Dana Api Melter

01 · ABOVE MELTS, BELOW KEEPS

Two elements set separately, and that is the key

In the lid there is a hot-air fan reaching 80 °C: that is what softens the wax and makes the honey trapped in the cappings let go and fall. In the base there are elements at 40 °C that only keep the drained honey fluid so it flows out of the tap.

If both heats were one, either the honey would cook or the wax would not release. The body is insulated double-wall stainless steel, which is what holds that difference for hours without wasting energy.

02 · THE OVERNIGHT BATCH

80-100 kg of cappings in 4 to 5 hours

The maker recommends loading 80-100 kg per batch, even though more will fit, so the air circulates properly, and working at 40-50 °C for four or five hours. That cycle fits a night exactly: you load it at the end of the day and by morning there is honey ready to bottle.

It is worth being precise about the heat: honey starts to pay above 40 °C, and it pays in HMF, a parameter with legal weight. This route is far gentler than melting, but it is not free: work at the low end of the range and do not stretch the batch beyond what it needs.

03 · THE FAST ROUTE AND ITS PRICE

Melting cappings with the honey, above 65 °C

The same unit will melt the cappings together with the honey above 65 °C: once melted, wax and honey separate by density, the wax is poured into moulds and the honey collected apart. It is quick and it leaves blocks of wax ready.

But it is the expensive route for the honey: at those temperatures the HMF rises, and the maker says so itself. It is for leftovers and for end-of-season wax, not for the honey that is going into jars.

04 · THE OTHER THINGS IT DOES

Five more uses out of the same cabinet

It melts wax lumps, combs and old frames; it turns dry cappings into blocks of wax; it warms frames with crystallised or dense honey, the heather case, so it can be extracted; it decrystallises buckets and jars inside the chamber; and it doubles as an uncapping bench.

At the end of the season many people prefer to melt the dry cappings in a separate steam boiler so as not to dirty this machine, which is a fair call if you handle a lot of wax.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

A large cabinet with a specific supply.