Syrup Fermenting?

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tobyt

Sat Jul 22, 2017 4:01 pm

We tend to make large amounts of simple syrup at once because we go through it so quickly. We use preservatives in it as well. We then mix our concentrates in gallon jogs for most of our flavors, then fill our quart pour bottles from that. Again, the gallons empty pretty fast.
We have had 3-4 gallons "swell" and when opened it sounds like opening a carbonated beverage. The smell is off, like coffee no longer had a coffee smell and while it didn't smell sour it didn't smell that good either. The taste was just sugary not flavored. We dumped these flavors and any in the quart jars but I am trying to figure out what might be causing it.
I just found out my wife was using hot water when mixing the simple syrup so I am thinking that is the problem. She said it dissolves the sugar better, but I have told her to stop.
The syrup stays in an air conditioned climate once it is made.

Thank you for any suggestions.
DerekinCanada
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 1:17 pm

Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:39 am

We keep our simple syrup in a refrigerator between events. We find it's good for 3 weeks or so (and we don't use preservatives). You likely use more than we do, so refrigerating may not be practical. We make sure we follow our health dept's requirements of sanitizing with a 100 ppm bleach solution when we clean the containers (don't rinse them with water after!). This kills mold spores and various other microorganisms which can cause simple syrup to go bad. Needless to say, sugar and water is ideal yeast food, but keeping the syrup cooler should slow down yeast cell growth. We use hot water when making our simple syrup at home, as it mixes easier, and then refrigerate it immediately. We use cold water when making it at an event, so we don't melt the snow.

We use clear 1.25 gallon "Slimline" containers https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/arrow-ultr ... 0187969434 to store and dispense our simple syrup (filling quart bottles with simple syrup and concentrate), and examine them before each event for black specks and other signs that it is going bad (and taste the syrup too). If there is any doubt, or it's been in the container longer than 3 weeks, we dump it out, wash, rinse, sterilize, and redo. We ensure that the sugar water is kept out of direct sunlight when at an event. We don't do it, but you might also try storing your extra simple syrup at an event in an old cooler with some ice.
Loopdan
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:51 am

Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:05 pm

There are several possible sources of this problem, but it is most definitely not caused by the temperature of the water you use when mixing.

Questions--
1) What preservative(s) do you use, and how much?
2) How old were the syrups that swelled?
Rimmie

Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:35 pm

Are you using hot water that you boiled or tap? The bacteria from tap water may be another factor to why your syrup is fermenting. I find boiling my simple syrup gives it a longer shelf life. However, it is time consuming because you have to allow the simple syrup to cool. Hope this helps.
tobyt

Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:33 am

We make 10 gal at a time. We use 10 oz of sodium benzoate and 3 oz of fruit acid.

The gallons that went bad the last time were about 5-7 day old.

I am worried about the quality of our water. We are on well water, we have 2 filters that it runs through. We don't use it for our ice, we are fortunate enough to have an on site water source for that. I am going to buy gallon bottled water from now on for our syrups just to make sure this or no other problems result from the use of well water.

My wife denies this so I am not sure it happened but what if a gallon bottle already mixed with concentrate were to sit in a hot car for several hours? Again, supposedly this has not happened but my wife has 3 kids to watch after and I could see it as a possibility.
DerekinCanada
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 1:17 pm

Wed Jul 26, 2017 5:26 am

Do you have a UV light water disinfection system in your water system? We have one on ours to ensure the water is bacteria-free. They're a few hundred bucks to buy, and you have to replace the $100 light bulb every year, but it keeps the health department happy as our test results are always free of bacteria and e-coli.
Loopdan
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:51 am

Thu Jul 27, 2017 9:56 am

tobyt wrote:We make 10 gal at a time. We use 10 oz of sodium benzoate and 3 oz of fruit acid.

The gallons that went bad the last time were about 5-7 day old.
OK, so my bet is that the container wasn't sanitized properly before being filled. If it was sanitized there is no reason you'd have any kind of growth in 5-7 days using those preservatives.
ShaveIce
Posts: 517
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:53 am
Location: Honolulu,HI
Contact:

Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:16 pm

Many factors can contribute to spoilage even with preservative.

1.) Water
2.) Container
3.) The Sugar itself
4.) Temperature the syrups were left in
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