Comments on: Honey Extracting: Bucket Method

By: Will Delito

Will Delito — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 22:27:00 +0000

Home depot buckets aren’t FOOD GRADE, Don’t use them

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 03:16:10 +0000

In reply to Susan. After processing your honey put them back in the hive they came from. They will clean and repair frames. If you still have a good flow going you can most likely pull again in a month or so.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 19:48:40 +0000

In reply to Roger. Firehouse Subs sells their pickle buckets for $2.00 each and that includes the lid. They really smell so you have to clean them out with bleach and air them out for a while but it is worth it.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 15:52:44 +0000

In reply to Roger. In the Memphis Tennessee Area 5gal. Food Grade Buckets Are Available For $4-5.95 At TSC, Wal- Mart, Home Depot, & Lowe's stores.

By: Glata

Glata — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 14:23:22 +0000

Looks easy enough! Wish I wasn’t so terrified of tiny, flying things with stingers. This looks like something I could enjoy doing.
Fantastic article!

By: jacob thomas

jacob thomas — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 12:09:46 +0000

THIS is a crime. If U can buy a bucket U can make an extractor. Get any food grade bucket and get PVC ‘T’ a size larger than two feet PVC pipe U require to tie the comb. Fix the T inverted at the bottom of the bucket by using PVC pipes on either end of the PVC T to the bucket wall so that the leg of the T stand upwards. Now tie the comb to the two feet PVC pipe and insert into the T. Now rotate clock wise and there is UR honey.

By: Dale

Dale — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 01:29:19 +0000

An easy improvement is to buy a medium sieve/strainer that is fitted for a 5 gallon bucket, They are available from beekeeping supply companies. I also recommend using a food grade bucket.

By: Erika

Erika — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 17:44:05 +0000

Great blog post! I use a crush and drain method similar to this, but I used a white bucket from the honey store that came with the gate and then a double strainer set in the top. This strained out more of the debris. I will write a blog post about it when I get a spare minute! I definitely would not use these orange buckets even for home use (hey – you matter!) I do worry that even the white food grade buckets are probably not BPA free… I do get the honey into glass as quickly as possible and don’t let it sit in the bucket. Thanks for sharing and starting this dialog!

By: Cécile Stelzer Johnson

Cécile Stelzer Johnson — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 17:28:40 +0000

May I suggest these improvements:
Careful, here: a homer bucket from the Home Depot is not “food grade” so it is fine if the honey is for home consumption, but if you want to sell it …. You can purchase a white bucket or two from a beekeeping supply company. It is really not much more and it may have the honey gate thrown in for kicks. This project is otherwise well done. I would put a little more than a 1/2″security margin on the bottom lid: a bucket full of honey can be quite heavy.
To make that crushing easier using 2 rollers that sandwich the comb would make that infinitely easier. It would also not have you pushing down on the honey and risk passing the top bucket inside the bottom bucket. (some of that plastic is a little too thin and can tear.
If you are old enough to remember the first “clothes dryer” that had 2 rollers, you would put the clothes between the rollers and turn the crank. I have not seen those in a long time but that would be faster and the comb would stay more or less in one piece.
From the size of the holes that are made in that top bucket, everything that is smaller than 1/4″ will get through. How about using a paint filter between the bottom bucket and the “ring” that is holding the top bucket?
If you are doing it during warm enough weather, it will flow through easily and look gorgeous.

By: paul

paul — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 20:25:38 +0000

you should be using food safe buckets for this project, they can obtained at any deli or food supply retailer. You can also get buckets from any of the bee supply houses that already have the gate and hole supplied.