I am often approached by people looking for advice on how to make their own honey in a way that fits their budget. They often wonder how well the manual crank honey extractors work, since they are more affordable than the extractors used in large commercial beekeeping operations. Today I will take look at the Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor Separator and make a quick review.
How good is the Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor ? This honey extractor is not only competitively priced, but it is also easy to move and contains numerous features that make it a good choice for those looking for a honey extractor that can fit up to four frames at a time. It is also easy to maintain. Click here to the check price on Amazon.
I will try to do my best to evaluate this honey extractor by:
- Addressing its specifications
- Discussing the manual crank system
- Talking about how the clear lid makes honey extraction easier
- Addressed the cleaning of the equipment
- Talking about whether it is easy or not to operate it
What Is The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor?
The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor is a honey extractor with tangential baskets to hold your beehive frames. Tangential baskets hold the honeycomb with one side facing outwards versus radial baskets, which have the top bar of the frame facing outwards.
Commercial bee farms tend to choose radial baskets over tangential baskets because the upward slopes of the individual cells of the honeycomb make it easier to extract more honey, more efficiently.
The tangential system of the Vingli Upgraded Honey extractor is an excellent choice for those new to beekeeping or otherwise running small operations. This is because the smooth manual crank system allows users the control, they need over the spinning rate of the centrifugal mechanism.
It is also an affordable option, and the stainless steel interior makes the extractor simple to keep clean. The advantages of this system will be further discussed below.
What Is The Vingli Brand?
Vingli produces a wide assortment of products from rolling ice chests to honey extractors. The brand’s products come highly reviewed. A search of the company website shows that the company produces products belonging to one of three families of useful goods:
- Patio
- Outdoor Recreation
- Sports
The company’s motto is “Living Better.” Vingli takes pride in its chain of management which includes a quality control team tasked with monitoring raw material and keep an eye on the full production phase.
According to the company a quality control specialist is responsible for fulfilling the company’s objective to directly visit suppliers and inspect the product before it reaches the consumer.
Specs Of The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor
Ok, now let’s take a look at the specification of the extractor:
- Color: Silver
- Material: 304 Stainless Steel (Food Grade) and 201 Stainless Steel
- Overall Height: 47.3”
- Medium Height: 44”
- Minimum Height: 40.6”
- Diameter: 19.3”
- Dimensions Of The Handle (Hand Part Length): 3.9”
- Dimensions Of The Handle (Support Part Length): 5.1”
- Barrel Height (If Stand Is Removed): 24.3”
- Weight: 14 lbs.
The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor comes in at a competitive price when compared to other 4 frame honey extractors. It also happens to weigh less than most of the other honey extractors on the unit, making simple transport a plus with this honey extractor.
The stand can also be removed, dropping the height of the piece down by more than 12 inches and making it easy to fit into tight spaces such as the trunk of a car.
Honey extractors currently on the market are nearly universally made of stainless steel thanks to the ability of stainless steel to fend off rusting and general wear and tear.
The Vingli Upgraded Extractor has a frame composed of Food-grade 304 stainless steel.
304 stainless steel is known for having excellent corrosion resistance properties owing to its composition of high concentrations of nickel and chromium.
The properties of 304 stainless steel make it a popular choice for use in commercial food processing. It is a more affordable choice than the more expensive 316 stainless steel but performs nearly just as well for applications such as honey extraction. You can read more about this type of steel here and here.
Is the Handle on the Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor Easy to Crank?
The manual crank handle of this honey extractor includes a square threaded hole designed to make the handle attachment easy to deal with if you need to make adjustments.
Handles with square threaded holes are known for being able to provide maximum leverage for turning and tightening functions. So, you’ll find this is an upgrade with a positive outcome for your honey extraction.
What Kind of Lid Does the Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor Have?
Most of the popular honey extractors on the market have lids where you can observe the status of the bee combs inside the drum as you extract the honey from them.
The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor is no exception to the trend. The barrel of the extractor is outfitted with two clear glass lids.
There is also a protective film on the glass lids designed to prevent scratching of the glass from occurring over the lifetime of use.
How Easy Is It To Clean The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor?
A common concern with honey extractors is how easy it is to keep them clean. Of particular interest is how easy it is to clean the outlet valve, which the end product honey flows out of.
The outlet valve of the Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor is made of food-grade stainless steel and can be easily set up and cleaned owing to one end installation.
The one end installation characteristic of the outlet valve makes it easy to remove, clean, and reinstall between uses.
Wealth Of Frame Options on the Vingli Honey Extractor
The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor also comes in more affordable 3-frame and 2-frame sizes. It is highly recommended that you operate with an even number of frames so as to keep the load in the extractor balanced at all times.
When you are shopping around for honey extractors, you need to consider whether the frames that you use in your beehives will fit the baskets in the extractors. The baskets on the Vingli:
- Have been engineered to hold standard deep, medium, or shallow beehive frames comfortably.
- Are slightly rounded to the inner side so that the honeycombs do not break off by rubbing against sharp edges.
- Are made of food-grade stainless steel, as to avoid contamination of the honey.
Is The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor Good For Beginners?
Based on what I have seen, The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor is a good honey extractor for the amateur or hobbyist crowd of beekeepers, as well as those just starting out professionally. This is due to the product’s affordability and the learning curve associated with jumping into the realm of beekeeping.
Here is why I believe that The Vingli Upgraded Honey Extractor is user-friendly:
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The manual crank apparatus with its square-threaded hole provides users with a high level of control over the spinning speed of the extractor
- electric honey extractors aren’t necessarily recommended for newcomers to beekeeping because they may not be able to fine-tune the system to avoid spinning at a rate that breaks the honeycombs
- The food-grade 304 stainless steel interior and outlet valve help to prevent contamination of the honey from occurring and make it easier to keep the extractor clean
- The clear glass lids allow you to view what is going on inside the barrel as you crank the spinning mechanism to power
- The stand can be removed easily, and the honey extractor already weighs just 14 pounds, making the equipment easy to move around if you don’t yet have a dedicated space for your beekeeping equipment
All in all, I believe that this extractor is a really good option when starting out or when you run a small operation. If you are still not sure whether you should go for it, feel free to check out reviews from other users of this extractor here – reviews and prices on Amazon.