Making Beeswax

I tried my hand at rendering beeswax last weekend. After watching a bunch of different methods on the internet, I opted for the cheesecloth in hot water method. ⠀My beekeeper and I had removed quite a lot of honeycomb from my hive that had been created in the lid of the box. ⠀
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Part of the dilemma with the comb is that it still has honey and bees in it. So first you have to drain the comb for a week to remove the honey. You’re still left with a lot of sticky dead bees; thus the cheesecloth. The wax comb quickly melts and seeps through the cheesecloth and into the water. The bees are captured by the cloth. Once removed from the heat, the wax will form a thick layer on the surface, and you are left with a hardened disc of wax the next day. Any bee part that made it through the cheesecloth sinks to the bottom of the wax and you can scrape it off. Et voila!⠀Sometimes you have to do the whole process a second time to get a pure clean beeswax, but it’s easier than I thought that’s for sure!⠀