Extracting Honey from the Comb - We Changed Some Things

We tried a new setup for our honey extraction and some things went well and there are still some things to work out. In this video you will be able to take a close look at our honey extraction setup and process. Overall our spring harvest was a success, but we still have some improvements to our system on the way. Stay tuned!!!
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#brucesbees #honeyharvest #beekeeping

[@kamonreynolds]

Congrats Bruce and Rusty good investment and proud to see your set up grow!

[@brucesbees]

Thanks Kamon. We have more changes on the way.

[@BrianCooper901]

Always good to make that process more efficient! It is nice you have a lot of help too!

[@brucesbees]

Absolutely but we still had the bottleneck on the back end getting it into buckets. We learned a lot that day and are making even more very significant changes. Stay tuned!!!

[@kennith.]

That extractor for sure was running quiet. Thanks for showing us your process.

[@trichard5106]

Looking Good !!

[@marklove2022]

I use an old Walter T. Kelley 33 frame extractor that empties into a heated Kelley sump which is emptied by a Maxant gear pump. My filter rack which holds the bag is suspended above my settling tank. I only allow the honey to get warm enough to flow easily through the filter by gravity. Thanks for another great video!

[@brucesbees]

Sounds like a great setup. We will get it figured out. We’re getting there. More changes coming. Stay tuned!

[@jamestownsendjrtbees3226]

Good stuff Bruce. That uncapper is awesome. I feel like the main bottle neck in the process is the filter. I find it easier when I have the honey house atleast 85 degrees to make the honey flow.

[@adamsoutdoors]

Pretty awesome set up Bruce! I have a few buddies that are getting it to bees. Hope to have a set up like yours in a few years. Still using home made uncapping tank and a 4 frame hand spinner for now though.

[@brucesbees]

Oh yeah. We used a bread knife and 3 frame hand crank in our one car garage for years. Hundreds if not thousands of pounds of honey that way. Then we outgrew it. And it’s been a lot better. But we have to get more efficient but to survive physically and to get the honey in buckets faster. We are making some more changes that I think will really help. We will have some shiny new toys for our next harvest in June. We are like kids in a candy store. Can’t wait. Stay tuned!

[@WildwoodsBeekeeping]

Nice setup Bruce, looks like it is working well for you. Nothing better to see than beekeepers working together to get the job done :) hard work but tasty Prize 😁 Tallow has bloomed in some different locations 10-7 miles from here, I saw the blooms and the bees were all over it. Hope to get some honey in June or early July, Fingers Crossed🤞 Looks like you extracted a lot of honey, at least to me :) Hope you can get some more. Have a great memorial weekend! Take care!! 😁👍🐝😎🤙

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for checking in Grayson!

[@jessicafairfax_Bens_Bees]

That's awesome Bruce. What a great set up y'all have in the honey house. 🐝👍💜🌼🍯 Way to work smart and not hard.

[@brucesbees]

It works out well. Still trying to improve it even more. Rusty and I have spent some money the past few days haha!

[@gallowaylights]

Wowsers 😮

[@theunlikelybeek]

WOW! I always get a bit envious of you southern beeks with your May harvests.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah it is fun. And this honey is so good. But we will be done with honey soon.

[@BohemiaBees]

Great looking setup Bruce. I hope to be able to upgrade to a hot knife uncapped one of these days.

[@brucesbees]

I’m sure you will Jason. Thanks for checking in!

[@dcrosco1458]

nice set up

[@CastleHives]

Talk about upgrades. . Good stuff Bruce. Looks like you guys have a great setup. I need to build one of those frame crackers. Slick idea. . You guys should try using hop spiders, you can get them on Amazon. They are a metal filter that fits a bucket. Eliminate the cloth.

[@brucesbees]

Stay tuned Brian…haha. You might just be in to something. Lots of changes coming next go around. 😉😎

[@doctortcbkk2027]

Yes, I use the 3 strainer system you can buy that fit right onto a 5 gallon bucket

[@brucesbees]

@@doctortcbkk2027yeah I’m familiar with it. Just so slow. We are doing lots of buckets and trying to figure out how to go faster. That is the biggest bottleneck right now. We may end up with 90 to 100 buckets next time we harvest. Might be a lofty goal but that’s what I am hoping for. Those multilevel strainers are great for some but we just have to move fast. Thanks for checking in!

[@4kbentz]

Looks like the timing might be off on the uncapper. The metal bar that pushes the frame down needs to be closer to the top of the frame

[@brucesbees]

@4kbentz yeah we will check into it. Thanks!

[@brianbennett4374]

Looking good 👍

[@GeorgeCMcRae]

Outstanding!

[@KajunHomestead]

Looking good Bruce

[@zeb5478]

At 60 lbs per bucket, that is a ton of honey. Good going

[@keithspillman]

AWESOME Spring pull Bruce, and GREAT timing to get the supers back on for the tallow!!! Now....a short pit stop before the BIG show!!!!! Congratulations on the honey AND the new equipment!!!

[@brucesbees]

Yessir. Still have some improvements to make but we are getting there. We have purchased some more shiny new toys. Stay tuned!

[@taddrienstra7247]

I have found the screening is always the bottle neck. Look at ways to easily swap out a not draining and plugged screen/bucket still full of honey. Perhaps a dump barrel that can just settle out over a week to quickly empty the clogged screen and its wax and honey. My biggest pain. Great upgrades

[@brucesbees]

Yep we are trying to figure it out. Your technique makes sense. We just have too much for it to be feasible. At least with our current setup. We will get it figured out one of these days.

[@barkersbees]

i filter into bucket and let it fill up and then I hang a bunch of baling twine from the rafters and then pull the filter up and hang it from the twine and let it drip so I don’t have to hold it by hand. I’ll have to make a video. Awesome process!

[@brucesbees]

That sounds like a good tip. Thanks my friend! We are just trying to get it in buckets and move fast but I have been thinking we needed to figure out some kind of rack. Would love to completely eliminate that step though. Maybe we will get it figured out. We are working on some big changes for the summer harvest. I think folks will be impressed with some of the things we are doing.

[@barkersbees]

@@brucesbees hell yeah I’m excited to see the changes!

[@EganHomesteadApiary]

Wow!! Congratulations!! So excited for you!

[@brucesbees]

Thanks my friend.

[@reiddukes1886]

nice job

[@meloneycrews]

Awesome setup Bruce!! Good has blessed you with some great friends it seems!💕💞

[@brucesbees]

Yes he has for sure!

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

That's awesome Bruce! Thanks for sharing!

[@gregdunn8208]

Great video Bruce. Nice harvest

[@brucesbees]

Thank you!

[@GrammyMidwife]

Wow! Awesome job and great equipment and help!

[@brucesbees]

We are getting there Lisa. More changes to come!

[@dadu63]

You Big High Time now longsnapper! Good video Alabama!

[@brucesbees]

Haha!

[@628DirtRooster]

Very hard work but very fun stuff.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah man. Living the dream. I love it!!!

[@jimallen1176]

Good harvest Bruce. I have a Dakota Gunness chain uncapper & love it. I've got to figure out what to do with my wet cappings. A lot of cappings honey gets wasted in my wax melter.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah I haven’t tried to process the cappings yet but the spinner helped get most of the honey out.

[@Drewjober]

Sweet How warm and humid is it there?

[@brucesbees]

That day was not hot or humid at all. But it gets very hot and humid in the summer time.

[@dcsblessedbees]

Stream lining can make a huge difference in the amount of labor beekeeping requires. Thanks for sharing Bruce, Blessed Days buddy...

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for checking in. We are getting it figured out. Stay tuned for more changes to come.

[@3Beehivesto300]

Paint strainer in bucket works. Hang a ratchet strap from the ceiling and pull up the paint trainer and clip it to the strap so that it can drain. 5 min later refill the same strainer after you put it into a new bucket.

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for the tip!

[@illumi-Nate]

Bad ass building & setup! Jealous!

[@brucesbees]

It’s been a long time coming and Rusty is a great friend. I have been blessed with great friends all the way around in this new adventure. We learned some important lessons that day and look forward to trying out our new and improved setup in a few weeks! Thanks so much for checking in!

[@jeffwhite6343]

Wow, that's an impressive first pull. The new system looks like it's gonna be great.

[@brucesbees]

We still have some things to work out but we are getting there.

[@MagnoliaSpringsFarm19]

Impressive setup!

[@brucesbees]

Thanks. Still working on improving it but it worked out pretty well.

[@TeddyC-32963]

Your in a good sticky situation Bruce😂 Congrats on your new set up👍🏼

[@brucesbees]

Haha. Thanks!

[@michaelshelnutt3534]

Bruce, how many hives are you up to now?

[@brucesbees]

Over 100. Not sure. I should actually count them one day. I am guessing around 120.

[@3Beehivesto300]

You need a way to catch the cappings and move them to the spinner?

[@brucesbees]

Yeah we tried those scoops but they were not strong enough. Will figure something out hopefully.

[@3Beehivesto300]

@@brucesbees I use a deep box with a metal queen excluder screwed to the bottom of it. I let the cappings fall into it. Your tub may need a custom size box.

[@brucesbees]

@3Beehivesto300 hmm that’s a thought🤔. I think Rusty bought a metal scoop that may work well but if it doesn’t we man need to try something like you describe.

[@MinnesotaBeekeeper]

Nice harvest! Silly question, why not put the extractors next to the uncapping line? Less dripping on the floor.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah that makes sense but it is good to have some space to walk through there. Instead of having to walk around the extractors every time. That might be something we try down the road though. Thanks for the thought. We are still trying to tweak things but getting there.

[@MinnesotaBeekeeper]

@@brucesbees A work in progress. Traffic flow vs avoiding making a mess.

[@brucesbees]

@MinnesotaBeekeeper yep a work in progress for sure. The mess isn’t as bad as you would think. But flow has to take precedent for now. Especially with the monster harvest we are anticipating in June.

[@Bourbonsouth47]

Very nice setup

[@brucesbees]

Thanks!

[@jasonadams3781]

Did you have or was there any time savings?

[@brucesbees]

The extraction itself was much better, but the bottleneck was in the back end getting the honey into the buckets. We are working on a couple more things that will hopefully speed it up even more. Stay tuned!

[@justinray3040]

Were you able to use a standard uncapping tank with the Cowen uncapper or was it built custom? Thanks

[@brucesbees]

This uncapper and tank came together. All part of the deal.

[@illumi-Nate]

Is the helpers pay a jar of honey or money??😂

[@brucesbees]

Well it just depends. Usually honey but we didn’t have any bottled up yet so I need to get that to them!

[@puddin6945]

I’m getting ready to do my first extraction and I have a few frames that had brood and they have back filled with nectar should I wait until the entire frame is capped or will it be ok

[@brucesbees]

It will probably be ok but you could wait as well. I would do a “shake test” and see if nectar rains out. If I it does then leave them alone for a few days. If no nectar shaking out they should be good to go.

[@BradfieldsBeeYard]

Are your extractors bolted to the floor?

[@brucesbees]

Yes

[@johnshumate9713]

looks like you have the same bottle neck we had until we purchased what is called a hop spider from Amazon

[@brucesbees]

We actually purchased one of those and I am about to purchase a second one. Hope it will work out well. I think it will.

[@jpsullivan5740]

How did the settling tank work out for this run? I was thinking about doing the same... I'm just not ready to step up to a clarifier yet

[@brucesbees]

I think I talk about it a little towards the end of the video. In short. Not good. The honey was too thick. We bought a hops spider to try this next go around.

[@jpsullivan5740]

@@brucesbees just looked those up! Brilliant! Thanks!

[@brucesbees]

We haven’t tried it yet but have had folks tell us it works well. Rusty bought a 600 micron one so should flow pretty well.

[@MountainTopBeekeeping]

Delicious thick honey ❤

[@trichard5106]

What about the simple harmony farms, I love to try it. Just let me know if it available ?

[@brucesbees]

We used those for years. Really an effective product. We just outgrew them.

[@markridgemr]

How many colonies?

[@brucesbees]

I currently run 140 or 145 +/- colonies. About 95 to 100 of them are production colonies I believe.

[@beverlysteen]

Made up for last year’s honey loss.

[@brucesbees]

It is moving us towards that for sure. Hoping for a really nice summer harvest.