I am a little bit in love with our new honey press. It is made from stainless steel and it can crush close to a whole box of natural honeycomb in one fell squish. What better way to get all that goodness of the pollen, propolis and of course the honey into the jar?
Tim loads up our fandangled honey press as part of a natural beekeeping class
Crushing comb that has been through the brood (but which is now full of honey) and has lots of pollen in it (that’s the red stuff) – millions of flowers, concentrated into this one place…
And at the end of the pressing, we’re left with a big lump of beeswax
The final block of beeswax and comb bits which we can then render down to pure, organic, chemical free beeswax and use for all sorts of extremely useful things…
Tim Malfroy got this particular honey press overseas, but I’ve found a couple of models in Australia that look the same, though they’re sold as fruit presses.
- Brewcraft fruit press
- Constante fruit press
Apparently these type of presses are used extensively in Africa for top bar beekeeping of various types. And you can also use them to press fruit. Multifunction!
- More notes and resources on natural beekeeping here…
- Natural beekeeping courses in Sydney and Mudgee here…
That looks amazing! Prior to moving to Serendipity Farm I had all sorts of gadgets like that littered about the house (in town) nonchalantly claiming how amazingly sustainable I could be if given a few acres of land. Now I have to put my money where my mouth is and these gadgets have to pay for themselves or get shelved. I think the pasta maker is heading for the thrift shop along with my centrifuge juicer…no time to use them and no inclination any more (too tired after all the hard work to bother with them). There is an old… Read more »
North Americans see here the how-=to! Reaping the riches of this wondrous land right before your very eyes!
I like the red honey! Any ideas as to what kind of plant the pollen is from? Around here (Central Missouri, USA) there is mostly red and white clover, which makes for a very clear, sweet honey. My dad was a beekeeper for most of the time we were kids, but I’ve never seen honey that bright red color.
Central Missouri? or Minnesota.
Kirsten, you have to try making some lip mojo with that wax. Melt the wax and add about the same amount again of olive oil (or almond oil) mix, pour into little pots et voila, Jojo’s Lip Mojo! You will never have chapped lips again. You can also add lavender oil and/or vitamin E oil for extra goodness. I also use it as a barrier cream on my hands before gardening. It will be hard but you just scrape a bit off with the back of your finger nail and it melts onto your skin. Great as a gift too… Read more »
will do! thankyou!
What about the centrifugal method of honey extraction
Hey Rauf, The centrifugal method can only be used for extracting honey in conventional frame beekeeping where the frame and the comb is re-enforced with wires and pre-fab foundation etc, in order to allow the comb to be re-used in the hive once the honey is extracted by centrifuge. Warré beekeeping specifically does not re-use the comb in the hive after honey harvest, in order to prevent disease, toxin build up and also to allow the bees to build new comb according to the dictates of the next season (no two natural combs are ever the same). So therefore a… Read more »
Thanks Kirsten – for either the kit jealousy or making me spend money, not yet sure which. Just today written on the joy of my Warren hive from Tim and can’t wait to see that delicious flow.
Mmmm … stainless steel gadgets … mmm! No seriously, looks good. Reckon it’s strong enough to do apples for cider making when not squishing honey comb from our as-yet-hypothetical-Warré-hived-bees?
We’ll report back in about a month during apple squishing season? Fingers crossed this press can handle apples…
Congratulations 😀
I’ve taken an elective at university, ‘The Art of Honey-making’ and this blog post of yours reminded me so much of the lovely summer I spent collecting honey combs, learning about types of bees, swarming, etc… 🙂 I got bitten a few time, got to collect (& consume loads of) precious royal jelly… A fellow classmate even got a 100 just for accepting to undergo b aee shower!!! Oh, so many beautiful memories!! 🙂
Hiba
http://www.cloudoflace.com
The honey that was produced made my mouth water for sure. Would love to have one but then would have to find wild honey I wonder if I could work out a deal with one of the bee removal guys to get the honey from the hives when they relocate the bees….
Fabulous! I need it. … as I munch on honey toast and drip it onto my keyboard. :/
Wow, that’s the most amazing honey I’ve ever seen…
Would you please post link to that model of press? Another difference between pressing vs. centrifuging is that you don’t get some of the aeration that can occur when centrifuging which in turn keeps the honey more as it originally was in the honeycomb cell.
There’s two links to this kind of press in the post above – they’re sold as fruit presses, but used as honey presses, particularly in Africa..
What is the price?do you know of where in Africa I can find it?
Constante Imports won’t respond to any of my emails. Brewmaster doesn’t sell the All-Stainless Steel press like this one. Can anyone tell me where I can buy the press used in this demonstration?
How about this one? http://www.westbrew.com.au/showProduct/Wine+Making/Pressing+Equipment+and+Fittings/830002
Compare to the centrifuge, it looks like your method makes much more difficult the cleaning of the wax for use like candles making etc. How do you clean the wax?
you render it out… it’s a simple process – just melt the wax and filter out the gunk…
Hi Kirsten,
Do we know where Tim got his from. Was it here in Europe? I know Tim visited France at some point?
Also, in case some one hasn’t heard about it… I heard that the scum left after the rendering, makes excellent mini fire starters for slow combustion heaters…
I think it’s slum gum or something like that..?
What method do you use to render the wax? Have you read the book by Phil Chandler called the Barefoot Beekeeper… He is a local here in the UK. Nice fellow. Smart beekeeper. His passion is Top Bar hives.
Sorry, one more question… Is this the juicer you used to get all those bottle of apple cider I think I saw on another post?
Nope we used a steam juicer for the apples this year, tho you *could* use this press for apples if you wanted to. If you were making cider, this would be better cause you’d get the yeasts from the apple skins interacting witht he brew…
Thanks for the tip! This is my second year beekeeping. I’ve got a fruit press just like yours and never thought to use it for honey. I also use Warre type hives.
I’m a beekeeper from Nigeria and I would like to buy one those honey press. How do I go about it?
Neither of those links carry that model anymore… 🙁
Hi Tim
I’m very interested in the honey press would you please forward further information to me including a price please?
Many thanks
Barry
Sorry Barry Tim doesn’t sell them
Here is an option on eBay – http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Heavy-Duty-7-5L-Min-Press-Stainless-Steel-Wine-Making-Apple-Cider-making-Press-/151543855258?hash=item2348b7b89a:g:8JIAAOSw0e9UrRAF
http://www.costanteimports.com.au/wine-beer-cider-olive-oil/cider-making/presses/stainless-steel-fruit-press.html
Just what i am looking to build ,up till now all my 10 hives have been Langstroth but i am now changing over to top bar for half my hives so i needed to see some thing like this so i can build one my self, thank you for the pictures as it makes it clear, hope you get plenty of wax and honey, i live in South Australia and the flow is going well had to under supper 8 of my hives this week Thank you regards Jim
Hi, Aloha from Hawaii.
Thanks for sharing the honeycomb crusher.
Who carriers the equipment? I like to get one for me. Do you have a website for it?
Respectfully,
Maurizio
Heya Maurizio! I would search for a ‘small batch fruit press’ then find a stainless steel one – they’re mostly the same, form what I understand – just make sure to not use the optiona bags, bc it will take forever to press 🙂 – here’s a usa based site I found? https://pleasanthillgrain.com/appliances/apple-wine-presses
Can you eat safely some of the wax left from the whole process? Can you eat safely post-brood comb just as it is, full of pollen or even void? I mean, I eat the whole thing but lately I’ve been thinking about if it brings too much beeswax into my system and whether this could be toxic on some long term… I’ve never felt it for it, but as I obtain really kilograms in a year of this kind of comb, dark, thick, full of bee-bread, I usually eat a lot of it, about two ounces a day or more,… Read more »
Please I need the honeycomb presser. I am in Ghana
Where can one buy this (or similar) kind of wax press, as shown in your pictures? Thank you. I like that one can take the basket off…
Horizontalhive.com sells this same press (italian made, heavy SS too, Was around $400 in 2024, I can’t remember if it included shipping. Horizontalhive (no “s” on the end) is located in MO in the USA, so shipping within the states would be reasonable (I think).
good to know – thanks Kay! 🙂