Making your own Invert sugar syrup.

Has anyone had a go at making their own invert suger syrup?

I have found this info on Wiki and wondered if any had tried it with any success? I am interested as it seems cheeper that buying Ambrosia or other products of a similar style.


Inverting sugar

Inverted sugar syrup can be easily made by adding roughly one gram of citric acid or ascorbic acid per kilogram of sugar. Cream of tartar (one gram per kilogram) or fresh lemon juice (10 millilitres per kilogram) may also be used.

The mixture is boiled for 20 minutes, and will convert enough of the sucrose to effectively prevent crystallization, without giving a noticeably sour taste. Invert sugar syrup may also be produced without the use of acids or enzymes by thermal means alone: two parts granulated sucrose and one part water simmered for five to seven minutes will convert a modest portion to invert sugar.

All inverted sugar syrups are created from hydrolysing sucrose to glucose (dextrose) and fructose by heating a sucrose solution, then relying on time alone, with the catalytic properties of an acid or enzymes used to speed the reaction. Commercially prepared acid catalysed solutions are neutralised when the desired level of inversion is reached.

All constituent sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) support fermentation, so invert sugar solutions may be fermented as readily as sucrose solutions.

Probably easier to let the bees do it. KISS principle. No HMF, no bother.

It may be cheaper than Ambrosia. However, boiling sugar with acid is the ideal way to create levels of HMF that would be illegal in honey. Unlike Ambrosia you have no analysis of how much or what point to stop.

David Cramp's book suggests using a yeast culture to produce invertase. That keeps the temperature down but you still have to monitor it carefully. Boiling is unlikely to be controlled enough to produce an invert safe for use in the hive.

As RAB says, safer to leave it to the bees.

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When I started beekeeping 50 years ago, my 75 y old menthor told that you may invert the winter sugar with acid.

It is an old trick but I have not heard that somebody has used it.

The sugar will be inverted in bees' stomack. NO INVERTING NEEDED!
It means that like i human stomack the sugar will be splitted to fructose and glucose part.

Normal sugar is best at its own. No need to make tricks.

oliver90owner said:

Probably easier to let the bees do it. KISS principle. No HMF, no bother.

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jep, it will happen however....

alanf said:

It may be cheaper than Ambrosia. However, boiling sugar with acid is the ideal way to create levels of HMF that would be illegal in honey. Unlike Ambrosia you have no analysis of how much or what point to stop.

David Cramp's book suggests using a yeast culture to produce invertase. That keeps the temperature down but you still have to monitor it carefully. Boiling is unlikely to be controlled enough to produce an invert safe for use in the hive.

As RAB says, safer to leave it to the bees.

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beter and better.... Fermented syrup to bees....poo will flye like a sparrow swarm...

dpearce4 said:

I am interested as it seems cheeper that buying Ambrosia or other products of a similar style.

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The Ambrosia vendors, with their hyped talk, and unfounded, even sometimes downright false, negative marketing against other products have really got you all hooked it seems. Their prices are sky high, way above what they need to be. Sometimes even double. That is all going into peoples pockets and not back to Nordzucker (the makers). Every link up the chain is another margin, and I suspect most of you are buying the stuff from the second or third handler (and profit) after it leaves the plant.

Invert syrup is cheaper than white sugar, if bought wisely and through the correct channels. No work, no waste.

Get together, co-operate..then buy in bulk and pay between 55p and 72p, per kilo, depending on the product selected.

Making it yourself, especially with the addition of ingredients that are not bee safe (acids), is neither economic nor wise. Any imperfect food given to the bees to consume in the months when there is confinement is a risk factor that is avoidable. All the main proprietry brands of bee feed syrups have been extensively tested, and the documented trials of the products by Sudzucker in particular (Api-invert makers) are exemplary.

now theres speaks a man with brains and bee knowledge,

home made invert sugar , why?

Into the lions den said:

Invert syrup is cheaper than white sugar, if bought wisely and through the correct channels. No work, no waste.

ary.

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is it inverted from starch, which is glucole + glucose+..... chain
like in USA they use corn syrup?

Finman said:

is it inverted from starch, which is glucole + glucose+..... chain
like in USA they use corn syrup?

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If you look up the Sudzucker website and research Api-invert (using that name here as it is the one I mentioned in the post) you will find that any similarity to the product you mention is slight. In ALL the main products sold as 'designer' bee syrups in the EU the main constituent is fructose.

Api-invert is made from beet sugar only...........as is Ambrosia. Some other products are blends of starch derived syrups and white sugar derived syrups.

I respect all you say as you have an expertise in serious winter conditions probably unrivalled on this forum..........BUT.......your extreme conditons require extreme measures, whereas in the UK, even up here in Scotland, by your standards our winters are very mild.

In extensive experimentation we have demonstrated to our sufficient satisfaction that most of these syrups are the best winter food you can possibly buy. I would rank the common foods in this order, always supposing you can get an adequate (but not excessive) amount of stores into the hive for winter.

1. Top rated branded syrups
2. White sugar syrup
3. Fondant (and this is top rated emergency food any time in winter, and for those colonies inadequately fed before the onset of cold conditions.)
4. Second ranked syrups (100% starch derived), but only this low in the rankings due to high consumption rates, otherwise they are fine.
5. Home made candy
6. Their own honey
982. Other honey.

Since moving away from made up syrup onto Ambrosia initially, then Api invert, and now Apisuc or Invert Bee our bees have never looked better going into winter.

Our conditions are not like Finnish ones, and our bees tend to be very different too, with smaller clusters and far lower stores needs. Regular cleansing flights during winter are the normal, and a six week shut in due to weather would be very rare.

so can you suggest where we can but it from without being ripped off?

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I have never heard about fructose base winterfood.
Thanks for clearing the matter.

Belgium Veg, but you would need to be taking a full tanker, around 20 tonnes I would think, as the haulier would be operating minimum load rules and haulage would significantly affect the price paid if a part load was an acceptable order. Pumped into YOUR IBCs on delivery. Be prepared.

German company with Belgian plants. Major player in the beet quota market.

VEG said:

so can you suggest where we can but it from without being ripped off?

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PM me if you want some pointers. Not going to even come close to posting things that could get me a rap for any sort of commercial activity.

Be prepared to group together and all save money.

Finman said:

beter and better.... Fermented syrup to bees....poo will flye like a sparrow swarm...

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The recipe is based on timing the metabolism of yeast. The idea is that coming out of dormancy in the presence of sucrose, yeast boost the invertase level. This is before they start the slower fermentation. The final stage is to maintain a state where the invertase is effective but the yeast dies. Relies on timing and accurate temperature control in the 40 to 70 degree range. To be straight it's a lab technique, beyond the kitchen equipment suppliers really. If you can't borrow one from the Fat Duck or a hospital lab I would not try it.

Hombre said:

German company with Belgian plants. Major player in the beet quota market.

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That would be Sudzucker, huge player in the trade, and the top maker of fondants. However their Api-invert is made at a single plant in Germany.

I deal with Belgosuc, who are not German and a far smaller company, but very professional. Yes the send full loads into the UK primarily, but these loads are sometimes in multi compartment tankers, totalling some 23 tonnes plus, and a drop can be as little as six tonnes. Several such drops were made this autumn.

More Apisuc than Ambrosia into UK this autumn. They have UK banking too, so no foreign exchange vagaries to worry about.

alanf said:

The recipe is based on timing the metabolism of yeast. The idea is that coming out of dormancy in the presence of sucrose, yeast boost the invertase level. This is before they start the slower fermentation. The final stage is to maintain a state where the invertase is effective but the yeast dies. Relies on timing and accurate temperature control in the 40 to 70 degree range. To be straight it's a lab technique, beyond the kitchen equipment suppliers really. If you can't borrow one from the Fat Duck or a hospital lab I would not try it.

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Surely well within the capabilities of anyone with a sous vide setup?
Mine uses an eBay PID and SSR controlling a tea urn.
You can buy SV kit at John Lewis these days, but my homebuild only cost about £75.

Into the lions den said:

That would be Sudzucker, huge player in the trade, and the top maker of fondants. However their Api-invert is made at a single plant in Germany.

I deal with Belgosuc, who are not German and a far smaller company, but very professional. Yes the send full loads into the UK primarily, but these loads are sometimes in multi compartment tankers, totalling some 23 tonnes plus, and a drop can be as little as six tonnes. Several such drops were made this autumn.

More Apisuc than Ambrosia into UK this autumn. They have UK banking too, so no foreign exchange vagaries to worry about.

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We contacted a supplier in the UK who wanted substantially more per litre for a 1000Kg than we pay per litre only for 30/40 cans of Ambrosia.

Yes, many are working the market for heavy gain but in this instance it isn't Ambrosia.

itma said:

Surely well within the capabilities of anyone with a sous vide setup?
Mine uses an eBay PID and SSR controlling a tea urn.
You can buy SV kit at John Lewis these days, but my homebuild only cost about £75.

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I'm not saying don't try it but be aware of the risks as well as any benefits.

Thermostats still need monitoring with a proveably accurate thermometer if the temperature is critical. Too low and you get surviving yeast and fermentation. Too high you get HMF and destroy the invertase too early so no invert sugars. The whole batch needs to be held at temperature, not just at the sensor, so think about automated stirring as well as multipoint sampling. Lab standard handling is also critical to avoid live yeast starters recontaminating the product or it will ferment. You might want to research how to measure process yield and monitor HMF levels which is what any of the commercial bee food suppliers will do.

An educational small scale project? Maybe, but it would be time consuming and may not yield much product I'd be confident using. Would I imagine I'm replicating the sugar companies quality control in the kitchen? No. If I was commercial, I'd buy in bulk like ITLD.

itma said:

Surely well within the capabilities of anyone with a sous vide setup?
Mine uses an eBay PID and SSR controlling a tea urn.
You can buy SV kit at John Lewis these days, but my homebuild only cost about £75.

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proper cheese making has the same whole batch temperature control requirements