The Production of Extraded-Honey 



299 



as it leaves the extractor. For small operations, it may 

 simply be run through a cheese-cloth bag, greater surface 

 being given by supporting the cheese-cloth on wire netting 

 (Fig. 123). Another type is known as the gravity strainer. 

 In this, the honey runs into a tank with a partition having 

 an opening at the bottom through which the honey can pass 

 to another compartment. No honey flows from the outlet 

 until it fills the strainer to the level of the upper outlet and 

 most of the larger foreign particles rise to the top in the 

 first chamber allowing the honey to pass off relatively free 

 from foreign material. Gravity strainers are widely used 

 and can readily be made to any desired capacity. They 

 are usually combined with 

 a strainer of cheese-cloth 

 (Fig. 122) to get out more 

 of the impurities. 



Storage tanks. 



From a strainer of any 

 type it is advantageous 

 to run honey into a tank 

 so that particles that pass 

 the strainer will have an 

 opportimity to rise to the 

 top, the honey always be- 

 ing drawn from the boi^ 

 tom. Many beekeepers, 

 however, run honey di- 

 rectly from the strainer 

 into cans or barrels. The 

 extra settling in the tank not only removes more small 

 particles of wax, but allows air bubbles to escape and also 

 allows any surplus water to evaporate in dry weather. 

 Large tanks of a capacity of several tons are often used by 

 California beekeepers (Fig. 124). If the tank is outside 

 the extracting house, it should be covered tightly to keep 

 out robber bees as well as dirt. Outdoor, tanks are not 



Fig. 124. — Honey storage tanks. 



