By: James Masucci
The problem with being a sideliner is that you are “in between”. Too small for all the cool things that the commercial guys have, but too big to do things the way hobbyists do. I made a couple big purchases this year that have brought step changes in the efficiency of my operation. Though expensive, my buyer’s remorse transformed immediately into a smile after using them for the first time. It got me thinking about other beekeepers with expanding operations that wonder about what to buy. So, I thought I would talk about the larger purchases I’ve made that have truly increased my efficiency. This is not a product review or endorsement of any kind. Just a discussion of what I’ve found to be helpful.
I am going to talk about two areas of beekeeping where the right equipment has made a world of difference. Extracting and bottling. Each of these can be done with minimal equipment. But adding the right tool can dramatically improve the process by making it easier, neater and/or faster.
Picture 1: An automatic decapping machine greatly sped up my extracting operation. My decapping tank fit nicely underneath to catch all the cappings and gravity allowed me to capture all the drippings. Uncapping frames is no longer a rate limiting step.
Let’s talk about extracting. I have a 20-frame extractor and a decapping tank that holds 20 frames. These are must-have pieces of equipment if you’re going to process thousands of pounds of honey. With just this equipment, I would hire a kid in the neighborhood to spend a week or two uncapping frames. The process worked. By the time we got 20 frames ready to spin, the previous spin was about complete. Unload the extractor, reload the extractor, uncap frames, repeat. However, our wrists ached and there was honey all over the place by the end of the day. In addition, the decapping tank needed to be cleaned out each day, meaning gravity didn’t have enough time to remove all the honey from them. At this year’s ABF meeting, I walked into the trade show and there she was… an automatic decapping machine. I looked at it and said, “this is what I need.” But it was $4,000. The more I walked by it, the more I wanted it. I pulled the trigger and brought it home. I got to use it this Spring for my black locust honey. Holy cow, it was a step change in extracting. The twenty frames were done in no time (see picture 1). Even working by myself, I would stand around and wait for the extractor to spin. In fact, I texted my wife that I need another extractor. I could easily run two 20-frame extractors now (IF I want to invest in another one). The machine isn’t perfect. I still needed to scrape low portions of the comb and every so often a frame would misfeed, but uncapping frames is no longer a bottleneck. My arms no longer ache and the honey house is a lot cleaner. Plus, my decapping tank fits underneath the decapper and two-days’ worth of cappings fit into it, I can now fill it to the brim. That allowed me to recover more of the honey from the cappings by gravity.
Picture 2: Straining honey is not my new bottleneck. Running multiple strainers helps the process, allowing me to clean one strainer while the other is working. However, I am considering a honey clarifier to eliminate this problem.
Removing the decapping bottleneck has led to the next one… straining (see picture 2). I run my honey through a strainer to remove wax and other debris. The strainer is constantly getting clogged. I have a few strainers so I can clean one while the other is straining. But this takes time and slows the process. I don’t have an answer, yet, but I am looking at honey clarifiers. I don’t want to pump honey into storage tanks, etc. Too much money and takes up too much room. I am in the process of building one with three five-gallon buckets which will then empty into another bucket for storage. If I can get that to work, then a two-extractor set-up is really feasible and I can nearly double my extracting rate. If I can’t get it to work, a commercially made clarifier may be my next large purchase (next year).
Bottling is another one of those time consuming and messy processes that all beekeepers must do. Like most everyone else, I started with a 5-gallon bucket and a honey gate. The honey gates always leaked, and I was constantly refilling the bucket. When honey crystallized in the bucket, it took days with one of those heated wraps to liquefy it. As I grew, I was constantly pouring bucket into bucket to fill orders. My first solution was to buy a 30-gallon bottling tank with a quality, stainless steel honey gate. I could fill it once, allow impurities to float to the top, and then fill a lot of bottles without stopping. One tank-full was a good day’s worth of pouring. The trick to its success, however, was to purchase a manual, hydraulic lift cart (picture 3). I fill the tank on the cart in its lowest position, then raise the tank so the honey gate is above the tabletop allowing me to pour. Now, I could do cases of bottles and jars without stopping.
Picture 3: A 30-gallon tank on a hydraulic scissor lift was the first step to streamlining
bottling. A quality stainless steel honey gate was neater than others I have tried and
the high volume is enough for a day’s worth of filling. With the scissor lift, I can add
honey while lowered and pour when raised.
That was a big improvement over the 5-gallon buckets and well worth the investment. It was still time consuming and slightly messy due to drips and overfills. Hence, my latest investment; an automatic bottler. Just the bottler, not the table that automatically feeds bottles/jars (picture 4, next page). Boy, was that a game changer. I just had an order of 60 jelly jars for a customer. I had them filled in 10 minutes and NO drips with every jar receiving the same amount of honey. It hooks up directly to my bottling tank giving me access to 30 gallons of honey to be automatically bottled. It cut my bottling time in half. It’s so simple, now I can have friends and family help me bottle without the risk of getting honey all over the floor.
The last component of bottling is liquification. How do I liquefy multiple buckets of honey to fill large orders? My solution was to buy the heating element and conversion kit that turns my decapping tank into a hot water bath (picture 5). With this set-up, I can liquefy three 5-gallon buckets at a time and it takes about 24 hours. I find it works best when I cover it with an old comforter to help insulate it. My only complaint is that I wish it was bigger. I would like to be able to liquify six to 10 buckets at a time. I converted an old chest freezer using a reptile heating element and thermostat. It’s mediocre, it’s slow and there is a heat gradient from top to bottom. I am considering getting a water trough and using a water heater element to build another water bath… or bite the bullet and buy another decapping tank.
Picture 4: My latest purchase, an automatic bottler. The intake connects directly to my bottling tank. It quickly and accurately fills my jars without any drips.
One of the dilemmas a business owner constantly faces is the cost of “automation” vs the cost of labor. Writing a check for a couple thousand dollars is hard to justify when you know you can do the same thing by hand. But then you must ask yourself, “How much is your time worth? What if you can increase productivity by 50% or more? What if you can prevent injury (i.e. carpel tunnel)?” Sometimes, making the investments makes sense. Sometimes, it helps to hear how effective a piece of machinery is before you buy it. What I can tell you is this… I don’t regret purchasing any of the equipment I just talked about. Each of them made the process easier, and easier is a good thing. As you are thinking about your operation, think about it in terms of efficiency gains. What are your bottlenecks and what would happen if you removed that bottleneck? There is equipment out there that works for us sideliners, if you look.
Picture 5: The heating element conversion kit of my decapping tank allows it to double as a water bath. I use it to liquefy three buckets of honey at a time. It takes about 24 hours.
