Hard cream?

[Ryan Mahar]

There are too many threads for me to find an answer to this likely simple question, so I will start a new one.
Why when I am just finished stirring the batch to make cream does it only take about 30 seconds for it to get very hard/ white. Am I over stirring, over cooking initially??? ONly once have a made good creamy stuff, otherwise it's always rather hard! Thank you for any tips............

[Randy Brutkoski]

Ryan, i had this same problem for a while. The more batches you make the better you will get. I boil my syrup to exactly 234. use a digital therm. Then i quikly put it in my freezer. pull it out after 2 or 3 hours. let it sit until room temp. then stir. dont be afraid to stop stirring and let it sit for a min. or 2 to see if it hardened. sounds like you are stiring it just a little too long. i make about 2 bathces a week.

[Ryan Mahar]

Randy!!! Thanks for the tip, I will try it. Hope your season is going well, I know I am out staight, can't imagine your set up!!! See you around!...........ryan

[upsmapleman]

I make mine just a little stiff and when it starts to set up like you mentioned I dribble just a little hot water or syrup into it to get it where I want it.

[Winters Harvest]

Make sure that it is cooled enough, at least to 90 and preferably down to 70 degrees F. We first used a recipe found on the web which stated down to 140 F and begin stirring, WRONG! We ended up with candy in the bowl each time. After following the Cornell recipe and cooling further it has worked every time.

[maple marc]

You should also check the level of invert sugar in your syrup. Some syrup is not suitable for good cream. See the Cornell sites for info.

[ToadHill]

Ryan, Cream is made by boiling to 22-24 degrees above the boiling point of water. At 22 you will get a softer cream and at 24 you will get a stiffer cream. Cool it as quickly as you can to as low a temp as possible to get the smoothest cream. The cooler it is the smoother it will be. This all assumes you are using a cream with the correct invert sugar levels. If the invert is to low the cream will be grainy and if it is to high it will not crystalize properly and will stay soupy. The Cornell circulars give all of the details you will need in this regard.

Randy Brutkoski has a point though, if you get the cream to cold your cream machine may have difficulty stirring it. It is important though to cool it and stir it as soon as possible to prevent crystals from growing and making it grainy. You should cool a 2 gallon batch in less than 1-2 hours. Sometimes you can get away with going longer, but you run the risk that large crystals will start to grow. The best cream has very fine crystals that are nearly imperceptable.

Good luck.

[Russell Lampron]

When I make cream I heat the syrup to 23 degrees above the boiling point for that day. I then cool it in an ice bath to 70 degrees. Then I put it into the bowl on the Kitchenaid and beat it on low speed with the whisk attachment until it changes color and then check the consistency often. When the gloss is gone and it is spreadable it is done. Further mixing will make it set up too hard.

[pierre]

so if you make it and its soupy what can you do then to make it into cream . because ive made realy smooth great tasting cream for two yrs. now [like im a pro ]and all of a sudden i cant make it come out . i boiled to 24-25*over boiling water up 26 * and let it sit in the sink of ice water till70* then i put it on the cream turntable and go but it just wont stiffen up
now i put it in the fridge for now but what can i do now . any ideas would be greatfull thanks also i use light syrup dont know the inverted sugar cause i dont know how to
thanks pierre

[brookledge]

Pierre
sounds like your syrup is over 4% invert sugar. I know you said you don't know how to test but you can use clinitest tablets or a blood testing type meter that diabetics use. I have only used clinitest tablets, ten drops water to one drop syrup in a test tube. Put one tablet in with protective glove or pliers. wait for the reaction to stop and then hold it up to the chart to see the invert sugaris. Bottom line is if you are going to make cream and candy on a regular basis then do the test. Then you will know for sure if it is going to come out ok.
Another thing is to keep a log. record the invert sugar, the barometric pressure when boiling, humidity, how long it took to make, etc. and that will help you make a better product over time.
Keith

[Moser's Maple]

pierre,
the diabetic meter is the same. a 1:10 ratio. i bought a digital scale for candy, but it also does grams so that's how I calculate my ratio. if you go to cornell.edu and search under maple you'll find a chart of the acceptable ranges of invert sugar. brookledge is also correct with the log. keep track of different inverts, barometric pressure, temp and over time you'll be able to make a consistant batch of cream everytime. just remember all syrups aren't created equal and once in a while you get a syrup that just isn't fit for candy making.

[lastwoodsman]

I have made cream every night this week.
As others have stated I also bring mine up to 234 using a digital thermometer. As soon as it beeps at 234 I take it off and set it in a big stainless steel bowl of ice water. Changing out the water and adding more ice to the water it takes about three hours for it to get under 180. I use a hand held lazer thermometer and just shoot it at the taffy.
Once under 180 I put it in my CDL cream machine and in about 10 minutes I have excellent cream. I can tell it is ready as the ripples or waves begin to set in the surface of the cream in the machine. I can fill about 16 1/2 lb jars from a batch.

Woodsman