Learning how to clean and render beeswax will help you get more out of your beehive and a nicer end product especially if you want to make your own cosmetics or candles.
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You might be a new beekeeper or have found a local supplier of raw honeycomb and beeswax which needs cleaning and rendering before it can be used. Once cleaned, you can use it to make your own cosmetics, balms, salves, candles, furniture polish and leather conditioner. All beekeepers have a slightly different way to clean and render beeswax, I like to remove the big chunky stuff first then use hot water to help clean the wax.
Tools You Need to Clean and Render Beeswax
There’s a few bits and pieces you will need to clean and render beeswax:
- Beekeeping double strainer
or sieve
- Old saucepan or double boiler
- Old metal bowl or foil trays/foil pie dishes
- Cheesecloth or mesh bag
- Stainless steel spoon
- Newspaper
These items are going to get covered in wax, and propolis and are a little difficult to clean up. Check out your local thrift store for some low cost tools, I took a trip to my local thrift store and picked up an old double boiler and spoon.
Strainer
I have a stainless steel double strainer
Saucepan
This is going to be used a few times to clean and melt the wax, use something which is easy for you to move when full of hot water to reduce any accidents.
Cheesecloth
Is used to filter out the smaller particles in your beeswax.
Newspaper
Cover work surfaces where you are pouring to make clean up easier. For safety. keep paper well away from open flames and sources of ignition.
How To Clean and Render Beeswax
The cleaning process starts with allowing any honey to drain from the honeycomb and cappings. Place the pieces into the strainer over a bowl to catch any honey. If you can leave it to drain for a few hours or over night that works best.
The next stage is melting the wax. Take great care in cleaning and rendering beeswax, you will be heating and using hot water and melted wax which can burn and scald. Always ensure you act safety when working with heat and flammable substances.
Place honeycomb and cappings into the top part of a double boiler and filled the bottom pan of the double boiler 1/4 full of water. This is just to melt the wax down so you can strain out the big bits of dead bee, propolis etc. Turn the heat on a low-medium heat and keep and eye on the melting process, the wax just needs to melt and not boil. Stir the wax often as it starts to melt. Once all melted, remove from the heat.
Prepare the strainer over a foil tray to catch the melted wax. Make sure it is big enough to hold the wax. I use old aluminium pie dishes I saved which are easy to remove the wax from. Allow to cool completely in the foil tray or dish. Impurities in the wax will sink to the bottom of the dish.
Once completely cool, remove the wax from the container. Many beekeepers carefully scrape off the debris from the bottom of the wax, I break up the wax and place it into a cheesecloth bag to filter out these impurities. Tie the bag shut so the filtered out impurities don’t escape in the next step.
Next, add your beeswax and cheesecloth bag to the saucepan and fill your saucepan 1/4 to 1/2 full of water. It’s really important to not over fill your saucepan. Start heating the water on low. The goal is to heat the water to melt the wax in the bag which will then form a layer on the water. Do not allow the water and wax to boil.
Once the wax inside the bag has melted, turn off the heat and remove the cheesecloth bag. It does look a little nasty but it’s normal. If you can hang the bag over the saucepan so the contents drip into the pan the wax covering the cheesecloth will dry and harden and will keep things a little cleaner. Allow the water and wax to cool completely in the saucepan, the wax will float on the top of the water and any impurities in the wax will collect on the bottom of the wax.
Once completely cool, carefully lift the beeswax disc out of the water. Don’t toss the water in the drain as beeswax can block your plumbing, I put it into the compost heap. Carefully scrape the debris from the bottom of the wax. The picture above shows some of the debris in the wax. You can repeat the melting and scraping process until you get the wax as clean as you would like it to be.
If you won’t be using the wax for a while, you can melt it in a double boiler and pour it into a silicone mold
Remember to take great care in cleaning and rendering your beeswax. Use old saucepans or a double boiler to melt the wax for easier cleaning and filtering. and find a method that works best for you. What’s your favorite way to use beeswax in your home? Let me know in the comments!
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