sugar syrup - how?

[Hombre]

Anyone with a large volume of syrup to make tried using a dirty water submersible pump to do the mixing? Your thoughts and preferably experiences please?

Obviously very easy to spray the local neighbourhood accidentally.

 

[East Yorks New Bee]

Anyone with a large volume of syrup to make tried using a dirty water submersible pump to do the mixing? Your thoughts and preferably experiences please?

Obviously very easy to spray the local neighbourhood accidentally.

would have thought you would be better using a plasterers mixing paddle on a drill rather than a sump pump, tooooooo much chance of it going everywhere

 

[Poly Hive]

Not enough mixing action in the drill.

I used to "wash" my syrup for a good hour or so in the single tub.

PH

 

[sahtlinurk]

well. made yesterday evening two lots of syrup, one with boiled hot water, another one with cold water. heated both up to 70 c and mixed as long no crystals in it. cooled down and gave it to the bees. today went checking can i add more and to my surprise both lots had crystallised sugar on top of syrup.

can't get this bloody thing right.
Lauri

 

[JCBrum]

The water I use is very soft. Maybe hard water causes a different situation ?

 

[m100]

well. made yesterday evening two lots of syrup, one with boiled hot water, another one with cold water. heated both up to 70 c and mixed as long no crystals in it. cooled down and gave it to the bees. today went checking can i add more and to my surprise both lots had crystallised sugar on top of syrup.

can't get this bloody thing right.
Lauri

You must be doing something wrong, Just last night I mixed yet another 7kg of sugar (strength 2lb/pint 1kg/625ml) using 1.4 litres cold water out of the tap at about 7 deg C with 3 litres boiling out of the kettle. It all dissolved in about 5 minutes stirring and was still fully dissolved after being left overnight.

 

[victor meldrew]

well. made yesterday evening two lots of syrup, one with boiled hot water, another one with cold water. heated both up to 70 c and mixed as long no crystals in it. cooled down and gave it to the bees. today went checking can i add more and to my surprise both lots had crystallised sugar on top of syrup.

can't get this bloody thing right.
Lauri

Funny that, I've had the same thing happen this year but never before.
I used tate and lyle granulated sugar and noticed a few grains of sand coloured crystals that refused to dissolve. My reckoning is these grains formed nuclii for granulation to be accelerated ??

John Wilkinson

 

[Heather]

We have fairly hard water- I boil the water- turn off the heat throw in the sugar and mix. It dissolves in about 10 mins with a couple of stirs every 3 mins.
And bees take it all up...

Sugar 25kg for £14 from Booker - and whilst you are in the cash and carry you can get anything else in bulk too.

 

[buzz]

Going back to Sahtlinurk's original question/problem; the sugar crystal residues that you are getting in your feeder after your CLEAR syrup has been poured in is probably due to cooling of the sugar-saturated syrup.

If you heat a water/sugar mix you can dissolve more sugar in it than the syrup will hold once it has cooled. Hence as your warmed-up syrup cools overnight in the hive the sugar crystals appear. To prevent this allow the syrup to cool to hive temperature (?) before pouring it into the feeder.

 

[sahtlinurk]

yes, i pour it in the feeder when it hasn't cooled down totally, hoping the warmth does good to bees. i will cool it down properly today, thanks.


Lauri

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Not enough mixing action in the drill.

I've not observed that problem with my mortar mixer. Put 25kg of sugar into a 50 litre container, add required volume of cold water and mix with mortar mixer.

If you get 5 of these on the go and give each one a good 5min stir to start with then a top up 5 min stir every so often for a couple of hours all the coarse sugar crystals dissolve.

The fine sugar crystals which remain in suspension after mixing dissolve over night.

 

[mikethebee]

We fill up the mixer with 45 gallons cold water; tip in 2 x 45 gallon drums of gran/sugar mix overnight.
In the morning fill up by pumping into a 1000 gallons plastic pallet container add a 12ft pipe with a tap, ready for the bees.
Two men go round the apiary feeding the nucs Both slide the roofs to exposes the feeder then one drives, tuther fills feeders, Both replaces the roofs adds any treatment, by mid morning the tanks empty. The next batch has been filled mixing ready for the next day. NO mess NO robbing
All the best mike

 

[sahtlinurk]

well, got my sugar syrup recipe perfect now:
3 kg sugar
1.8 l water
2 tsp of liquid glucose

works well, no more problems with crystals.

Lauri

 

[Finman]

I've not observed that problem with my mortar mixer. Put 25kg of sugar into a 50 litre container, add required volume of cold water and mix with mortar mixer.

t.

NOT at least this way. Too much "vain " water.

If you have 50 litre container, put there 15 ltr warm/hot water and 30 kg sugar.

 

[Finman]

.
I took into use pulsator washing machine and it is really fine.

20 litre hot water and 40 kg sugar. Put stirring on.
There will be crystalls on bottom but never mind.
When you deliver the syrup to bees and it is too fat, add some water.

It is good that exit is in bottom and crystals come out

 

[Finman]

.

One way small amount

Fill the container

Pour boiling water into sugar that syrup level is allmost the same as dry sugar level.

Stir and it will be good.