What is the lowest temperature syrup should be stored?

[Helvis]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but I have a soda gun setup that I am going to be putting into service in my home and was curious if I could store the syrup in the refrigerator that the cold plate is going to be in or if that would make it too thick to use? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[Helvis]

Ok, I thought vending may have meant any softdrink machine but from the other posts that I have seen it seems to refer to cans only. Does anyone know where I could ask my question? Thanks.

[greg]

I think the problem is no one really knows. I have a good idea though. I would say it is best at room temperature obviously, but I would not go below say 40 degrees at the least. If the syrup gets too cold it may congeal. The syrup, being a thick substance with plenty of sugar would have a tendency to thicken up at lower temperatures.

[Mr Zabe]

I have seen the back end of BIB fountains(C-Store back rooms), the boxes of syrup were hooked up at room temperature. I beleive the BIB syrups have preservatives and use by dates just like bottles and cans. I would just keep your syrup in a dry cool/room temperature area.

[ 10-20-2006, 11:13 AM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]

[the saint]

BnB generally have around 6 month life, some more some less depends on brand. I have yet to see one that isn't stores in a back room with a temp of less than about 80 degrees. I would assume that anything above 27degrees would be sufficent as soda begins to freeze at that temp (at least that is what they tell us at work) but being it doesn't have much if any water in it that temp could be quite a bit lower. the syrup in BnB is really nothing more than a thick soda. It has pretty much the same consistancy as soda just a little thicker. I would say that a good point of reference would be something like a "thin" brand of dish soap, not like syrup that many people associate it with.

[Helvis]

Thanks for the replies. I might try putting a bag in the fridge and see what it does. If it isn't too thick, I'll hook it up and see if it works. Thanks again for your replies.

[Mr Zabe]

IMO
If you want to optimize the temperature of the soda try serving it in a nice tall glass of RINSED ICE.
Give this a try it does minimize the carbonation loss associated with pouring soda pop over ice.

It's a very easy and satisfying way to drink soda pop. I'm a bit of a carbonation hound and I only drink ice cold soda pop. It works great for me. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[greg]

Originally posted by Helvis:
Thanks for the replies. I might try putting a bag in the fridge and see what it does. If it isn't too thick, I'll hook it up and see if it works. Thanks again for your replies.

I think this will have an effect on your dispensing volume, thereby having a discernible effect on your taste due to an imbalance in syrup/CO2/H2O mixture.

[-VV-]

Greg is correct. Refrigerating the bags will throw off your brix. The recommended brix is based on the relative density of the material which is directly affected by the temperature of the components being mixed. 20C is the reference temperature on which the brix scale is based, or about 68F. Any major deviation from that temperature will result in adverse effects in your mixture. There is a really good chance you'll get people complaining about the taste. You probably could get away with refrigerating the mixture, but you'd have to do some conversions to figure out how your mix should deviate from the recommended mixture, but I couldn't even begin to tell you how to figure it out, and I'm not sure that even if you did the results would be consistent since the entire measurement is based on the previously mentioned temperature. If I were you, I'd leave it at room temperature, but it's your call. Also, keep in mind that it's been more than 10 years since I worked in food service management, so I would take my opinion with a grain of salt. Just throwing my $.02 for you to ponder.

[ 10-22-2006, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: -VV- ]