# Does 5 Gallons of water and 50lbs of sugar sound about right for 1.1?



## Arkwood (May 18, 2013)

This is an answer that I wish was easy, everyone has a different answer across the Internet. One site states 1 gallon of water and 8 lbs of sugar while another says 1 gallon of water and 12 lbs of sugar... 

My issue being, I purchased a 10 gallon container, put exactly 5 gallons of water in and 40 lbs of sugar (8lbs per gallon) and I now have 8 gallons of feed. I guess I am thrown off as I thought I would get a total of 10 gallons. So to get 10 gallons I would have to put 50lbs of sugar in with 5 gallons correct? 

But is that a correct 1.1? If a gallon of water weighs 8 lbs ish than 8 pounds of sugar per gallon would be correct at 1.1 or am I all messed up?

I don't need it broken down unless someone wants, I'd be happy just knowing what correct ratio 1.1 is. Is 8 gallons correct or 10 as I explained above?


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## Birdman (May 8, 2009)

Water weigh 8 pound to the gallon. 40/lb and 5 gallon water.


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## rjmeyer (Apr 6, 2012)

Water weights approximately 8.3 lbs per gallon, so 6 gallons of water to 50 lbs sugar would be closer to 1 to 1


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## Wolfer (Jul 15, 2012)

One pint of water to one lb of sugar. 
I believe I got this from M Bush. A pints a lb the world around.


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## Arkwood (May 18, 2013)

:scratch: lol!


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## Arkwood (May 18, 2013)

Wolfer said:


> One pint of water to one lb of sugar.
> I believe I got this from M Bush. A pints a lb the world around.


I just want Gallons, American gallons to pounds of sugar to make it easier... please.


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## Wolfer (Jul 15, 2012)

8 pints in a gallon. 1 gallon of water to 8 lb of sugar.
I don't mix mine this scientifically. I dump 10 lbs in a bucket and stir in hot tap water until it all mixes up.
Sometimes for open feeding I wet it just enough to make a paste and dump it on a board a hundred yds or so from the hives. Takes longer for the to use it this way even with help from ferrel neighbors.

Your 5 gal to 50 lbs is close enough for me.


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## RSWOODBEE (Jul 30, 2011)

I just mix 25lb sugar to three gallons water. Three gallons water = 24 pints. Makes five gallons of 1.1 Just my two cents.


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## TPalmer (Jun 11, 2012)

Their are 8 pints to a gallon. With 5 gallons you get 40 pints. So using "One pint of water to one pound of sugar" I'd say 40 pounds of sugar for 1:1 ratio.


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## Goldprospector (May 17, 2012)

let me add another, 16 dry cups of sugar for 1 gallon of water. LOL


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## Nantom670 (Jul 29, 2011)

Everyone is in agreement for a change, you had it right in the first place. The bees will bee happy.:applause:


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## Arkwood (May 18, 2013)

Using 50lbs bags of sugar however I think I'll use the 6 gallons of water and 48 lbs of sugar. With the extra 2lbs my GF loves to bake and I love to eat sweets


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

I use the first 48 for the bees and the next 48 for the mash barrel........


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## imthedude (Jan 28, 2013)

Am I the only one that does cup for cup? 1 c water to 1 c sugar?

That's how I do it.


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## dnichols (May 28, 2012)

Ok I have to do this. Metric system rocks! 1:1 would be ~3.78 L to ~454 grams ( numbers are rounded) So for true 1:1 you would need 41.73 lb to 5.0002 gal 
This should work out to be 18.928 L to 18.928 kg. :lookout: Sorry I couldn't resist.


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

Or, you can do it the reeeaallly simple way.

Fill your bucket halfway up with hot water.
Stir in sugar until the bucket is full.

It won't be exact (sucrose weighs 4% more than water by volume) but it will be so close the bees won't notice.

Try it - you'll save a ton of time and hassle.

And the bees won't care.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

dnichols said:


> Ok I have to do this. Metric system rocks! 1:1 would be ~3.78 L to ~454 grams ( numbers are rounded)


I think you need to check your numbers. 

A liter of water would be used with a kilogram of sugar. 

Unlike the imperial system, a liter of water does weigh a kilo "the world around".


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## KPeacock (Jan 29, 2013)

The way I see it, bees will go after nectar which varies in sugar content. they will take 1:1 and will take 2:1. I just measure it out close-ish. I usually do 2 gallons of water and two 10# bags of sugar. Yeah, its a touch stronger than 1:1, but my gallons aren't exactly measured out to to exactly 128 fluid ounces either. The bees have taken everything i have given them and seem to not care much . I would choose somethign else to worry about


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## cnt (Jun 8, 2013)

I'm new at bees but I can help here. I think part of the original confusion comes from the fact that water and granulated sugar have nearly the same density (I'm counting the voids between the granuals too) so there is an expectation that 1 volume water + 1 volume sugar = 2 volumes syrup. But syrup is actually more dense than sugar or water so you end up with less than 2 volumes syrup. 

This is a common thing to happen and its one reason why 1:1 refers to weights not volumes and it's also why those of us in the scientific community almost always refer to ratios by weight (though on occasion you see exceptions)


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## Cape Beekeeper (Oct 9, 2009)

May not be quick, but quite accurate: mix 768 teaspoonsful of sugar to 1 _gallon_ or 3840 teaspoonsful of sugar to 5 _gallons_ of water for 1:1 syrup.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

To make one to one sugar syrup mix equal parts water and sugar by VOLUME or WEIGHT. It doesn't matter that it isn't exactly exact. The bees will consume it or not anyway.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

According to you findings that 5 gallons of water and 40 lbs of sugar makes 8 gallons of feed. You would want 50 lbs of sugar and 6.25 gallons of water to be very close to the 10 gallon mark.

The problem with 5 gallons of sugar actually making 5 gallons of watery feed is that their is a lot of air in that granulated sugar. as you can see 5 gallons of sugar only takes up 3 gallons of liquid volume. Nearly half air.


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## dnichols (May 28, 2012)

BeeCurious said:


> I think you need to check your numbers.
> 
> A liter of water would be used with a kilogram of sugar.
> 
> Unlike the imperial system, a liter of water does weigh a kilo "the world around".


You are right but when you convert metric to imperial the numbers are wacky. And that was part of my subtle sarcasm in the post. 1 gal = 3.78L and 1lb = 454g

You see that a liter of water does weigh a kilo when you get to the end of my post when I say 1:1 is 18.92L to 18.92kg. Ah never mind when you have to explain the sarcasm it's not fun anymore.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Fill your bucket halfway up with hot water.
Stir in sugar until the bucket is full.

This will not be even CLOSE to 1:1. It will be more like 2:1. Personally I never make 1:1. 1:1 does not keep well and is more to haul around. I make 5:3 any time of year for any purpose.

For estimation purposes: 5 gallons equals 40 pints of water to 50 pints (pounds) of sugar , so it's 4:5. The bees will gladly take it...


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

The bees aren't going to be holding up score cards judging your ability to deliver an exact 1:1 ratio. When I was just starting out I would empty a fivelb bag of sugar into a 1gal plastic milk container and fill it with hot tap water. The bees took it just fine. Now I have a package scale that I'm weighing hives with in the fall and find it also works for weighing water in five gallon syrup totes. So I can weigh out 25lbs of water and mix in a 25lb bag of sugar. I mix in a trash can with a canoe paddle and then use a quart measuring cup to fill the tote. This works ok with roughly 40 hives. I have an immersion heater that I use to get the water steaming before I add sugar to make heavy syrup (2:1) in the fall.

Michael's 5:3 sounds good - consistent and easy enough to make. I try not to make so much syrup ahead that I have to worry about it going bad. I had some 2:1 syrup from last winter that I ran through a 200 micron filter and combined it with the 1:1 I usually feed this time of year. This has been a great year for natural nectar so I have not been feeding much. I do feed (even if it is not needed) during queen installs and to new nucs for a couple of weeks - esp if the nucs are located in the same yards they were made up in and don't have a full compliment of foragers yet.


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## Mike Tuggle (Jun 20, 2010)

I am sooooooooo bad... I dump a 5# bag into a wide-mouth gallon jar, fill it to the brim with hot water, and stir until there's no visible sugar left. I have never weighed it.

The bees don't seem to care and gobble it all up.


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

Mike Tuggle said:


> I am sooooooooo bad... I dump a 5# bag into a wide-mouth gallon jar, fill it to the brim with hot water, and stir until there's no visible sugar left. I have never weighed it.
> 
> The bees don't seem to care and gobble it all up.


Now I suppose you intended to put a smiley in there :applause: what you are saying isn't at all bad - I'll bet it is common practice!


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

_The bees aren't going to be holding up score cards judging your ability to deliver an exact 1:1 ratio. 

_Oh yeah? They do it when your back is turned.

_When I was just starting out I would empty a fivelb bag of sugar into a 1gal plastic milk container and fill it with hot tap water. The bees took it just fine. _

That's what I do.

I have always aimed for 1:1. That way, you don't have to figure out which part is sugar and which part is water. When you talk about 5:3, are you talking about 5 parts sugar to 3 parts water, or vice versa?


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Thanks for the insight Michael. I had always heard feed 2:1 in the winter months, but 5:3 year round sounds even better. thanks. g


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## Arkwood (May 18, 2013)

Some good and funny posts lol!:lpf:


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## Sour Kraut (Jun 17, 2012)

water weighs 8.34 pounds per gallon

6 gallons = 50.04 pounds

so use 6 gallons to 50 pounds of sugar

or 42 pounds to 5 gallons

or 33 pounds to 4 gallons

or 25 pounds to 3 gallons


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## Leonidas (Jul 9, 2021)

I have been going with 28g of sugar to every 30 ml of water and it has hit right on every time. The only thing is once I get above a quintal ilter it starts going wonky and stressed out my sugar. Then I just switch over to 1 kiloliter to 1 metric ton.


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## elmer_fud (Apr 21, 2018)

Leonidas said:


> I have been going with 28g of sugar to every 30 ml of water and it has hit right on every time. The only thing is once I get above a quintal ilter it starts going wonky and stressed out my sugar. Then I just switch over to 1 kiloliter to 1 metric ton.


FYI, this is a 8 year old thread


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