crush and strain 2012

The day before the crush and strain, I removed eight deep frames of capped honey from the freezer and left the frames to thaw inside their plastic bag.  I cut away the honey comb and nearly filled a five gallon bucket - probably the limit of my strainer. 

Including preparation and clean-up, the entire crush portion took just one hour - a new record.  Here's my best effort with a material balance.

• 48.0lb of honey + 8 deep frames + wax
• 42.6lb of honey + wax
• 37.0lb of honey

After two days of straining, stirring and settling, I filled 73 x 8oz bottles of honey.

I rinsed the wax pieces in warm water and dried those pieces on the sunny driveway.  Next, I placed the pieces in bags which are stored in the freezer until I was ready to use the solar melter.  Sounds extreme, but a few years ago wax moths made a complete mess of unprocessed wax which I left  indoors.

Coincidentally, I started the solar melting during Atlanta's all-time record of 106°F.   The block of wax smells great and has a beautiful deep yellow color - I'm blown away.