sugar syrup

[mark s]

hi all
wot is the shelf life of sugar syrup,can it be made up in advance and just stored under the right conditions until required

 

[BKF Admin]

If it gets warm it will ferment.
Try adding a little Thymol to it and it will keep longer.

 

[mark s]

cheers mark
now where do u get thymol from...

 

[Frisbee]

Thorne's or other beekeeping supply places. It needs to be mixed in surgical spirit or meths as it doesn't readily dissolve in water.
50gms thymol in .25litres surgical spirit or meths and then it's 2 x 5ml teaspoons per gallon of syrup.
Make sure you label it well and store well away from prying fingers as it is poisonous.

Frisbee

 

[taff..]

hi all
wot is the shelf life of sugar syrup,can it be made up in advance and just stored under the right conditions until required

can it be frozen if you need to store it for a little while?

 

[Frisbee]

can it be frozen if you need to store it for a little while?

You could, but you could also keep the sugar in the bag, which will take up less space and won't spoil.

Frisbee

 

[taff..]

You could, but you could also keep the sugar in the bag, which will take up less space and won't spoil.

Frisbee

I asked that because I was making some fondant following the recipie on here and managed to get extra water into the pan during the rapid cooling bit so it all went a bit wrong

I put the rather runny mixture into the freezer for now

 

[mark s]

been there taff..............lol

 

[taff..]

been there taff..............lol

YAY...I'm not the only uncoordinated chimp here

 

[Rosti]

I think you are all missing a trick here. A simple and useful method irrespective of the outcome:

1. Don't store syrup, make on demand
2. Inspect bees, decide to feed
3. Make and cool syrup
4. Fill up feeder
5. Leave remainder of syrup in pan on stove
6. Look for left over syrup to discover syrup gone and wife has replaced it with butter fudge (true)!

Bl##dy brilliant!

Alternatively I've stored succesfully in old 2ltr milk containers rinsed with metabisulphite and stored in my beer fridge in the garage but then I dont have to handle vast quantities

... and my other learning. Only use standard granulated. Don't use icing just because it was in the cupboard because it contains an anti-cake agent (silicon dioxide) the syrup wont clear. May have been okay but I didn't risk it.

 

[Frisbee]

I asked that because I was making some fondant following the recipie on here and managed to get extra water into the pan during the rapid cooling bit so it all went a bit wrong

I put the rather runny mixture into the freezer for now

In that case then the mixture will probably keep without freezing as the sugar content should be pretty high, unless you sloshed in half a sink full
However thymol is more the way to go as it offers other attributes as well as keeping the syrup from fermenting.

I would add more water to your failed fondant mix before you feed it, depending on how runny it is.

Frisbee

 

[thedeaddiplomat]

Rosti

You say use only standard granulated.

My mentor (I am very much a newbee) told me only to use cane sugar, since beet sugar could contain something harmful to bees. Do you have views?

 

[Hombre]

I believe that was an urban myth and does not hold true. To all intents and purposes, both sources of sugar produce the same resulting product. If you really wish to pay more than you need to for your sugar, then believe the myth.

 

[victor meldrew]

I believe that was an urban myth and does not hold true. To all intents and purposes, both sources of sugar produce the same resulting product. If you really wish to pay more than you need to for your sugar, then believe the myth.

Like most urban myths it contains an element of truth .
The original refining process left residues that were harmful to the honeybee nowadays these residues have been irradicated so all is now OK!.

John Wilkinson

 

[thurrock bees]

hi all
wot is the shelf life of sugar syrup,can it be made up in advance and just stored under the right conditions until required

what are the right conditions to store syrup??

 

[Rosti]

Sorry dead diplomat, having to earn some cash to pay the morgage got in the way of the hobby but I managed to get balance back into my life now! You've had the answer elsewhere in this thread. It is a myth but one based on historic fact. The two sources are to all intents and purposes comparable now. I use cane, but only because the source is cheap and local. The issue with anti-caking is still with us however and under current UK food law does not have to be declared so long as the content is less than 2 % it becomes a non-declarable 'processing aid' - no technological function in the final product - unless of course you are trying to make a nice clear syrup for your bees! Icing definately affected, not sure about caster though.

 

[Rosti]

what are the right conditions to store syrup??

Conditions are only one aspect, minimising contamination at point of make is more important. If nothings in there nothing can grow irreespective of the conditions.

From a microbiological perspective the conditions should be cold (<8'C) - fridge, bottom shelf. Holding a syrup at 4'C combined with the already high solids content should give you 10 days plus (no bugs can grow at any appreciable rate below a water activity of 0.82). Where this falls down is:

A) not a good idea to feed chilled syrup, although it would warm up pretty quick
B) if you don't pay close attention to sterilisation of the container you use then you contaminate pre-storage. This can be achieved easily provided your container can take hot water (85'C for 1 secs kills all the spoilage bugs we would be worried about) or use metabisuphite rinse.

While we are at it taking your syrup up to 70'C and holding for 2 minutes does the same for any contamination you've picked from that saucepan you've just used that had the chilli in last night!