# 2-1 Sugar Syrup



## mitch30 (Feb 8, 2014)

When I make 2:1 I use 1 gallon water to 16 pounds of sugar. Water is 8.34# to a gallon that is why I use 16# of sugar.


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## allan (Jul 7, 2013)

4 lb of suger to 2 16oz of water is 2-1


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

1 pint sugar is close to a pound.
1 pint of water is close to a pound.

Mixing sugar water at 2:1 makes the sugar crystallize in the water, I've found, it's hard for the sugar to stay in the liquid mix ( I don't heat my mix, I just use hot tap water). I mix my syrup at 5lbs sugar in a one gallon jug and fill with water to the top. That gives me about a 5:3 mix which stays mixed more readily than mixing true 2:1 syrup.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Sugar comes in all sorts of size bags. I've seen 1 pound, 4 pound, 5 pound, 10 pound, 20 pound, 25 pound and fifty pound. I don't see how you can say a recipe is a "bag of sugar"...

I've never had much luck getting 2:1 to dissolve, but that may be because of the hardness of the water around here. I can get 5:3 to dissolve and not crystallize very quickly if I boil the water and then add the sugar. That's 10 pounds of sugar to 6 pints of water. Or 20 pounds of sugar to 12 pints of water.

2:1 would be 20 pounds of sugar to 10 pints of water.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#ratios


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## Wendellww (Sep 20, 2014)

Wow - Beginner here ....I have been using 1 gal of sugar to 1 gallon of water for 1:1 .and 2 gallons of sugar to 1 gallon of water for 2:1 ...... Volumn. Someone please advise?


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Your ratio is mine and my bees can't taste the difference I guess. As long as I get the water hot after mixing the two together it seems to stay in solution long enough to be gulped down right now. I also dump a 25 pound bag of sugar or three tens in two gallons of water and call that close enough. As long as you get them up in weight before it cools off too much you are fine.


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## angel (Jul 23, 2013)

Michael Bush said:


> Sugar comes in all sorts of size bags.
> 
> 2:1 would be 20 pounds of sugar to 10 pints of water.
> 
> http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#ratios


Southwing, I read Mr. Bush's article here and followed it step by step, and came out with a perfect ratio of syrup today. Feed 40lb to the bees today, they took every bit of it within 12 hours.

1 pint of water to 2lb of sugar to get a 2:1. Bring water to boil, turn heat completely off, stir while slowly adding in sugar to dissolve.

If you purchase the common grocery store bag of sugar (ex: 4lb), then add 2 pints of water with the 4lb bag of sugar to get 2:1 ratio.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I have been using 1 gal of sugar to 1 gallon of water for 1:1 .and 2 gallons of sugar to 1 gallon of water for 2:1 ...... Volumn. Someone please advise?

Perfect.


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## Pete O (Jul 13, 2013)

Is it REALLY that important to get the mixture exact? I doubt the bees care as long as they can take it in. I simply put ballpark amounts of sugar and hot water into a bucket, stir, let settle, wait a couple of hours, stir, and let settle. It ends up being a saturated solution and that's what the bees get. The bees haven't complained so far.


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## OC_Bees (Jul 4, 2014)

Easy to make it in bulk at 1 gallon at a time. Syrup will be more than a gallon but assume you start with 1 gallon of water. 16 cups in a gallon of water. So to have two to one bee feed, you need 32 cups of sugar for 16 cups of water. Buy the 50 pound bags of sugar at costco they are $20 with tax included. Heat water and add 16 cups sugar then keep adding the other so it all dissolves evenly. If you have a top hive feeder that holds a gallon each side, it's pretty easy.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

I use one 5 lb. bag of sugar, which is about 10 cups, to 5 cups of water (and so on and so forth). I don't have trouble with it dissolving as long as I shake it well and shake it right before I pour it. I use a gallon plastic container with a cap so it's shakeable. I don't heat the water.

It's fun to almost fill the container with dry sugar until you think - the water isn't going to fit in there! Then you pour the water in, the air bubbles escape and it dissolves, and you find you have extra room after all.


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

8 ounces of water weighs 8 ounces, and 8 ounces of sugar weighs 7.055 ounces

So if you mix two sugar volumes to one water volume, ie 16oz sugar to 8oz water then get

14.11oz/8oz which is 5.29:3 or 1.76:1. 

So it is a little stronger than 5:3 but not as strong as 2:1. Hence, it will be a little easier to mix and slower to crystalize.

An easy way to mix sugar syrup to get the above mixture, is to fill a container to whatever volume you want, put a mark or note a mark on the container, add hot water to bring syrup mixture level up to the line. Result is 5.29:3 or 1.76:1.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

By volume is the way I do it.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

> 8 ounces of sugar weighs 7.055 ounces


That must be the new math. I have no idea what most of you are talking about. I hope my bees survive if I add 10 cups of sugar to 5 cups of water. LOL.


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

NewbeeInNH said:


> That must be the new math. I have no idea what most of you are talking about. I hope my bees survive if I add 10 cups of sugar to 5 cups of water. LOL.


Basic math, volumes and weights taught in junior high!

8 fluid ounces weighs 7.055 oz weight.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Oh, FLUID ounces. That makes more sense.

I don't think fluid ounces were invented when I went to junior high.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

Fluid ounce is a measure of volume, not weight. How much a fluid ounce weighs depends on the fluid.


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## LeifLiberty (Sep 23, 2014)

Does anybody add or has anybody experimented with adding things to the syrup? I have heard of people adding a small amount of peppermint oil, HBH, or apple cider vinegar... I guess this was to help the bees find the syrup in an in-frame feeder?
Is this necessary, good, bad other?


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

I put some apple cider vinegar in one batch earlier in the year (for first year hives). I'd be careful doing that this time of the year because of robbing.


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## Santa Caras (Aug 14, 2013)

NewbeeInNH said:


> Oh, FLUID ounces. That makes more sense.
> 
> I don't think fluid ounces were invented when I went to junior high.


LMAO!! yeah I feel the same way at times. 



LeifLiberty said:


> I guess this was to help the bees find the syrup in an in-frame feeder?


They dont need any help finding sugar syrup. Some add items to the syrup to bring the PH level up to where its more in tune with what honey is. It can set off robbing at times if the feeder isnt sitting perfectly on the box below or if the scent is getting into the air somehow. With or without, the bees will suc it down if they want it.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

"_If a 1-1 recipe for sugar syrup calls for 1 4lb bag of sugar and 3 qts. of water, wouldn't 2-1 call for 2 bags (4lb bags) of sugar to the same 3 qts. of water?_"

The assumption of doubling the sugar for 2-to-1 syrup is correct, but the starting recipe is in error - 4lbs sugar to 3 quarts water is not 1-to-1 syrup. Rather, 1-to-1 syrup is 4 lbs sugar to 4 pints water (i.e., 2 quarts of water). Then, 2-to-1 syrup is 8 lbs sugar to 4 pints water.

I make 1-to-1 syrup by mixing one 25 lb bag of sugar to 3 gallons of water. I pour hot tapwater into the sugar and mix using a paint paddle/drill. The sugar dissolves in just a minute or two. This makes close to 5 gallons of 1-to-1 syrup. 

I make 2-to-1 syrup by mixing two 25 lb bags of sugar to 3 gallons of water. I boil the water on the stove and then pour into the sugar. Again, I mix with a paint paddle/drill. The sugar dissolves in about 5 minutes. This makes close to 7 gallons of 2-to-1 syrup.

These volumes are convenient for servicing my dozen-odd hives. The above recipes are not scientifically precise, but are close enough to achieve the intended purpose. Any more precision is a waste of time.

The point of the ratios is not for flavor, or that the bees know mixing ratios, etc. A ratio close to 1-to-1 is good for stimulating wax production, and a ratio close to 2-to-1 minimizes how much water the bees must remove for winter stores. Some beeks successfully use a ratio halfway between 1-to-1 and 2-to-1 for everything.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Hmm. I was hoping to knock out both fall feeding and stimulate comb building with the 2 to 1. Looks like it might be an either/or.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> Looks like it might be an either/or. 

I use 5:3 for everything...


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Good. Can't wait to check the hives next. Hopefully there will be comb buildup because you always need extra comb frames.


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## Wendellww (Sep 20, 2014)

Per my mentor, per tests he was privy to, the bees will take the sugar water with up to 29 TBSP of vinegar per gallon. He did not recommend that much. I have used approximately 4 TBSP per gallon all year .... To keep it from spoiling ..... Bees consume lots of it with no apparent problems. I am using white vinegar, but I do not think it matters.


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## thehackleguy (Jul 29, 2014)

These sugar water threads crack me up. I feel that everyone is over thinking it, you don't even need to use cups, ounces, pounds or anything else. Just one part sugar to one part water = 1:1 and two parts sugar to one part water = 2:1. One could use any type of volume for this. For instance I mix mine 2 baseball caps full of sugar to one baseball cap of water and feed it, works great!

On a serious note when I mix 2:1 I use very hot tap water and mix then let it set for a few hours mixing occasionally. If some sugar settles to the bottom that is fine it just means that the water is holding as much sugar as it possibly can. I then pour the syrup into my feeder and place it. It is super thick and the bees love it.:thumbsup:


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## rweaver7777 (Oct 17, 2012)

I finally came upon a mix that doesn't require me to weigh sugar or move it between containers and spill it. I have a 5 gallon aluminum pot. Put 2 gallons of water in it (8 guart measuring cups worth), boil it, turn the heat off, and pour an entire 25# bag of sugar in it. This is the size that bulk sugar is sold around here at restaurant supply houses, and Costco and Kroger has it to. I stir until dissolved (about 3 mins) but it would probably dissolve anyway. Add additives such as vinegar, HBH and Amino-B to the now more or less 4-gallon batch. Stir before bottling in old 1/2 gallon OJ bottles. I pretty much go through 3 bottles every 2-3 days with my 3 hives I'm feeding (nucs moved to hives this year).

Makes 5:3 or close (ok, for those OCD types, it's 5:3.75). 1:1 (or 5:5) is 8.3 pounds/gallon, 2:1 (or 5:2.5) is 16.3 pounds per gallon, and the mix is 1/2 between them. It's pretty worth it to me to not have to measure sugar and get it all over everything in the process.


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