How to Render Beeswax

How to render beeswax with minimal supplies and minimal mess.

Our recent bee drama:

We have had quite a lot happen with our bees this last year. First, the batch of bees we first purchased died over the winter. We were able to collect some honey, but most of the boxes were moldy and covered in dead bees. We harvested what we could, and then put everything back in hopes of catching a swarm, but with little hope or expectation that that would work out.

But surprisingly, it did! We caught a hive. So far, they have been pretty aggressive when Ben goes out to check on them. But otherwise, we have been able to harvest an incredible abundance of wax and honey this year, and no one has gotten stung yet.

Our adventure:

When he went to harvest the honey, Ben was only able to get the frames out before the bees really went after him. He had a cloud of bees swarming his head and would not leave him alone, in spite of an even greater cloud of smoke. The hive is pretty far from the house, but the cloud of bees followed him all the way. I have a bee phobia (very stupid, also very hard to overcome) so while he was trying to bring in the honey as quickly as possible so as to not bring in bees, I stood with the door shut, not helping him in! I did not want that cloud of bees to come into the house, and by being silly about it, more bees collected around Ben, making it even harder for him to get the honey away from them.

Eventually, he put one box in the solar shed (the place we store all our batteries that power our off-grid system) and was able to bring one box inside to me with minimal bees. Still, there were probably 10 or so bees flying around the house.

For some reason, as soon as the bees were in the house, they seemed to completely mellow out. I don’t know much about bees so I have no idea why this is.

In any case, all worked out just fine because we were able to get lots of honey and wax! And because we caught a local hive, aggressive or not, they will be more likely to survive our harsh mountain winters.

How we extract the honey

We don’t use a honey extractor to separate the honey from the wax. We just use a paint filter and a bucket. This year, because we have milking equipment, I was able to use my makeshift follower for cheesemaking and my extra milking pail to make the perfect honey catcher. But before, we would use a food-grade five gallon bucket and follow people’s YouTube videos on how to make the best setup.

Because the paint filter keeps the wax and bee bits while the honey seeps through, rendering wax with minimal equipment and minimal mess works very well with my honey extraction system.

For ideas on what to do with your beeswax, check out my post on how to dye and dip candles. I have a list of ideas written out there.

How to render beeswax

Before you start the process, remember: wax is extremely messy and terrible for drains. It is best to use disposable utensils or ones dedicated to beeswax. I try to lay down aluminum foil wherever I can, but I don’t worry too much about wax on dishes because I have come up with a great method for cleaning wax. You can find it in my post about how to make beeswax candles.

Equipment needed:

• Paint filter, flour sack towel, or cheesecloth. (I prefer a paint filter because it’s really cheap at Home Depot, I buy two per year, and I don’t have to sacrifice my beloved flour sack towels) NOTE: if you are just rendering beeswax and have already extracted the honey, I recommend sacrificing a flour sack towel or old t-shirt, so you only need to filter once.
• One pot to heat the wax and one container to pour the wax into (maybe what you will use to dip candles or whatever your project is, if you’ve thought that far ahead) I like to use a stainless steel bowl but a mason jar would work, it would just be really hard to clean unless it’s wide mouth. The pot needs to be big enough to hold all of the wax and still be immersed in water.
• Aluminum foil, paper plates, paper towels, whatever disposable supplies you have handy to protect your counters and save on cleaning wax off of utensils.
• Metal spatula, silicone or rubber spatula, and paper towels for cleaning up.
• Optional: cut up tights for a second disposable filter. (Check out step six for more on this)

How to render beeswax step one:

If you use a paint filter to extract the honey, simply squish down the wax into the filter enough to tie a knot at the opening. Then put the entire paint filter full of wax into a pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil on the stovetop.

How to render beeswax step two:

Let the paint filter, water, and wax simmer until it looks like all the wax has melted. Try not to disturb the water much. The wax will rise to the surface and cling instantly to whatever touches it.

How to render beeswax step three:

Make sure to have aluminum foil or something protective set out on your countertop. Turn off the heat. Carefully lift the paint filter filled with bee bits up above the pot. Hold it above the pot for a minute or so to let the water and wax drip off. Then put it carefully onto the aluminum.

As it cools, wax will harden on the outside of the paint filter. Rub these off with your hands and add it to the pot of wax. After a while, you can peel the wax off of the aluminum foil. Add those to the pot of water.

How to render beeswax step four:

Put the pot of water in a cool place to let the wax rise to the surface and harden. This may take a few hours or even overnight, depending on the room temperature.

Note: I find that beeswax often requires a second filtering before I use it for candle making. The most efficient thing would be to take the hot wax and directly pour it through a second filter into a second pot. But I prefer to melt the wax without the water, because I don’t have two pots big enough. Also because the bigger the pot, the greater the surface to clean wax off of.

How to render beeswax step five:

Pull the hardened wax from the water and dump the water outside (not down your drain.) Viola, rendered beeswax!

Note: check step six before you clean your pot!

How to render beeswax step six:

Evaluate the wax. Is it ready for the project you want to use it for? Or does it look like it should be filtered a second time? If you used cheesecloth or flour sack towels to render the wax, you may not need to do this, but because I start by filtering the honey out of the wax, my paint filters start to tear a little bit and aren’t the best filters by the end.

Depending on your preferences, it may be time to reheat the wax and filter it a second time. I like to use the same pot to save on cleaning, and a stainless steel bowl. Heat the wax on medium low, and once it’s all melted, pour the wax into your second container with your second filter, using a plastic spatula to scrape all the wax into the filter. I like to let the wax cool and then stick the whole thing in the freezer, making it very easy to pull the wax out in the end.

Quick tip on cleaning wax:

If there is a lot of wax still leftover in your pot, put it in the freezer to peel the wax off easily.

Otherwise, heat the pot on the stove until the sides are all very hot, and wipe them clean with paper towels.

If you get wax on utensils, you could heat them up in the oven on an aluminum foil-lined baking dish and wipe clean, or put in your already waxy pot and fill with water and bring to a boil. Then set your pot full of water someplace cool. The wax will rise to the surface and solidify on the top.

My beeswax candle making post has more tips on how to clean the wax.

There you have it! Rendered wax ready for use. And doesn’t it smell delicious?

Let me know if you have tried this method, have tips to make it easier, and if you tried it!