Bulk sugar mixing help

[wightbees]

Does anyone have any good tips on mixing Lots of sugar syrup up. I'm getting in a right mess, my feet are sticking to the floor haha
ideally I need to fine tune bulk mixing!

 

[Beefriendly]

Not sure how much tonnage your are making up!!....This might be on the small scale for you and so probably of not much use.
On my small scale I have just made around 100kgs of thick syrup in slightly over an hour this morning.
No tricks or short cuts that I know of.
I make in batches with 5kg of sugar, 1.5 litres of boiling water and 1.8 litres of very hot tap water into large tureen on a hob; add sugar, stir a few times (whist doing this you can start boiling next kettle add thymol to already bottled syrup and get another 5kgs sugar ready. I don't wait for it to fully dissolve as the last crystals will dissolve in the containers anyway as it is nice and hot and who cares about it being EXACTLY 2:1. As soon as I can see the stirring spoon at the bottom of the tureen enough has dissolved for purpose. Longest bit is pouring in through a funnel into 5 litre containers.
It was 13 batches using 65 kg of sugar, about 5-6 minutes per batch.
If you have a bigger boiler, old burco or the like it may make things quicker as you can make in larger quantities.
I'm sure the pros have vast heated vats where they can dissolve tons of sugar in less time than it's taken me to write this...but that's the best I can do.

 

[Finman]

.
I learned this good system from Polyhive. Old fashion pulsator loundry machine.
I can put 50 kg sugar in it.

IT is in sauna. I heat water in sauna pot. I pour hot water to the same level as sugar sugar and then the percentage will be perfect.

I put water mixer on and it melts the sugar.

Machine has tap in bottom.

Machine is quite quick.

When I put nearly boiling water in it, the ready syrup is hand warm.

.

 

[wightbees]

Thanks BF that's kind of how I'm doing it but it's too slow and taking ages with the amount I'm needing. Sounds like your doing a better job at it than me though!

Finny that's sounds just the trick for me, I'll look out for one of those, not sure how easy they will be to find in my neck of the woods though.
Most grateful for both replies

 

[piggy]

There is a youtube video where a guy uses a 200 litre plastic barrel with a submersible pump to mix large volumes of syrup, I think the link was on the forum some time ago. Sorry I'm vague.

 

[Beefriendly]

Thanks BF that's kind of how I'm doing it but it's too slow and taking ages with the amount I'm needing. Sounds like your doing a better job at it than me though!

Time and motion, don't waste any.
If I had 40+ colonies this way would take far too long for the amount needed and a bulk tank and mixer of some sort would be needed.
You can always buy Liquid Ambrosia....it only works out at 5x the cost of your home made sugar solution (slightly less if you get your sugar from Morrison's or order the liquid gold by the pallet). It does have the advantage of no work involved.

 

[wightbees]

Time and cost is my main issues lol buying ready made would be great but so costly , for this year it will have to be made. Pallet is definitely the way forward if it's cheaper! Cheers BF

 

[alfazer]

I use a car wiper motor attached to a paddle stirrer and it fits on top of a deep plastic food bucket. I take the drive straight from the drive pinion and bypass the mechanism so it goes round and round instead of wiping to and fro. But only does about 10-15 litres at a time.
Anyway, I've been looking fondly at my tangential honey extractor which is big enough for 4 deep frames. It would be easy to clip a piece of stainless to the cage to make a suitable paddle. So I think that's my next step to go bigger. It would hold around 70 litres I think.

 

[protheroe]

All 4 cooker burners going with large stew pans and kettle.mix it in 60lb buckets with a spade

 

[Finman]

.
Note, that you use the thing couple of weeks, and then you store it 50 weeks.

 

[Poly Hive]

Good grief a credit from Finski!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PH

 

[Finman]

Good grief a credit from Finski!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PH

IT has been really good. I had such machine.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I am tempted to try extractor with the tange cage in.

 

[For want of a better word]

.
Note, that you use the thing couple of weeks, and then you store it 50 weeks.

You were referring to you londry machine I trust?

Nos da

 

[Finman]

You were referring to you londry machine I trust?

Nos da

No. Bee Friend made 100 kg in a hour. That needs a big container and a big store. What is such hurry.

 

[Beefriendly]

Nope done in 13 x 5kg batches of sugar and stored in 5 liter containers. No rush, just usual steady pace and it was more than an hour. Had a free day so made syrup in advance of needing it and then sorted my strawberry patch out by pulling out all runners and weeds. Nice snooze in the afternoon...
Organised!

 

[Finman]

Organised!

I do not make sugar stores or syrup stores into house . So I think.

I should buy sugar with such speed what I give into hives..... So I should do.
IT is not nice to have left over sugar or syrup to next autumn..... Like I have now. I get every day sugar from Lidl and after 2 hours it is syrup. But things do not go as it is planned. 600 kg sugar is something.

Well... Not organized ...

 

[pargyle]

Thanks BF that's kind of how I'm doing it but it's too slow and taking ages with the amount I'm needing. Sounds like your doing a better job at it than me though!

Finny that's sounds just the trick for me, I'll look out for one of those, not sure how easy they will be to find in my neck of the woods though.
Most grateful for both replies

The only place you will find one these days is in a museum ! Although they do sell a smaller version for caravans and camping:

https://bigwhitebox.co.uk/basket/

Not sure what you could use the spin drier bit for ....

There's exactly what you want on ebay at present ...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-H...179564?hash=item25de87012c:g:iYQAAOSwefVZoasw

My Mum had one like this in the 1960's !!

 

[Finman]

The only place you will find one these days is in a museum ! Although they do sell a smaller version for caravans and camping:

!!

I put "pulsaattori pesukone" into internet, and there were offered lots of old machines . Cheapest was 20 €.

A new pulsator machine 250 €

.

 

[Millet]

What about a clean metal 45 gallon drum with the lid cut of, placed on bricks with some burning embers underneath to keep the mixture warm while mixing it with one of these in the link.


http://www.screwfix.com/p/energer-e...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLabla-a99UCFQEe0wod8UIAFQ