Rendering Beeswax

Raw honeycomb needs to be rendered into beeswax.  There is debris in there that has to come out, honey, propolis, etc.  The blocks above are from our hives, rendered on my stove top in a double boiler.  I do it this way:

First a caution.  Beeswax is extremely flammable.  Never melt wax over direct heat or flame.  Get a double boiler you're never going to want to use again.  Put the honeycomb in the top with a little bit of water.  Bring the water in the bottom to a simmer, make sure it isn't touching the bottom of the upper chamber where the comb and water is.  Let the wax/water combo melt - while it's melting, prepare your 'mold'. 

What I use is a waxed orange juice carton.  Cut the top off.  Get some cheesecloth, and some binder clips.  Clip the cheesecloth to the top four sides of the carton, letting the center droop into the carton.

Once your wax/water is melted, carefully (I can't emphasize this enough.  Again, beeswax is highly flammable, and if you get it on you, it burns.  Badly.  Be careful to not spill it - particularly over any open flame!!) pour the wax/water through the cheesecloth into the carton.  You're done!  Almost :)

Once the wax in the carton has cooled, you'll have layers in there.  The top is the wax.  Below is any slumgum that got through the cheesecloth, and below that is the water.  Tear the carton away over the sink, pull your beautiful block out.  If you see a lot of stuff stuck to the bottom, don't worry, you can either cut/scrape it away or you can remelt it and restrain it through finer cheesecloth, or even an old cotton t-shirt would work.

I shave off the block what I want to use.  I have a dedicated little crockpot that I melt beeswax in to use in soap.  I never clean that out, nor do I do much to the double boiler other than to scrape out any yuck.  Seriously, do not use anything you want to use for something else - it won't come clean!

Roll the cheesecloth up into balls - let it harden and dry - they make great fire starters!

If you have any questions, contact me and I'll answer them as best I can.

I'm just sneaking this link in here, because it will be useful as we move onto making candles with our beeswax.  Here is a great page explaining how to size the wicks for your candles.  I have read that the square braid wicks are the best for beeswax.  You need to use a bit larger size with beeswax compared to paraffin wax.