# General beekeeping > Scaling up and marketing >  Propolis solutions - 150g = 160-420 pounds profit for you from your own propolis

## Calum

Hello everyone, 
I have been doing this for 2 seasons now, and am producing for European and American beekeepers.
You send me 150g of your  best quality ground propolis. 

You recieve either:
25x20ml brown glasses with drop insert RRP 10 pounds per glass = 250 pounds income

(should be about 20% propolis solution measurement result included in shipment).
or optionally 
40*20ml brown glasses with drop insert containing UN FOA recommended propolis honey solution RRP 15 pounds per glass = 600 pounds income

Cost propolis solution 90 pounds (includes shipping)
Cost propolis honey solution 180 pounds (includes shipping)

Propolis processing time 3 weeks + shipping time. 
10ml glasses also available.
IM me for further info!

----------


## Calum

The Bottle 
20ml.JPG
Just sold another 5 bottles this lunchtime.  That makes 25 since 27th Nov. thats better income than my honey sales to be honest!

----------


## mbc

When you say "best ground propolis " what exactly do you mean?
I have a good few ounces of propolis waiting to be processed but I imagine even after being in storage for a while it's still too tacky to grind.

----------


## Calum

hi mbc
best means no splinters, dead bee carcasses, mostly propolis, not wax -  photo of mine ready for harvestPP ready for harvest.JPG. 
As long as it is still aromatic there is still some life in it. To grind it, put it in the deep freeze first (it doesnt have to be dust but the more surface area the better the solution yield). I store mine in the deep freeze to keep it fresh anyway.

----------


## Calum

That propolis I will not grind  - its fine that size..

----------


## mbc

Thanks Calum,  I'll seriously consider sending you some propolis to process on the new year.

----------


## gavin

Following this with interest.  I may invest in some propolis screens for next year.

----------


## fatshark

The propolis screens sold by a Newburgh-based outfit are ~£3 each (National) ... and look to me exactly like the "insect mesh" glass fibre stuff available from eBay for ~£2.5 per square metre. I use the latter for travel screens, and it gets thoroughly clogged if I leave it _in situ_. There may be better ways to collect the stuff though ...

----------


## Calum

Hi 
USE FOOD GRADE! it's the same matting cheesemongers use to drain cheese. You don't want chemicals from cheap plastics in any of your products! Based on the income it is worth spending a little extra to ensure unquestionably good quality. After all what's 50p when you are earning hundreds of pounds?
To harvest just roll up the mat and freeze it. Wring the frozen mat in a bucket and the frozen propolis will just flake off.
BR
Calum

----------


## Calum

I can source that if you can't find it but ask a cheesemaker!

----------


## fatshark

Good advice Calum ...

----------


## bryden.mckinnie

Hi Calum
Id' be interested in getting some made. Is it alcohol based?

----------


## Calum

Hi,  yes. The cheaper variant is 70% the more expensive is more like 10%

----------


## gavin

Great that you are doing this with ethanol rather than propylene glycol.  The commercial products in the UK all seem to use glycol but the FAO guide indicates that a drawback of that is the higher temperature needed to make the extraction which degrades some of the compounds in the extract.  Could be a good selling point ... although it is also said that some water-based lotions make it harder to disperse the propolis extract if you are mixing them.  The glycol products declare themselves 'alcohol free!!' so the equivalent on the ethanol products should be 'propylene glycol free!!' which seems a better selling point to me  :Smile: .

http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e14.htm

Do you ever get feedback on how yours performs compared to the usual commercial products? Does its ethanol base ever give problems with it drying up?

PS fatshark - we really need a 'Like' button!

----------


## Calum

Hi
no problems with it being alcohol based, I think most people understand this is the gentler extraction method. .
No problems with it drying up, there is a lid on the bottle  :Wink: . 
My own product, and the products I produce for others have the advantage of the propolis being from a known source. 
Commercial producers rely on buying propolis wherever they can get their hands on it. - that could be from anywhere, really I do not believe there is even a standard test method to reliably identify the propolis source (I suppose its pollen could be analysed - after it is extracted). 
That's a big marketing difference. You can tell from which local woods the propolis was most likely harvested from by the bees.

----------


## Calum

Great link Gavin. The FAO book is a good read. Especially 're extraction.  The recipies are a good starting point too, though they are a bit primative (but then the book is aimed at 2&3rd world beekeepers).

----------


## Calum

20180103_173613[1].jpg Got to get the half of this filled and labelled for the post tomorrow. Are Santas elves on zero hours contract and free just now does anyone know?

----------


## fatshark

That looks like a fun evening ... er, not.

I can recommend these though it depends what volume is needed ...

139864.jpg

----------


## Calum

thats a nice bit of kit, nice price too! Will propolis gum it up? Another option is to use one of these   and overfill, at about 18 pounds a pop its almost but not quite throw away item ....

----------


## fatshark

Depends how viscous your propolis solution is ... they work well with blood, er, and syrup  :Wink:

----------


## Calum

viscosity is not so much what I worry about, you can only really clean propolis off with alcohol, and anything left over dries to a resin that gums things up something awful..

----------


## Calum

Update 2018:

got 1,5kg propolis to process right now. Still some capacity to do some more. 
I have also started batch sizes with 70g propolis. With the product in 10/20ml bottles and the option of 50/50% split 20% propolis in 80% alcohol and low alcohol saturated solutions. 

Did my first batch of ginger infused propolis solution too, that will go well once I balance out the recipe...

----------


## Adam

> Great that you are doing this with ethanol rather than propylene glycol.  The commercial products in the UK all seem to use glycol but the FAO guide indicates that a drawback of that is the higher temperature needed to make the extraction which degrades some of the compounds in the extract.  Could be a good selling point ... although it is also said that some water-based lotions make it harder to disperse the propolis extract if you are mixing them.  The glycol products declare themselves 'alcohol free!!' so the equivalent on the ethanol products should be 'propylene glycol free!!' which seems a better selling point to me .
> 
> http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e14.htm
> 
> Do you ever get feedback on how yours performs compared to the usual commercial products? Does its ethanol base ever give problems with it drying up?
> 
> PS fatshark - we really need a 'Like' button!


Seeing from the attached that propolis has some effectiveness against AFB, I wonder whether scorching and scrubbing beehives to remove propolis is as beneficial as we might think. Maybe we should leave the inside of the hive covered in a protective propolis layer?

----------


## fatshark

Did you ever get the dispenser sorted out Calum? 
Anyone tried one of those syrup dispensers for la-di-dah-flavoured syrups into coffee? These are about £5 and reproducibly dispense 7.5ml or 10ml.

----------

