Beeswax in its original form is not suitable for use, it requires pre-treatment in the form of cleaning. How to lighten wax at home, read below.

What is wax?

The product in question is the result of the vital activity of bees. It is a complex substance of organic origin secreted by the glands of working bees. It is used by insects for the construction of honeycombs intended for storing bee bread with honey, as well as growing larvae.

Did you know? For a long time, people were amazed at the correct shape of hexagonal cells in bee honeycombs, but only recently a joint study of British and Chinese scientists made it possible to find out how they are formed. It turns out that the bees first build round honeycombs, after which the action of surface tension forces their walls to tightly connect, becoming flat and even.

In its final form, wax is a solid substance of white color with a yellow tint, sometimes with a greenish or brown tint. Exudes a pleasant honey smell. In total, it includes about 50 different chemical compounds.

It becomes plastic when heated to + 35 ° C, it goes into a liquid state at a temperature of + 62 ° C, and boils at a temperature of + 100 ° C. The substance does not dissolve in water and glycerin, partially dissolves in cold alcohol, completely dissolves in hot alcohol.

As bees use honeycombs for their intended purpose, the product changes color to brown, then completely black, due to the sticking of the remains of cocoons, villi, etc. Such honeycombs become unsuitable for use by bees, but are quite suitable for obtaining raw materials used by humans. Pure raw materials are obtained by melt. For this, various methods are used.

Did you know? Wax is an excellent preservative that protects perishable foods from the penetration of harmful bacteria. For example, if you need to keep the head of natural cheese for a long time, you can pour it with a thin layer of wax, and when the time comes, cut off the resulting crust with a knife and get a fresh product.

What should be a quality wax

Quality refined products that are suitable for use in medicinal and cosmetic purposes, must meet certain criteria:

• Colour - white with a slight yellowness;
• smell - missing;
• plastic - when kneading with fingers it is supple, does not leave greasy marks, when chewed it does not stick to the teeth;
• external data and structure - the surface is solid, leveled, smooth with a slight concavity, matte on the cut.

Digging wax is a laborious job. Due to the high cost of pure products, various additives are often mixed with the main raw materials to reduce their cost. It can be paraffin or various esters.

When mixed with paraffin, white flakes are visible on the raw material slice. Evidence of impurities is also:

• extraneous odor;
• greasy spots;
• strong dull surface;
• fragile structure.

Methods for cleaning wax from impurities

There are many different ways to process raw materials; often they are combined to achieve a better result. It can be both physical and chemical methods. The following shows how to do this correctly at home.

Dry and wet processing methods

Before proceeding to the final treatment, which involves purification from impurities, the wax is melted. For this, dry and wet methods are used. The first involves melting without the use of water and practically does not produce waste, but is suitable only for initially pure raw materials, which is very rare in apiaries.

In this regard, the second method is more often used. The processing process begins with the soaking of raw materials in clean hot (+ 40 ° C) water. All products are placed in a bucket or large pan and poured with water. The container is left on the street for several days, be sure to cover it so as not to lure insects. Water is changed daily, and the contents of the container are stirred every 3-4 hours. The process of soaking takes at least a day, but it is better to keep the product in water until the liquid stops coloring with impurities.

Important! With the wet processing method, only stainless steel utensils should be used for boiling. In reaction with another metal, wax loses all its beneficial qualities.

Then all the raw materials are placed in a gauze bag and immersed in boiling water. Boiling is continued over low heat until the raw materials are completely melted. Then the cheesecloth is removed, all the dirt remains in it, and the surfaced wax is collected and thrown back into cold water. Before the process of further cleaning, the wax will need to be evaporated, i.e., get rid of excess moisture. An oven is provided for this. Wax is placed in a clean, dry dish and evaporated at a temperature of + 80 ° C. The dry processing method involves evaporating the wax in the oven immediately, without preliminary soaking, or in a wax refinery.

Video: beeswax remelting

Natural Wax Cleansing of Impurities

The most effective way to clean is to flood the sun. In this case, a solar wax refinery is used. The design is a metal tank, at the bottom of which stands a tray for collecting liquid products. Above the tray is a steel plate at an angle.

A fine-mesh stainless steel grate is placed above the plate, through which the raw materials after heating will drain onto the plate, and from it fall into the collection tray. The inner walls of the box are covered with foil, and a glass lid is installed on top - this approach allows to increase the heating temperature. Under optimal weather conditions, the temperature in such a box is maintained within + 50 ° С.

• This method has 2 drawbacks:
• 40% of the raw materials remain with the trash on the wire rack, so additional processing is required;
• refined raw materials can be obtained only if the street is in hot sunny weather.

Reagent Cleaning

Purification can be carried out using citric acid or activated carbon. For acid purification, 40–12 kg of raw materials and 30 ml of lemon juice are taken per 40 liters of water, or 30 g of citric acid are diluted in 30 ml of water.

First, water is boiled, then the products are laid and a thin stream, continuously stirring the raw materials, pour acid. Immediately after this, the fire is turned off, the container is covered with a lid and wrapped in a warm blanket. After complete cooling, the purified products are removed from the water.

When using activated carbon, proceed as follows:

1. Melt the wax.
2. Add 10% activated carbon (of the total mass of raw materials) and mix thoroughly.
3. Filter products using gauze or a sieve to filter out large particles.

Alternative methods of cleaning and bleaching at home

Folk cleaning methods involve the use of the physical properties of the material. They are suitable for processing small amounts of raw materials and are ideal if you are looking for a way to bleach products without using chemical impurities.

Raw materials go through several degrees of purification:

• filtration;
• upholding;
• whitening.

Important! The sedimentation can be carried out several times, pre-melting the product if there are too many contaminants.

Filtration

Remelted raw materials are passed through several layers of filters:

• stainless mesh;
• gauze;
• kapron.

Upholding

Before settling, the products are again transferred to a liquid state and placed in water, the temperature of which is 20 ° C lower than that of wax. The container is wrapped in a warm blanket to reduce the speed of wax setting. The cleaning process is due to the fact that the structures of water and wax differ in density. Pollution partially settles at the bottom, partially remains on the surface of the hardened raw materials. The dirt remaining on the surface of the product is easily removed with a knife.

Whitening

For bleaching, you can use acetic acid.

Applied vinegar 9% concentration, apple or table:

1. Raw materials are melted in water.
2. Then, acetic acid is poured into a thin stream. The acid consumption rate is calculated depending on the amount of raw material. To bleach 1 kg of wax, 40 ml of vinegar is required.
3. Immediately after pouring vinegar into the container, the fire is turned off.
4. After cooling, they take out the bleached raw material from the water and use it for its intended purpose.

Video: Beeswax Lightening

Whitening can be done in the open sun. Dry wax should be cut and spread in a thin layer on a wooden board pre-coated with foil. Then the board is exposed to direct sunlight. A day later, the bleached raw materials are collected, re-melted and its color evaluated after cooling. If it is still not light enough, manipulate with standing in the sun again. This bleaching process will be longer, because the sun's rays brighten only a thin layer of wax.

To obtain high-quality wax that can be used for medical and cosmetic purposes, it is necessary to carry out its preliminary processing. This process involves purification from impurities. Subject to the above recommendations, this process is easy to carry out at home, without using chemistry.