I used piping jel yesterday for the first time. When I opened the tub I noticed it was very lumpy. I added my color to it and mixed it with a whip but was unable to get all the little globs out. Am I doing something wrong?

I have never seen Pipeing Gel Lumpy....

I get mine is a container not in a tube so I dont know how they are in the tube.. But it should be jelly looking... Sounds like to me that yours is old.. but I could be wrong..

Thanks for responding.. My was in a small plastic tub, not tube. It was watery on top and under that it was lumpy. I mixed it all together with just a couple drops of color but as i said it still had globby lumps. Should I have used a hand mixer?

I'm afraid I don't have my camera available right now but as soon as I do, I will take a picture and send it as an attachment to your e mail.

Thanks,
Grandmasue

My new container of piping gel looked lumpy to start with as well. Do not over mix it or you get alot of air bubbles in it which is not good. You want to take a small spatula and mix in a figure 8 and squish any of the lumps on the side of a container and mix until smooth but like I said not too fast as you don't want to whip in air bubbles.

Thanks Sgivan, I'll give it a try

Hi Grandmasue...curious, what brand of piping gel? I noticed that the brand by CK products is rather lumpy but can be smoothed out with an icing spatula. The Wilton brand appeared to be a lot smoother right from the start!

Speaking of piping gel, does it go bad? Have an expiration date? Never bought any yet, (I am trying to wait to buy new stuff) but would like to know just in case!

Last night I made the stabilized whipped cream recipe using the Wilton piping gel. I don't use piping gel very often and didn't stir it (or really even look at it as I was, as usual, in a hurry), and was distressed to discover that my stabilized whipped cream had lumps! I had to pick them off of my cake. It was kind of gross, but I was able to save it. This brought up questions:
1. does piping gel need to be stirred?
2. should it be stored in the fridge?
3. is their a "shelf life" after opening?
4. should their be a "sell by" date on the tub?
5. do brands other thanWilton get lumpy?

Imagine my surprise when I logged in today to find that a thread had already been started on this subject! This site is terrific!

Sandi

I keep my piping gel in the frig but you can also keep it in your pantry. Yes, piping gel will go bad. It will get small hard lumps in it that will stop up your decorating tip. I always use it till the lumps appear, then I toss it in the trash. I always stir it w/ a spatula before adding it to my icing. If I find any lumps in it it is usually when I have already put it in my bags. The lumps are very small & hard to see. I bought the container I have in Oct 04 & it is just now getting lumps. So it will last a good long time. I don't know the self date though. Maybe ask on the wilton forum. Hope I could help~