The official homemade syrup preservation thread - Tiki Drinks and Food

A arbeck Member Seattle, WA Joined: Jan 01, 2017 Posts: 11	A arbeck Posted posted on Mon, Jan 2, 2017 3:41 PM I'm not sure everyone will like this solution. But it works great for me. I use a combination of sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate to preserve my syrups. I picked it up from the book Craft Cocktails at home (https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Cocktails-Home-Contemporary-Crowd-Pleasers/dp/0615766382/?tag=se-comment-20&tag=se-comment-20), but I modified it to make the math easier to do the math. Basically you can mix 2.5g each of potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate with 95g of water. This solution will keep indefinitely. Now let's say you have a cup of simple syrup. That would be 200g of sugar and 227g of sugar. The FDA says both of those additives are safe up to .1% by weight. So, we'd want to add .447g of each to the syrup. Since our solution is 2.5% of the additive, we take .447/.025 and that means we need about 17g of solution to add to our syrup (17 x 2.5% = .425). Now our new syrup is 444g and .425g of it are the preservatives. So it's .0957% preservative, below what the FDA says is safe, so you could drink your syrup straight with no ill effects. All that math may seem hard, but there are shortcuts. Simply weigh your syrup and multiply by .04. Always round down for safety. Having your syrup at .08% is probably fine for preservation. Though keep in mind that you're going to further dilute it in most cocktails, so you're only getting near the safety limit if you drink the syrup straight. Also, since you're adding water to your syrup, you should probably add in an equal amount of sugar (or double the sugar if you are doing a 2:1). So in the example of a 1:1 syrup with a cup of sugar. While it's heating, add 17g of preservative solution and 17g of sugar (.04 x 447 = 17.88). This does lower the percent of preservative, but not enough to worry about. It would be .425/461 = .092%. You can find both preservatives at most homebrew shops. And Amazon stocks them as well. As a note. This will only keep the syrup from growing mold/yeast. If you have problems with it crystallizing you can add a pinch or two of cream of tartar and/or add a bit of invert sugar (corn syrup or glucose syrup). It also won't prevent oxidization. I haven't noticed that being a problem in passion fruit syrup or grenadine (but I don't keep them that long). It could probably be a bigger deal in orgeat as their will be quite a bit of fat from the almonds which can oxidize. [ Edited by: arbeck 2017-01-02 15:47 ]

I'm not sure everyone will like this solution. But it works great for me. I use a combination of sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate to preserve my syrups. I picked it up from the book Craft Cocktails at home (https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Cocktails-Home-Contemporary-Crowd-Pleasers/dp/0615766382/?tag=se-comment-20&tag=se-comment-20), but I modified it to make the math easier to do the math.

Basically you can mix 2.5g each of potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate with 95g of water. This solution will keep indefinitely. Now let's say you have a cup of simple syrup. That would be 200g of sugar and 227g of sugar. The FDA says both of those additives are safe up to .1% by weight. So, we'd want to add .447g of each to the syrup. Since our solution is 2.5% of the additive, we take .447/.025 and that means we need about 17g of solution to add to our syrup (17 x 2.5% = .425). Now our new syrup is 444g and .425g of it are the preservatives. So it's .0957% preservative, below what the FDA says is safe, so you could drink your syrup straight with no ill effects.

All that math may seem hard, but there are shortcuts. Simply weigh your syrup and multiply by .04. Always round down for safety. Having your syrup at .08% is probably fine for preservation. Though keep in mind that you're going to further dilute it in most cocktails, so you're only getting near the safety limit if you drink the syrup straight. Also, since you're adding water to your syrup, you should probably add in an equal amount of sugar (or double the sugar if you are doing a 2:1). So in the example of a 1:1 syrup with a cup of sugar. While it's heating, add 17g of preservative solution and 17g of sugar (.04 x 447 = 17.88). This does lower the percent of preservative, but not enough to worry about. It would be .425/461 = .092%.

You can find both preservatives at most homebrew shops. And Amazon stocks them as well.

As a note. This will only keep the syrup from growing mold/yeast. If you have problems with it crystallizing you can add a pinch or two of cream of tartar and/or add a bit of invert sugar (corn syrup or glucose syrup). It also won't prevent oxidization. I haven't noticed that being a problem in passion fruit syrup or grenadine (but I don't keep them that long). It could probably be a bigger deal in orgeat as their will be quite a bit of fat from the almonds which can oxidize.

[ Edited by: arbeck 2017-01-02 15:47 ]

Post #771661 by arbeck on Mon, Jan 2, 2017 3:41 PM