northernontario

Been googling for a while. Seems like there are multiple methods... a lot depends on what equipment you have available. Seems like most are melting with a layer of water in the bottom for impurities to settle out... but that doesn't get the dissolved impurities. The nice tanks have multiple valves to let you drain some water out to get the clean beeswax to the next higher valve. Probably lots of people doing it, who aren't discussing their methods online. I was contacting a company about a used wax melting tank... when I called the guy he said several of his identical tanks had been bought by beekeepers. Contacted a small-time guy about some filter bags... "Seems the beeswax processing guys are using this..." ... so people just aren't posting their info for the world to see.

I've got a presto pot that I use for votives. They actually aren't available here in Canada... had to have a family member pick one up on a trip to the US and bring it back with them. Can't use it for beeswax pillars though, the pour temp is low enough that the ball valve solidifies. The stove is a temporary solution. I've got a brand new large wax melting tank in the basement... I'm picking up a couple hundred pounds of beeswax later this week, and will be building a frame for that tank next week. Can't wait to fire it up and watch the hydro meter spin! Two 1500w elements! Then the candle production really begins!

I've found with my beeswax that I had been pouring too hot. Now I'm pouring down near 150f, and a skin of wax forms fairly quickly after pouring. Once the skin has formed, the wick bar come off, and the candle is free to shrink down, instead of generating voids. It's a little more hands-on, but looks so much nicer with the beeswax.

Last time I did a show like that, selling my own personal beeswax candles, set up near a lady selling Scentsy (or something similar)... she was quite nice to me. But you could tell she was peeved that people were buying my candles over browsing her catalogue.

The one downside to working in your kitchen, you inevitably end up with wax all over. It's on the table, it's on the tile floor, it's on the counter top, and it's on the stove. I accidentally spilled some beeswax the other day into a stove burner. The next night I was making dinner, it was smoking (as it always does), and I've got the exhaust fan going to clear the air. I lifted the pan up... and oops... No damage done.

Lots of concrete... but don't forget to keep a fire extinguisher handy!

Has anyone here done any large-scale filtering (hundreds of lbs) of beeswax? I'm looking into a large double-walled water jacketed melter, and filtering through 1 micron filter bags. The beeswax would be pre-processed to remove all the large contaminates. Just looking for tips. Thanks!