# Is Overheating Sugar Bad for Bees?



## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

I seem to recall reading a thread on here a while back about overheated HFCS killing some bees.

I have recently captured a couple swarms and wanted to give them some sugar syrup to help them get going.

I have been making my syrup by boiling the water and then tossing in the sugar, could this be a problem?

Is there a maximum temperature that I should stay below?

Does it matter if I had extractor cleaning water and used that?


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

When I mix up my syrup I like to keep the heat on so that when all the sugar is added [semi-slowly and stirred] to the water it will still be around 160-170 F. for a few minutes after I turn off the heat. This seems to be enough to kill off yeast and fungi cells and other possible contaminants for a week to 10 days. I am sure I will be attacked by more experienced beekeepers about this. That's all.


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## Jesse (May 15, 2006)

I always get the water to boil - then shut the heat off and add sugar right away, stirring it in well. 

The thing to worry about is scorching the sugar on the bottom of the pot - that is what can harm the bees.


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Overheating (burning or carmelizing) sugar IS bad for bees,
moreso if the bees are confined when eating the overheated 
sugar.

But, boiling water is 212F, so if you simply remove the water
from the heat (and with electric stoves, this means moving
it off the burner) there is no risk to the sugar, as the lowest
temperature on a candy thermometer is "thread", 223F.

Heating water is costly, so most larger operations use
tap water, and mix with an electric drill and a paint mixer 
in a large container. 

An electric trolling motor in a 55-gallon drum works great, too.


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

Yes, I suppose you could add the water that you use to clean your extractor but it seems like too much of a bother and another possible contaminant to your sugar syrup. Oh whatever! I have only 3 hives [still learning] so take my words with a lot of grains of salt.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

OK, Time to fess up to what I've done here. Maybe I've made a big sticky mistake.

I heated 25lbs of water. Added 25 lbs of extracter water and honey and added 50 lbs of sugar.

The trouble I'm afraid is fermentation. The extractor water sat for a week already and smelled a bit yeasty, but for some reason it didn't sink in what the problem might be.

IF I had the first 25lbs at boiling 212 and the second 25lbs at 75 then the resulting temp was about halfway bwteen those or 143, then I added 50lbs of sugar and that should have cut the temp again to give us 109. 

It seemed a bit warmer than that, but that is in the ballpark. Is that enough to kill the yeast?

Is this going to ferment in record time?

Is there some way to stop the inevitable fermentation?

What if I heat it again on the propane burner to 150 or so and stir contineuously the whole time? Would that still scorch it on the bottom?

Must I throw the whole mess out? I sure hate to throw out 100 lbs of bee food. Especially after I poured the last of my Honey B Healthy in there.


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

I just make what I need with little extra. I find I just want it fresh for the bees. I boil water and take off the stove when I mix sugar, which was mentioned by someone earlier...

I figure by boiling I kill just about everything in the water and it will last that much longer in my feeders.


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## Aspera (Aug 1, 2005)

I agree, boiling water first, and adding the sugar a bit at a time is the key. Getting the consistancy of sugar water that you want can be difficult if you don't use any more heat. Fortunately, scorching can be avoided by constant stirring and turning the heat on low. It is not a big deal to stir because you'll want to watch the pot in order to avoid very messy boil-overs. As a long time brewer, I can definitely say that the "shelf-life" of syrup will be greatly extended by boiling the water for 15 min and adding sugar/honey later.


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