Bee Wednesday Ep. 14: 🐝 Harvesting 22 Pounds of Raw Honey (Without an Expensive Extractor!)

Last October, with fall creeping in and freezing nighttime temperatures fast approaching, it was time to wrap up our late-season honey harvest!

Before winter set in, it was super important to harvest our excess honey early so the bees could pivot their focus toward storing enough resources for themselves to survive the cold months. We left plenty behind for the colony, but we were able to collect 11 frames (including one deep frame that broke earlier in the season) to process for our family.

Back in July, we harvested just 3 frames and brought in 6 pounds of honey. For this fall harvest, we hoped for a decent yield—and the final number completely blew us away!

Here is how we processed our entire autumn harvest using simple kitchen tools, a basic crush-and-strain setup, and one simple DIY trick that saved the day.

🛠️ Simple Tools for Backyard Honey Processing

You don’t need a thousand-dollar motorized honey extractor to harvest honey at home! While an extractor is great for large-scale apiaries, the crush-and-strain method is budget-friendly, accessible, and perfect for backyard beekeepers.

Here is what we used for our setup:

• Large Canning Pot: A great tip from my husband, Ryan—using a deep canning pot gave us plenty of volume to catch drippings without overflowing.
• Expandable Stainless Steel Strainer: Rests securely across large pots or sinks.
• Cheesecloth: A game-changer for double-filtering out fine wax comb right from the start.
• Frame Scraper Knife & Potato Masher: Standard starter kit scraping tools to uncapp the wax, plus a potato masher to break down the comb and help the honey flow faster.

💡 The Day 2 Game-Changer: The 2×4 Frame Board

On Day 1 of processing, things were a bit clumsy. Scraping comb while balancing thin frames vertically over the metal strainer was messy, hard on the wrists, and left sticky honey all over the ends of the wood frames.

On Day 2, I came up with a simple tweak that completely transformed the entire process: a clean piece of 2×4 wood wrapped in plastic wrap.

How it works:

1. Lay the plastic-wrapped 2×4 directly across the top rim of your pot or bucket.
2. Rest the frame upright on top of the board.
3. Apply firm downward pressure with your scraper knife into the strainer.

This simple board gave me a sturdy support beam to push against, kept the bottom of the wood frames clean and out of the honey pool, and cut my scraping time in half!

🍯 The Final Yield!

After letting the crushed comb drip through the cheesecloth and fine mesh strainer overnight, we ended up with a whopping 22 pounds of pure, raw golden honey!

📝 Key Takeaways for Backyard Beekeepers

• Pre-filter with cheesecloth from the start: Layering cheesecloth inside your mesh strainer during step one saves you from having to do a tedious second or third filtering pass later.
• Support your frames: Never try to scrape frames balanced on thin pot edges—use a covered 2×4 board for stability.
• Leave empty comb for the bees: If a section of the frame doesn’t have honey capped, leave it intact! Leaving built-out comb saves the bees immense time and energy rebuilding wax foundation next season.

📺 Watch the Full Process in Action!

Want to see the entire step-by-step breakdown from our autumn harvest (and the $0 frame board setup in action)? Watch Bee Wednesday Ep. 14 on YouTube below!

Watch on YouTube: Honey Processing! Bee Wednesday Ep. 14

Happy Beekeeping!