Does anyone have any experience with different methods of getting honey from the comb in top bar hives?  I am interested in efficient hygienic techniques that can be adopted by subsistence level beekeepers to produce a clean, raw product.  I have seen hand wringing, melting with fire and solar melters, and the uncap-and-let drip method, but am searching for better solutions that keep the honey clean and HMF low.  This will be a large scale operation spread out over a large territory.  50 tons of honey has been collected so far.

I have thought about macerating the combs and spinning them in hand operated cappings separators but these may be too high-tech.

any thoughts appreciated.

Bill Lord

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