Smuggler's cove demerara syrup issues

Picked up the SC book and love it. I made a batch of SC Demerara syrup per the book instructions and I'm having some issues with the consistency. After the syrup cools down and settles a big portion of the syrup crystallizes. It's almost like the white sugar has un-dissolved (if that's a word) and collected at the bottom of the bottle. I've made this syrup before and didn't have this issue that I remember. I've also made 2:1 simple many times before too and never had this problem. To use it I have to warm it up and shake it to dissolve the sugar again. Anyone have an suggestions or the same problem? Thank you so much.

I use that recipe and get a small amount of what you are are describing but not that much. I assume you brought the water to boil right before you put in the sugar, if you didn't the water may not have been hot enough to help dissolve all of the sugar. Also it sounds like you make have not whisked long/hard enough. Try that next time or consider an electric hand blender. The one you made is still good. I would transfer it to a new bottle and throw out the hardened portion.

Agree with the Boss. I've had several batches of rich sugar syrup crystallize at the bottle of the bottle. It's because it didn't all get dissolved when you were mixing it. It's not bad or anything, still use it. Just next time heat slightly longer and/or whisk more to make sure there's no stray particles floating around that will settle and harden. The SC Demerara syrup is the end all sugar syrup for me.

I've had the exact same thing happen, with one batch only of all the times I've made it. I suspected exactly what Boss and Mike have posted, the sugar was not completely dissolved. The hand blender is the way to go, cheap on amazon.com.

Another thought that could cause your syrup not to fully dissolve, try not to dump in all the sugar at once then whisk. Instead, pour the sugar slowly with one hand while you whisk hard with the other. If you have a flat electric stove you may need some to pour sugar or hold the pot so it stays still.

Also add a few drops of citric acid in the form of lime juice or other juice when you make it to help the sugar to break up. It's a catalyst to the process.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the advice. I whisked the sugar in the boiling water until it was clear and on the 2nd batch I made I whisked it for 5+ mins. Still got the same results, but at a smaller scale. I'll try this pointers next batch and see what happens. THanks again!

Found this:

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/8617-preventing-sugar-crystals-in-simple-syrup

The following is taken from this article:

https://honeybeesuite.com/how-to-keep-21-sugar-from-crystallizing/

My suspicion is that people who have problems with crystallization are boiling the water after they measure it. Boiling—even for a short time—causes water loss through evaporation. Even heating the water just short of boiling drives off a lot of water.

The result of the evaporative loss is that the proportions are no longer 2:1—you are trying to dissolve 2 parts of sugar into less than 1 part of water. The sugar dissolves when the water is still hot but then crystallizes when it cools.

So here are my recommendations:

If you insist on boiling the water, add some extra—maybe an ounce or two—to compensate for what is going to boil away.

Can't sleep tonight so after a little more looking found the following in the comments section of this article:

http://postprohibition.com/diy/simple-syrup/

There are a couple of ways to prevent crystallization. If the water has boiled with the sugar when preparing the syrup the chances are higher that the syrup will crystallise. So try to stay below boiling point. When making a flavoured syrup (like with herbs) you can boil the water to have a better extraction of the herbs (or other) and add sugar at a later time.

Another thing you can do is to use a fine mesh strainer to make sure there are no sugar crystals in your syrup. When there is one crystal, other crystals grow around it.

*The above tracks along with the way the Cooks Illustrated guys make their simple syrup. They never bring the water to a boil. Just a simmer

There was also this:

I love making symple syrups and as a chef have been making them for my bartenders for years. As for the sugar recrystalizing, sugar has two natural states it is either a crystaline solid or liquid anyone who has ever messed up a batch of candy knows that when it starts to crystalize your pretty much S.O.L. The crystalization of sugar is a chain recation caused by having sugar in the crystal form interact with sugar in the liquid form and then heat being introduced. The easiest way to prevent this is to make sure that when your melting your sugar that you constantly wipe off the rim of your pot at the water line and incorporate all the sugar so it all melts.