Making 5 to 10 Gallons of Syrup Quickly

Anyone who feeds syrup to bees has, I am sure, a good way to make syrup. Which depends a little on how much you need. I used to do it on a stove top when I just needed a few quarts. Then I switched to just using hot tap water in a gallon milk jug and shaking it (learned from Mat Higgins of our local hardware store). That worked OK too.

Now I need more, and I mix it in 5 gallon batches, sometimes twice in a row, and I have what I think is a pretty good, efficient working method.

Starting with the materials and tools- below- I take a 25 pound bag of sugar (which right now is about 11 bucks), a drill motor with a paint mixer attachment, a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, a 5 gallon jug for water with a spout (I have two of these- not required, but better than a bucket for pouring and moving it around) a funnel with a wire to hold it up, a pint of Thymol mix, and (not shown here) a two gallon stainless pot with a lid:

I start by setting two gallons of water on the stove, with a lid, to get it to boil. That takes about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I set up everything, cut the sugar open, and pour it fully into a bucket. If I am doing two buckets, I do it twice, and put another pot on the stove.

Then when the water is boiling, I pour the whole two gallons right into the sugar. For a 1:1 mixture, a pint of water weights a pound- and so you'll eventually want to add 25 pints for each pound of sugar. There are 8 pints in a gallon, so just a bit over 3 gallons, but I just use cold water at the end for the final gallon.

Then I mix it with a paint mixer. These are about 4 bucks. I don't do it a long time- maybe 3 or 4 minutes- its hot water, and it will eventually all dissolve on its own.

 It stays milky but I make sure that all the sugar from the bottom is mixed in:

While the water is hot, I pour in two teaspoons of Thymol- something I learned from David Cushman's- about what R.O. Manley used to do. I do it as I often see black mold form in my mixes if they hang out too long, and also, as for a few years I tried out HiveAlive (which is, I am pretty sure, worthless), and I like the Thymol. You make it with 90% proof alchohol and Thymol crystals. Not essential- but once you do- its like the bees memorize the smell- and go after anything smelling like Thymol:

I mix the Thymol in- is alchohol, so sits on top unless you do:

And I pour in another gallon of water (I usually let the above sit awhile- and it will clarify. Sometimes the sugar settles out a little and I will mix it again before pouring in the cold water):

And finally, after mixing it all up, I put a big funnel in the water jug, with a wire that hooks back into the handle, and I pour the whole mess into the jug. The jug has a spout, which is great for filling up bottles, but I usually take it off and just pour directly from the jug. Using a 5 gallon bucket by itself is OK- but unless you really knock down the lid, it can slosh around as you drive, and you end up with a mess of syrup in your truck, which ends up as a cloud of bees robbing.

It seems to work well. Im not sure what the best way to do the next batch size up will be- but this works great for 5 to 10 gallons.