Rendering beeswax?

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MrsFusion

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I wasn't sure where to post this...hope this is okay.

My uncle(in law) is a bee keeper. He sells his honey here locally. Today, I gave his daughter some of my soaps. And she immediately asked me if I used beeswax. I don't yet, although, I been researching it.

Honestly, I don't know if rendering is even the right term? I don't know what the "honey combs" or "capps" look like after you get all the honey out. And I haven't talked to my uncle about it yet. He's a snowbird and is in Texas right now. Won't be back until April or May.

I don't know how much trouble it is to get the wax. I watched some videos on utube. Doesn't seem to hard.

Mainly I want beeswax for lotion bars. But, I supposed I could use it in my soaps too. And maybe some lip balms......

I guess what I'm asking is...
If you get what's left of the wax after the bee keeper gets all his honey out....how hard is it to purify the wax so you can use it for other things.
 
I think it's harder than it looks. I've seen beeswax with body parts in it. I guess you would have to figure out a way to melt it all then filter it?
 
Oh my goodness. :shock: Tried it and will NEVER do it again. Ruined a good pan.

But...I say go for it! You might have better luck than me. :D
 
I agree with tried it and will never do it again.
My dad has bees and he gave me a bunch of raw beeswax. I google, watched videos, all the above to figure out how to refine it. OMG what a MESS!!!! Even after melting and trying to pour it through cheesecloth, it was a gloppy mess. Still had some honey in it and ugh... Now I have to figure out how to tell my dad I don't anymore of his wax without hurting his feelings. I think it will be much easier to just buy some.
 
Nah, it's easy. Yes, a little messy but easy-peasy.

We have our own beehives so I renender down the wax all the time. But, for sure, you need to have some dedicated equipment. The wax will stick to it and you won't be able to use it for anything else.

Here's the best way to do it:

Put the cappings in a tall pot. Add enough water to cover the cappings. Put the pot in the oven on 170-200 degrees. Do not let the wax go over 240 degrees, it'll darken the color of it. Let it sit in the oven either all day or over night.

As the wax melts it'll float toward the top. The gunk/propolis and bee bodies drop to the bottom. Take the pot out of the oven and let it sit. Let it sit until the wax on top hardens.

Pretty soon you'll have a nice disk of beewax on the top. It will stick a little to the sides of the pot but just push at it carefully to get it out. Just remember it's sitting on a bunch of water so if you push too hard you'll end up with a face full of bee water! (Ask me how I know!)

Now, do not just dump out the bee gunk water! This is precious stuff! Pour it in to your garden or flower bed. Trust me, your plants will LOVE this stuff. Just keep in mind that it may be still be a little sweet so it will attract bees. Which is also VERY good for your garden.

The bee propolis (bee glue) is the good stuff that can do all sorts of great things for you. :D

So now you got this disk of rendered beeswax. If you still see what you think are gunky things in it like spots you can rendered it again. But the second time since you've got this nice little disk you can do it another way.

Break up the disk into smaller pieces and put them in the leg of a pair of panty hose. Knot it off, get your waxy pot out again, add water and drop it in. Use the same cooking process.

BUT! Do NOT ever squish or squeeze the panty hose while it's in the pot! All you'll really succeed in doing is squishing out the gunk through the holes in the panty hose. You will lose some of your wax that remains in the panty hose but if you want clear wax, it's the price you pay.

Just make sure this time, when you take the pot out of the oven you pull the panty hose out of it. You can regain back some of the wax that is still in hose by squishing it out on to waxed paper. You'll get some back, but not a lot.

Your whole house will smell wonderful! Warm beeswax is a great smell!

A couple of cautions on your wax. It's pure and natural. But it's not going to be white. Most white beeswax you see is bleached by using something. I'm not 100% positive but I think they use peroxide. I prefer to use mine natural looking so I don't know how to bleach it. I've also read where you can leave it out in the sun and it'll bleach it for you. Haven't tried it.

So, like I said. Easy-peasy. Not even really time consuming. :D

Give it a whirl! Pretty soon you'll be wanting to make candles out of that stuff.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I think that I will talk to my uncle when he gets back and see what he thinks. I'm pretty sure that he just throws away the cappings. I would like to give it a try, at least one time :)
 
Oh, I wish I would have read this before ruining all the precious wax dad gave me! You make it sound easy enough to try it again! lol
 
Yup. Easy-peasy. I tried several methods and this way is truly the easiest. Just don't spill the pot when you're moving it. You'll have a ginormous mess. This I do NOT know from experience. I only read about someone else's experience and caused me enough fear to be extremely cautious! :shock:

One thing that I forgot to mention is that when beeswax hardens it gets really hard. So if your disk is thick it might be hard to break it up. You won't be able to snap it with your fingers. You'll have to smash it against the something hard to break it up.

It'll be hard to gauge how much wax you'll get from the cappings. You see this huge pile of cappings and you think "WOW! Look at all that!"....But then you render it down and it's like..."Wow....that's all I got from that?" :wink: LOL! So don't be too surprised at the outcome! It's still worth the work!

Good luck Ladies!

BTW: Check out this link
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=21365
It's about using wax to make hand dipped candles.
 

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