Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Invert sugar
When bees collect nectar, they invert the sugars in the nectar by the addition of
enzymes. This enables the bees to pack more of the resulting sugars into the cells than
would otherwise be the case because inverting a disaccharide (sucrose) into its two
component sugars, glucose and fructose, effectively doubles the concentration of sugar
molecules. Using invert sugar means that the bees can skip this stage, and it gives your
colonies a huge boost. It is particularly effective as a spring feed and as a feed for nucs
and small colonies. For those interested in the science of this, the chemical reaction is
as follows:
C 12 H 22 O 11 (sucrose) + H 2 O (water) = C 6 H 12 O 6 (glucose) + C 6 H 12 O 6 (fructose)
This reaction is enabled by the presence of an enzyme that is not shown in the
formula.
Many texts advise inverting sugar syrup by acid hydrolysis - i.e. employing acids of
various types. My advice is don't . Acid hydrolysis is dangerous because you need to heat
the sugar to near boiling point and also because the acids themselves are dangerous.
Similarly, unless you know how to halt the reaction at the right time, it will carry on
breaking down the sugars into dangerous products, including raising the hydroxy-
methyl-furfuraldehyde (HMF) levels enormously, and so you will end up poisoning
your bees. I know of many beekeepers who have done this and who didn't realize why
their colonies were dwindling. They ascribed all sorts of other reasons for the deaths
when, in fact, they were the result of the feeding regime. Remember, feeding your bees
is meant to help them, not kill them. I recall one beekeeper complaining that hot sugar
had wrecked his honey pump!
Recipes
The recipe below for invert sugar syrup uses active baker's yeast. It is designed for large
commercial quantities but if the hobbyist beekeeper wants to use invert sugar syrup it
is easy to reduce the quantities as long as the proportions are kept. This method is safe
and won't poison your bees or injure you.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search