Beeswax rendering, cleaning and presenting

Have you ever wondered what is involved to get beeswax to look that beautiful yellow and smell absolutely amazing – like honey, literally?

Whenever my husband and I do bee rescues for people or we do bee inspections in our own hives, we save whatever wax we can no matter how dirty it is. I don’t like to be wasteful since the bees worked so hard to make it. I know that I can get it clean and presentable.

Let me walk you through what I’ve been doing over the past several weeks. I took a trash bag full of very dirty comb that was loaded with debris, dead larva, wax moths, and remnants of nectar and pollen; and rendered (ie: melted) it down with water multiple times. This latest batch took eight renderings and cleanings because it was so dirty.

Once the wax is melted, I pour it along with the water over a strainer and into another bucket. That bucket gets covered and put into our greenhouse away from critters so that it can set up and harden.

The wax floats to the top while the dirty water and debris settle below. I then gently pry the block of wax out of the bucket and dump the dirty water. The first several renderings are the most difficult because much of the more dense, bigger debris won’t go through the strainer and clogs the strainer. So, I take smaller chunks of the debris and melt that down several times just to get whatever wax I can out of it before discarding the waste.

After the majority of the debris is gone, then you have propolis and smaller debris that will adhere to the bottom of the wax. That gets scraped away and rendered down again and again until there is no more debris on the bottom of the block of wax.

When I am satisfied with the cleanliness of the wax, I melt it all down again (without water) so that I can pour it into pretty molds. That is what you see when you buy the wax from me.

There is a chance some propolis* could still be mixed in with the wax, because I don’t put it through a super tight filtering process; however, that makes it all the more special. It is clean, pure and free of debris. And, the smell cannot be beat.

You can use this wax for making candles, beeswax wraps, using on tools (my husband loves using the wax when he forges tools and projects in his blacksmith shop), furniture polish, etc.

Straight from the bees and no additives!

* Propolis, also known as bee glue, is a resinous mixture that honey bees produce by mixing saliva and beeswax with resin gathered from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources. It is used as a sealant for unwanted open spaces in the beehive. For us, it has medicinal qualities. Watch for an upcoming blog entry on the benefits of propolis. Please visit me online at www.peasbeewithewe.com

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