncapping comb): Lifts the cappings from cells in hollows that the knife cannot reach.
• Uncapping tray: A container on which the frame rests, with a strainer compartment underneath. Cappings and honey separate here.

Cappings wax should be collected separately. Once the honey has drained through the strainer, melted cappings wax is the cleanest and lightest-coloured wax in the apiary; ideal for having your own foundation made.

How do you use a honey extractor?

A honey extractor (honey centrifuge) spins the frames and pulls the honey out of the cells by centrifugal force. There are two basic types:

1. Balance it: Place frames of similar weight opposite each other; fix the extractor to the floor. An unbalanced load makes the machine shake.
2. Start slowly: Spin at low speed for the first turns. In a tangential extractor, empty the first face halfway, turn the frames round, empty the other face completely, then turn them again and finish the first face.
3. Take care with new comb: Freshly drawn, light-coloured combs are fragile; keep the speed even lower.
4. Check: Hold the frame up to the light to see whether any honey is left in the cells.
5. Draw off the honey: When honey builds up at the bottom of the extractor, run it through the tap into a container with a strainer; the tank must not fill up to the point of touching the frames.

How do you clean extracted honey? Straining and settling

Straining

Honey coming out of the extractor contains bits of wax, bee parts and foam. The honey is run from the tap through coarse and medium strainers; double strainers are common.

Do not filter too finely. An overly fine filter also removes the pollen grains; the honey becomes clearer, but the trace that allows its botanical and geographical origin to be proven in the laboratory is lost. Under many regulations, honey with reduced pollen content has to be labelled under a separate name.

Settling

Strained honey does not go straight into jars. It is left in a settling tank for a few days; air bubbles and fine wax particles rise to the surface. The foam on top is skimmed off and the honey is filled into jars from the tap at the bottom.

If this step is skipped, the honey in the jar looks cloudy and foamy, and crystallisation is uneven too. The lid of the settling tank must close tightly and the room must be warm and dry.

What materials are safe for honey extraction?

Honey is acidic and corrodes unsuitable metal; the corroded metal ends up in the honey.

• Suitable: Stainless steel, food-grade plastic, glass.
• Not suitable: Uncoated iron and steel, copper, zinc, galvanised sheet, old containers with worn coatings.

The value of extracting separately

Extracting separately by flow period and apiary gains you three things: it makes a monofloral honey claim defensible, it preserves the differences in character between honeys, and it provides traceability if a problem arises. Combining everything in a single tank loses all three. Give each extraction batch a batch number with the apiary, period and date; record the moisture reading too.

After extraction: combs and cleaning

• Have the combs cleaned: Extracted combs can be given back to the colonies in the evening for the bees to lick clean. Do this in a way that does not trigger robbing: on top of the hives and across the whole apiary on the same evening; do not leave them in the open.
• Store them: Dry, clean combs are stored protected against wax moth.
• Wash the extractor: The extractor and containers are washed with warm water; very hot water melts the wax and makes it stick to surfaces. If detergent was used, rinse thoroughly. Do not put equipment away until it is completely dry; leftover water and honey cause mould and odours.