Brittle! About to give up!

[cakerookie]

I do not know for the life of me what I am doing wrong! Everytime I add glucose to my sugar recipe it gets all brittle quickly. My temp is 305F my recipe is as follows

24 oz granulated sugar
20 oz water
2 teaspoons glucose
1 level teaspoon cream of tartar.

I have not added glucose to the recipe until now and I have never had any trouble. Should I just leave it out? I do not know this is not going well at all. When I try to blow it it gets thin spots and pops and it is hard to pull. Anyone got any ideas, suggestions before I give up all together.

[panini]

Give up!?
This is not something you learn overnight. You know that. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.
What type of glucose?
What type of water?
What type of sugar?
Blowing takes time. You just can't force air in. You have to manipulate the air by applying pressure from the outside of you piece. Apply pressure to thin spots to move the air into the thicker parts. Does that make any sense? Start small. Do you have gloves? Maybe start by using a type of mold, like a laddle. Are you using a pump? It might be better to use the old hot air and a tube to start. Apply your sugar and gently apply pressure. Start in a cupped palm. Apply the same amount of pressure with your palm as your pressure from the air. Try this and see what happens. Do you have a warming box?
Maybe Chrose will jump in a help . Blowing is something I learned by trial and error, so it may not be traditional.
ps. don't tell me you bought glucose and not acid. Do you want me to send you some?

[chrose]

First off I would suggest increasing your sugar to 2# and your glucose to 8oz. if you don't increase the sugar then at least increase the glucose in your recipe to 6oz. Wait until your sugar has completely and I do mean completely dissolved before adding your glucose. Then add your tartaric acid at 285º and cook it up to 305º before using. Sugar in and of itself is not all that elastic for blowing. That's why you need to add the glucose and acid. By not adding enough of either you are setting yourself up for failure.

When you are done boiling the sugar what are you doing to it? You should be pouring it onto a marble slab and moving it around to cool it down quickly and evenly before attempting to use it for blowing. Also when blowing it the ball you make has to be as even as possible. If it's heavy on one side you will get thick spots when trying to blow it. Use a hand pump with little tiny puffs as you work it and use the techniques we discussed before to keep it even.

[cakerookie]

Ok, I knew you two would come to the rescue. Pan I am using the Wilton Glucose they use in cake decorating its as thick as molasses. I am using regular tap water and Dominos granulated sugar. I have acid cream of tartar I cannot find tartaric acid down here anywhere. I am using a pump that came off a blood pressure cuff. I have a warming box but that darn thing is made out of plywood and heavy as h*&%^^&^.Yes Pan everything you said made sense to me.
CH I will take your advice and up the sugar to 32oz. By reading your posts I think I see where I messed up. I added the glucose right along with the sugar and water at the begginining. Wasn't suppose to do that, huh. Ch should I wait and add the cream of tartar at 285 or does it matter. Should I dissolve it in water before adding it to the mixture?
I have tons of reference material on this stuff and some of it is about as clear as mud and no two recipes or techniques are the same. I guess I am just going to have to develop my own recipe and techniques and quit trying to go by what worked for someone else cause it is not working for me.

[chrose]

Originally Posted by cakerookie

Ch should I wait and add the cream of tartar at 285 or does it matter. Should I dissolve it in water before adding it to the mixture?
I have tons of reference material on this stuff and some of it is about as clear as mud and no two recipes or techniques are the same. I guess I am just going to have to develop my own recipe and techniques and quit trying to go by what worked for someone else cause it is not working for me.

Yes and yes.
Like everything else that has gone before you it has all been worked, reworked mucked around with etc. That's how everyting has come about. Take what works for you, discard the rest. Add a little here, remove a little there and pretty soon you'll come up with something that works for you and one day I'll be quoting your work to the next generation.

[cakerookie]

Appreciate the vote of confidence CH but I doubt you will be quoting my work. Thanks for the help I see where to go with it from here. Hey, Pan still willing to part with that tartaric acid you offered?

[panini]

CR. I feel it is just as important to use the same ingredients as it is to follow a formula. I mention this because you might want to try to get all you ingredients set.
I'm thinking that the nicer and nicer your pieces get you might want to hang with it.
I can shoot you some Tcid.
You might want to look at some other sites. I know I mentioned Albert Uster, I also use Chefrubber.com, Pastry Chef Central,Mafter.
I use Dominic for making my own molds. It's awsome stuff. We just made some textured tree orniments. We'll blow or pour them.He owns Culinart Inc.
You probably know this guy, I like his site, philippe-parc.com ,not ingredients but good for ideas.
BTW We don't use tap water for anything in our bakery. I did this years ago for we kept messing Crouqs.,found out it was the water.I can't remember where I get sugar but I'll look it up.
pan
also not knocking Wilton, I'm sure they have a good product. $$ no?

[cakerookie]

Pan, I thought you were kidding about the tartaric acid thats the reason I said that. I checked out that site phillippe parc. Man has some awesome stuff in his gallery.

[panini]

No PM me, I have plenty.

[cakerookie]

Pan I tried to PM you but they said you have exceeded your stored message quota and you needed to clear some space.I will e-mail your business address.

[panini]

Ok, I'll go now and delete.

[cakerookie]

Pan it went through.

[cakerookie]

Pan or CH what is the best way to keep the sugar from sticking to the blow tube? I did a blown sugar swan tonight for the first time but I am not all tha impressed with it. I am using a copper tube, is there a certain length they have to be?

[panini]

It should be around 4" long. Squeeze or pinch off the piece. You can take of the sugar from the tube later. Copper is good, but try the wood. It is shaped for this purpose. I think I threw one in your care package

[cakerookie]

Threw one in a care package?