This video is a discussion and demonstration on making sugar water for your shaved ice business in our 30 Gallon Mixer. This mixer now has the option to add a motor, which is the focus of our demonstration today.
We currently have a 30 Gallon Mixer that we have shown before that had a mounted handle to use when you mix. You can actually see that option in the background. I shot some footage of that version as well, and you can see current pictures online. However, we are moving away from that handle and providing, what we believe, is a better option when not using a motor. So I have not included that footage in this video. I will have new video of that mixer out in a week or two.
I guide you through the process of making sugar water to mix with our concentrate, giving you syrup to then flavor your shaved ice. It is the same process that I have demonstrated in earlier videos only increased to do 30 gallons at a time. Thus making (6) 5-gallon jugs with the effort similar to making (1) 5-gallon jug.
We first start out by filling the container 1/3 full of water. You will want this water to be deep enough to let the sugar begin to desolve as you add it. Next we put in 12 ounces of preservative. Following the preservative, we add 150 lbs of sugar (5 lbs of sugar per 1 gallon).
Once you have all the sugar in the container, you will want to top it off with water and add your citric acid. You measure the citric acid as one ounce per 5 gallons of desired product. Because you are doing 30 gallons, that count is 6 ounces of citric acid. Citric acid is required with your preservative. If you do not use it with your preservative, your sugar water will not be preserved.
Citric Acid is always your last product, so you will follow that up with placing and tightening your caps on the 30 gallon container.
Now, a bit of safety talk. Remember, this is motor driven. It will not stop if something gets in its way. You will want to clear the area, and make sure that you, anything or anybody that could be hurt by it are removed from the spinning area. We recommend a fence or barrier to add some extra protection.
We have included a safety switch to help prevent the motor from turning on accidentally. This specific switch requires you to flip up a plastic cover to access the toggle switch beneath, then you can flip that switch on or off.
Once your sugar water has mixed for about 5 minutes, you will want to open the latch that the back of the jug can rest on. The jug is now tilted on its side with the spigot facing down. This puts the jug into a convenient position to fill a 5 gallon jug.
We primarily use 5 gallon jugs to then distribute our product to our stands. You can use this jug in your permanent locations to distribute sugar water to your 32 ounce serving bottles. Or you can use it with a larger red spigot to fill your flavor stations. Some people have transitioned to smaller jugs to make that process easier. You will usually have 1.25 or 2.5 gallon jugs in your flavor station, so it is logical to use a 2.5 gallon jug to make refilling those flavor stations easier.
Once you empty your container of sugar water, you can fill it 1/3 full of water again and turn it on for a minute to clean it out.
Take a look at the video and let me know if you have any questions. We are always here to help.