Hobart Mixer

[7810hunting]

I purchased a Hobart 20qt. mixer to make my sugar. Is there anything I should know before trying it. How much syrup do you start with. will the paddles reach the sides of the bowl?

[Sugarmaker]

7810,
I do a gallon to gallon and a half. Might be able to do more, that is just what works for me. My paddle does a good job of getting the sides but I also stop a couple times and scrape the sides to get a better mix. Also wipe the moisture off the under side of the head. I run in low gear.
Regards,
Chris

[7810hunting]

7810,
I do a gallon to gallon and a half. Might be able to do more, that is just what works for me. My paddle does a good job of getting the sides but I also stop a couple times and scrape the sides to get a better mix. Also wipe the moisture off the under side of the head. I run in low gear.
Regards,
Chris

Thanks Chris very helpful

[Sugarmaker]

7810,
I stop when the bowl is fairly cool to the touch and the sugar still has some moisture. Check the creep of the sugar. You may need to keep going? You can mix way too long and it will beat the sugar to a very fine grain. Done ask me how I know! I really like these to make sugar! Very easy. Post some pictures too!
Regards,
Chris

[canaanmaple]

been making good sugar on my kitchen aid pro, but friend has a Hobart I'm gonna start using to do larger batches.
Interesting you mention keeping going too long with make it finer grain. Mine has been coming out somewhere in the middle between granulated and brown sugar grain, but not one bit clumpy. Id like to get close to that on the Hobart, so I hope it's just as easy. Do you spread out and cool it down? my only fear is it being too warm and sitting in that large of a bowl too long, could make it clump up too much before packaged.

[Sugarmaker]

I usually have good luck with sugar, but not this year. First batch was very nice and I proceeded to mix too long, very fine, but worked well for cotton candy. Second batch I did not boil to 260. went to cookie dough in the Hobart and finally went to sugar. Had to mix it more and sift it too because it clumped up.
Regards,
Chris

[canaanmaple]

I usually have good luck with sugar, but not this year. First batch was very nice and I proceeded to mix too long, very fine, but worked well for cotton candy. Second batch I did not boil to 260. went to cookie dough in the Hobart and finally went to sugar. Had to mix it more and sift it too because it clumped up.
Regards,
Chris

ive done 3 batches so far and 255 seems to be my good number. (water boils at 207 for me) the sugar is slightly fine, but i havent had to sift it at all yet. Hopefully I will have luck with bigger batches on the hobart! It's a 40 or 60qt, so I think I can do 2 gallons at a time.

[Sugarmaker]

Wow you have a super sized mixer! Post a picture of that bad boy! 40 qt yea you should be able to do 3 gallons or more. I stop severy times and wipe the under side of the head off to limit the moisture dripping back into the sugar.
Keep boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[canaanmaple]

21275

my bad! It's only a 30qt. started with 2 gallons syrup before the boil, and got 13 pounds sugar. Worked very well!
21276

[Ragged View]

I recently had my first try at making sugar and it went OK but I am interested in getting some feedback.

I used about a pint of slightly scorched VDark, cooked to 259F, beat w a Kitchenaid tilt-head mixer for 1.5 hrs w occasional scraping. I was going by trying to get all the moisture out and thinking that it should be dry to the touch. Even after all that time it wasn't quite. Does it really take that long to beat it or did I do something wrong? The mixer handled it but did get warm. Fine for an expriment but not for regular use. The scorched taste did completely disappear, exactly as Noel Perrin said it would. Seems like a great use for less than perfect syrup.

So I'm thinking that I might have a market for maybe 5 or so gallons of converted syrup a year and thinking about a mixer. A local restaurant supply place quoted $2200 for a used Hobart 20qt, more mixer than I need and way more money than I want to invest in this. (I make 40-70 gallons a year.)
Has anyone heard anything about the Avantco 10-qt? Price would indicate offshore manufacturer.

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/avantco-mx10wfb-10-qt-gear-driven-commercial-planetary-stand-mixer-with-guard-and-flexible-silicone-blade-beater-110v-3-4-hp/177MX10WFB.html

Or a Kitchen Aid Proline KSM7586P or Professional 6500 KSM6521X w/ a 1.0 or 1.3 hp motor
https://www.williams-sonoma.com/pages/comparisoncharts/kitchenaid-comparison-chart.html

Also, the North American Maple Producers Manual mentions using a 1/8" sieve to sift the sugar through. I used a "regular" kitchen sieve that was much finer, finer than I needed and a PIA to get the sugar through. Anyone know where to get a 1/8" SS sieve? All I can find online are north of $60-70.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated!
Thanks,
Mark

[BAP]

Ragged View, check this one out. https://nh.craigslist.org/bfs/d/mirror-lake-a200-hobart-mixer/7112267157.html
Also, if you are on Facebook check out the marketplace, because there is quite a few in the $12-1800 range.

[Ragged View]

Thanks, will do

[Sugarmaker]

No it should not take that long.
About 5 minutes to the point the steam burst happens then made 15 minutes of stiring to cool down and done. Of course depends on the batch size.
Regards,
Chris

[Aaron Stack]

I made some Maple Sugar with a pint of dark just to see if I could. It only took a total of 30 minutes cooking and stirring so not sure why yours went so long. Ended up with about 11 ounces sugar and another few ounces chunks/nuggets.

I made up some chocolate chip walnut cookies replacing the regular white sugar but not the brown sugar. Couldn't really taste the maple so next time I'll try replacing both. The chunks were fantastic as an ice cream topping - reminded me of the peanut butter crunch toppings you get on soft serve.

[SeanD]

Funny this thread popped up as I just made my "worst" batch of sugar today. Like you, Mark, I used a Very Dark, not scorched though. I've gradually tried out darker and darker grades and I think I finally hit the limit. It took 25+ minutes of stirring and it came out like a very thick cookie dough.

I put it through the food mill to get it to smaller (still very wet) pieces and put it in the oven drying setting at 190 deg. It took about 4 hours and two more trips through the food mill, but I was able to save it. It's good sugar! I'm not using this syrup again, though. It's back to the Dark. I wanted to see if I could save this batch and I'm glad I did, but I don't want to do that again.

Mark, I use the Kitchen Aid 600 Series with the bowl lift. It handles 1-quart batches well (although today I worked it over). That's about the smallest mixer you can go with. If you can afford to go bigger, then do that.

For sieve/sifting the sugar I use this food mill (https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Food-1071478/dp/B000I0MGKE/ref=asc_df_B000I0MGKE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167142021489&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3705462647469423720&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001867&hvtargid=pla-125520577755&psc=1). I'm VERY happy with it. I use the largest disc size which is just about 1/8".

Sean