Looking for inexpensive ways to stir caramel
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
I use a groen steam kettle for both my caramel and fudge. It get's up to about 295f which is hot enough to caramelize sugar, but not hot enough to scorch it. I just add the ingredients, stir until dissolved, add a temp probe attached to a thermometer with an alarm set to the desired temp, then walk away to do something else. The syrup will stir its self through convection. I should mention I'm making American style caramel as opposed to European style. I don't caramelize the suger first, just let it happen during the cook. The other advantage is the kettle tilts, so pouring out the syrup is easy. The down side is they can be pricey, though I bought my 40 qt used for less then $1000USD.
Paul, I saw your post on the Groen steam kettle. I am starting to make larger than 5 lb batchs of caramels by hand. Also some of my 5 lb batches seem to be slightly off from time to time regarding the firmness. I check the temp of my thermometer by boiling the water, and checking. Also the firmness test in the glass of colder water form ball, yet slightly sticky.
Using the Groen, is it fairly easy to test your batch of caramels. I look for the chewy mainly Firm Ball stage, would you have a few minutes to explain or shed some light. The Savage Bros Fire Mixer14 is extremely expensive. Thank you in advance Paul or even anyone that has experience and exposure using the Groen Steam Kettle for Caramels. Thanks!