Is well boiled syrup OK?

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Monsieur Abeille said:
I've used it as a honey warmer a few times now, very pleased (thanks doc).

May not be a bad tool for the syrup either, good idea - not recommended for wax though - at least not without being more careful than I was:redface: Actually that reminds me it will need more cleaning work done before I could contemplate using it for syrup.

Apologies for continuing thread hijack
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M. Abeille,

How did you warm the honey? Half fill it, bring it to hand warm or higher and then submerge a 30lb tub?
 
Gosh, there seems to be a lot of "drifting" between threads at the moment!

Regarding the original topic of this one, if the syrup actually tastes "burned" then it really ought to be binned.
But if it tastes "caramel-y" you could certainly use it in cooking, baking or ice-cream making - but probably not for the bees.
 
Itma I don’t know the exact answer to your question but just to add its really not necessary to boil syrup to get the sugar to dissolve and as mentioned by boiling the sugar can make it toxic to the bees.
 
Sugar straight into a 2 Ltr container add hot water from the tap shake for ten minutes let it settle for 30min. Result nice clear surup
 
terry jones said:
Sugar straight into a 2 Ltr container add hot water from the tap shake for ten minutes let it settle for 30min. Result nice clear surup
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last year I had a small number of hives that took between 10 and 20 litres per hive....

this year I am in a slightly different prospect (after combining and having suffered loses due to wasps I will probably end up with about 35 hives)
...if each take between 10 and 20 litres.... thats an awful lot of two litre bottles and will need to mass produce

... and do keep it on topic, i don't want to mass produce and overcook\burn the syrup! :bigear:
 
Guess I have 8 litre of sugar to throw away!
 
Strange!

I did exactly the same today. Bubbled away for a good 15-20 minutes. The results is pretty clear but had an opaque skin on the top. I will decide in the morning if I should use it or not.
 
I saw this gizmo at Lidl. Looks like a useful bit of BK kit. Will look out in case they repeat the offer! S'pose I've gone off topic too - only slightly though.
 
First, there is no need to boil syrup, or even heat it. Just make it with warm water ( in the feeder)

Second, on a point of interest, a question for Dr Nick: how do you get it to 116 degrees centigrade? Do you use a pressure cooker?
 
a question for Dr Nick:

Just for Dr Nick?

Water boils at precisely 100 degrees Celsius only when pure and at exactly one standard atmosphere pressure - 1.015 (x ten to the power five) Pascals - Any other conditions and the temperature at which it boils will change.

The boiling point reduces as the pressure reduces, and generally increases as more dissolved solids are present (there are likely a few exceptions to the latter generality).

With miscible liquids there is a set boiling point for any particular mixture (at a given pressure), so the boiling point of a mixture would change from the temperature of one component to that of the other other as the percentage changed from 100% to 0% of the particular component. Solutions of solids are a little different from the simpler case of miscible liquids.

Some mixtures (generally of liquids) attain a' constant boiling point' where the components are in equilibrium at that particular temperature and both components change state while the mixture % remains constant.

In the case of sugar solutions in water, the increased boiling point increase holds true until the temperature rises to a point where the sugar starts to decompose.

Therfore all done at atmospheric pressure, so no pressure cooker needed.

Hope that litle lot helps a bit.

Regards, RAB
 
Sugar syrup boils at a higher temperature as simple as that.
Infact if you are making toffee you take your mixture to 154˚C
 
Sorry to drag this thread up again but I did the same at week end and have 4 l of 2:1 syrup which boiled for a short while on the stove. I know about HMF an boiling and toxicity to bees but how long does it take to produce enough HMF to be toxic?
 
just spent the last 1/2 an hour educating myself on HMF, never heard of it until now, and yes HMF is present in heated sugar and honey but syrup tested in stored cells has a lower HMF content than the syrup fed, the bees purify the syrup.
 
drstitson said:
boiling for a short while is fine.

presume it still looks white?
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As long as the syrup looks as clear as (and no yellower than) syrup made conventionally (with hot water, no boiling) ... then it should be OK.
 
So when I make fondant the mixture is boiling away for quite a while to reduce the water content and this is fine for bees so I cant see why a bit of boiling of the syrup is going to harm them, as what drstitson said as long as it's still white
 
As the bees have had such a hard time this year I have, for the first time, used Ambrosia. Prior to this I have always mixed my own 2:1 sugar syrup using only COLD water straight from the tap.

I tip sugar into 5 gallon open topped drums/tanks (7 or 8 at a time) and then using a hosepipe add water to about the same level as the dry sugar was originally at. A drill and paint/plaster mixer is then used to stir the mix in each drum in turn. I spend perhaps 15 minutes going from one drum to the next and then just leave them over night. The next morning the syrup is decanted into contact feeders or 5 gallon jerry cans and any settled sugar is mixed in with the next batch.

The last mix is a bit of a faff, but I just put all the sediments into one drum and stir it as I add water until it seems to be about the right consistency. Obviously all this is done in a bee proof shed.

Is every batch exactly 2:1? No! Does it matter???? Does it work?????

Well, every year I worked out how much sugar I needed to buy to give the required amount of feed to however many colonies , and this method always worked out right.

Even on a smaller scale, if you agitate your sugar/water mix long enough, by whatever means, there is no need for hot water and certainly no need to boil the mix.
 
using a hosepipe add water to about the same level as the dry sugar was originally at.

Is every batch exactly 2:1? No! Does it matter???? Does it work?????

KISS principle in action. Works every time. I usually use hot water but I don't make that much of the stuff.

Some common sense prevailing, for a change.
 
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