Honey barrel strainer

01 · THE MEASUREMENT

565 is the drum; the 400 kg tank takes another

This is the mix-up we get most in this family: full-mouth strainers look alike in a photograph and only the diameter separates them. This is the one for the 300 kg drum; the one for the 400 kg settling tank is around 625 mm and has its own reference. Run the tape round the rim of your drum and look at the lip as well, which is where the strainer rests.

02 · WHY IT MATTERS HERE

The drum is the end of the road

A bucket can be strained again if need be. A drum cannot: the honey goes in to settle or be stored for months, and whatever gets in stays there until somebody moves the whole lot. That is why this is the strainer least worth skipping. Level the drum and check the ring does not rock before you tip the first bucket in.

03 · THE MESH SIZE

The manufacturer does not declare the aperture

It is the repeated question on this page and the honest answer is that it is not declared, in any language, so we are not going to publish a figure we cannot stand behind. What it does is clear: it holds back wax, cappings and bees as the honey comes in. If you work to a specific mesh size, the catalogue has strainers that do declare one, and the figure is on their page.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Clear the wax as it builds up and do not push it through the mesh: the straining you are doing is lost exactly there.