Forum Activity for @Sebastian

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Brown sugar will indeed add moisture to your chocolate, which can be a problem. I'd say, generally speaking, just make sure you've got enough white sugar on hand before you start 8) however, now that you've got brown sugar in it, here's what I'd try:

1) if it's not 'chunky' (rather just sandy feeling) let the grinder run for another 24 hours. if you've got the ability to run it in a 'hot' area (lets say 30-35C), do so, with the top off the grinder.

2) additionally, you didn't mention anything about lecithin. If you have some, add 0.5% of fluid lecithin after you run the grinder for another 12 hours. that'll give time for the water to evaporate off, and the lecithin will help bind up any remaining water.

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you Felipe! So if any ingredient I put into the melanger that have a higher water content, it could cause the chocolate to seize up more? So if I put honey in, the chocolate it would turn out to have a higher viscosity than brown sugar? Sadly I have no access to cocoa butter, can I put in more cocoa nibs instead? May I know how big is your first batch? And this question I always wonder, when you leave your chocolate do you leave it outside? Or you put it in a fridge for 2 weeks. I live in a hot humid country, so I put my crack cocoa beans and conched chocolate into the fridge, would it be alright? Thank you Felipe, I've learn loads of stuff today! :D

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi Panod,

Congratulations on your first batch! Here are a few ideas that come to mind regarding viscosity and sweeteners:

I believe brown sugar has a higher water content than regular sugar. This may cause the chocolate to seize and can explain the change you saw after adding the additional sugar. If the chocolate is too strong, you can alwaysadd additional cocoa butter instead of adding more sugar. It will help the chocolate flow better. Of the 5 batches I've done so far, the best one was the first, with 55% nibs, 15% cacao butter, 30% and just half a vanilla bean. At the end of conching (about 12-15 hours) it was good, two week later it was just fantastic and creamy.

All the best,

Felipe

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi,

I just got my CocoaT Melanger yesterday, so this is my very time making chocolate properly.

For my first trial I use 380g of cocoa beans, I added in 163g of cane sugar to make it 70% dark chocolate. Three hours later I taste it, it's bitter sweet, and I want it to be a little sweeter, but I ran out of cane sugar but I got brown sugar, added 90 g in to make it 60%, I went to sleep and woke up the next morning (12 hours) letting it process. The liquid is smooth, but not that chocolate smooth I would get in normal chocolate, and it also doesn't have the color of a processed chocolate.

Is it the brown sugar that's causing the problem? Or 12 hours of conching is not enough for this 633g chocolate batch I'm making.

It also have a sour taste to it, can this problem be solved by letting it rest for 2-3 weeks before tempering?

Thank you so much in advance for your advice!

updated by @Panod: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Tempering help

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Ok... I'll help.

If you get your room temperature down to 24 degrees, using the ACMC (I own 6) will take absolutely FOREVER to cool and reheat. My suggestion is as follows:

1. Heat the chocolate in your ACMC to 120 degrees F, and make sure it's thoroughly heated.
2. Ensure that your motor is running and the bowl is spinning.
3. Reset your machine temperature to 90 degrees F, and begin to cool it.
4. When the chocolate gets to105 Degrees, remove 1/3 and cool it using a cold water bath in your sink. DO NOT GET ANY WATER IN THE BOWL.
5. The temperature of the chocolate in your cold water bath should get to about 79 degrees F. It will cool very quickly, so make sure you are stirring the entire time. It should get thick like pudding, and begin to stick to the sides of the bowl.
6. Add the chocolate back into your ACMC and stir really really well, MAKING SURE THE WATER IS WIPED OFF OF THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR BOWL BEFORE YOU POUR IT BACK IN. This will not only bring the chocolate in your ACMC down to the working temperature, but will also seed the uncrystalized chocolate and bring it into temper.
7. Let the machine mix the chocolate for 10-15 minutes to ensure uniform crystalization before beginning to work with it.

That's it. Super easy.

Hope that helps.

Brad

Tempering help

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I'm definitely no expert but i noticed no one else had replied. As far as I've learned and experienced ambient temp of the room in which your tempering should be closer to about 20. Also you can temper without seed by tableing.

Tempering help

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I was wondering if you need to use seed chocolate to acutally temper?

Could you temper the whole batch? like say i bring the whole 5lbs of chocolate down to 80 F and then heat back up to 90 - 92 F?

I'm about to buy an ACMC machine and im in the tropics where the ambient temperature is 33 C. So I will have to temper in an airconditioned room where i bring the ambient temp down to 24C. I use a Santha to grind my beans and add my ingridients, and when i usually get the chocolate out of the santha the temperature is about 115F.

updated by @Malcolm Tiu lim: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Hi,

I found this posting on the internet http://www.bid-on-equipment.com/detail~id~124510.htm . It seems as though someone is selling a used enrober. I personally bought my machine used and you never quite know what you are going to get. It took me a while to realize certain parts were missing. With that said, I figured it out and now I am in good shape. In summary, buy the machine new if you can. If you cannot, this might be a opportunity for a deal.

Right now they are offering free shipping til the end of the month, do you get that with your discount or is either/or?

updated by @Andy Ciordia: 11/08/15 05:00:31

Visiting the Roots of cacao in South America - looking for guidance

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Hello! I am heading down to South America in the spring to get hands on learning in the cacao industry. My interest is primarily exposure in growing and processing of cacao beans as well as it;s cultural influences. Thought to reach out to other cacao & chocolate connosseurs who may have some guidance or recommendations about such a journey.

Thank you!

Maureen

updated by @Kalibri Anne: 04/10/15 18:07:07

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I used 8% butter and 60% paste. Used 10% milk powder and added after 12 hours and kept it in the machine for 20 hours total. Ended up 22% sugar. The batch ended up being a 4 lb, 10.5 ounces and generally am getting about 10 oz. lose with each batch from cleaning. That is probably high but I do not pick through every nook and cranny of the grinder and bowl, but do the best I can without making too much of a mess.

My milk chocolate people want more milk powder in it. It is still pretty dark.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I am also experimenting with my first dark milk batches. I've added an additional 10% cocoa butter to the batch and it has been going for about 12 hours now in a small cocoa town. The consistency is pretty good already and will probably be finished in the next 8 hours. I have been trying to figure out when the best time to add the whole milk powder would be? Any suggestions?

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hello ! Thank you for sharing your experiences !

Our dark milk 60% is delicious, we added some nuts and our friends like it. the texture is smooth and the taste is good. We did not add additional cocoa butter, the tempering was ok, much more easier than the other chocolates...

But I would like also to try what you sais Antonino, reducing the nibs and adding some cocoa butter.. thank you for the idea !

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hi there, we make a Milk 60% single origin ecuador, we started the testing on a small melanger with the intent of lower the cocoabutter content (to have dry feeling) but it also turned out thick like cement!

we just modify a bit the recipe by increasing the fat content (cocoabutter) and now it works amazingly!

give a try by reducing the nibs and adding cocoabutter (let say 10%) but depending on the beans you could start trying with just 5%.

As well, what fat content has your milk powder?

Ciao!

Antonino

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I am also using the cocoa town melanger and made a dozen or so mirco batches and was not getting the smoothness I wanted. I ordered some cocoa butter and it really helps out with the texture. I started at 10-12 hour conches and raised it 20-24. I think I will go back to the 12 hour and see if more taste is maintained.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I think you'll find much better texture with that option - it'll put you somewhere in the neighborhood of 34% fat (maybe a touch higher depending on what nibs you're using) which should be liquid enough for the grinder to function properly. Your fineness will now largely be a function of how long you leave it in- the longer it spins, the finer it'll be. Enjoy!

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hello Tom and Sebastian,

thank you very much for your help. I have just tried the second option: I removed the contents of the grinder ( the texture was almost smooth, but not perfectly) and I will liquify some more nibs. Later I will add the first mixture to the second one. So, I will have 60% cocoa nibs, 15% whole milk and 25% sugar. I really hope that this formula will work..

I know that some chocolate makers make dark milk chocolate 60% without adding other ingredients, but I can not remember their names..

Thank you again for your advices, I will tell you the result.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

W/o having a formula, it's impossible to determine how much fat you have. However, i'm going to guestimate that you've got about 25% cocoa fat in there - which is low. To tom's point, one of your issues may be that it's simply not enough fluidity for the unit to grind efficiently, and you're going to have to find a way to further fluidize it - either via some lecithin or additional fat. It's my guess that you're low enough in fat that lecithin's not going to get you to where you need to be, so you're prob looking at additional fat. Now, i'd not monkey around with veg fats. Unless you know what you're doing, there's a very high likelihood that you're going to very quickly run into something called eutectics, which will give you all sorts of troubles should you want to temper this. Rather, i'd look to add cocoa butter. Now, yo'uve got two options:

1) add pure cocoa butter, bring the total fat up to, oh, say 35%. Or, if you don't have access to cocoa butter

2) remove the contents of your grinder, and add more roasted nibs. Liquify those nibs - they'll have an approximate fat content of, lets say 52%. Once you create you fluid chocolate liquor, slowly add in your original paste batch, using the fluidity from the extra liquor to assist with the grinding. 0.2% fluid lecithin will also help at this point.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Well i would say you have too many solid particles for the amount of naturally occuring cocoa butter in the beans you used. I would add cocoa butter but since that is not an option you could go for a vegetable oil with a high bp and little flavour so as not to change the taste of the chocolate too much. I am not sure how much you would be able to get away with before you will have trouble tempering the resulting chocolate but i would guess not more than 5%. Also if you do this it won't strictly be chocolate anymore because you have other non cocoa fats in there. I do this when i make a choc-hazelnutspread but then i adding more than 5% and the result is spreadable.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hello,

I am trying to make my first dark milk chocolate from the beans, and I have some problems about grinding and conching. I do not add soy lecithin or cocoa butter, only cocoa beans ( 45%), whole milk and sugar. I use the CocoaTown grinder and after 72 hours of grinding - conching, the texture is not perfectly smooth. But the taste is very delicious ! I wonder if I have to wait another 24 hours ?

What do you think ? I don't want to add other ingredients, do you think that I can make a smooth dark milk chocolate without additional soy lecithin or cocoa butter.

Thank you in advance for your advices !

Maria

updated by @Maria6: 04/14/15 17:20:06

Nothing Like Chocolate

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

Trailers of the movie "Nothing Like Chocolate" with The Grenada Chocolate Company:

http://www.nothinglikechocolate.com/trailers.php

updated by @Vera Hofman: 12/13/24 12:16:07

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

A couple of things suggest themselves as this sounds like it might be inconsistent distribution of crystals in the chocolate.

1) Keep the chocolate at the melted point for a while longer, 10 minutes? before starting the cool-down part of the cycle (when you add the seed chocolate). This will help to ensure that the chocolate is completely melted. Remember, the temperature is only being measure where the little sensor probe is located. Waiting a while will make sure that the chocolate is a more even temperature and that the crystals are all melted out.

2) When the temper cycle is over, do two things: a) stir the chocolate a bit to mix it, evening out the temperature and spreading the crystals around; and thenb) wait a while before starting to use the chocolate - remember, the temperature sensor measures the temperature in only one place.

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Oops, sorry about that.

I'm using ChocoVision Revolation X3210, and Noel and Callebaut chocolates. After going though the tempering process, the chocolate has shiny streaks as well as whiteish streaks and spots.

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Jasmine -

Not sure if you mentioned this before, but what kinds of machines are you using for tempering and what exactly are the symptoms (visual and otherwise) of the temper being off.

I have to agree with Jeff about low humidity, as chocolate is not supposed to have any water in it anyway. The only issues I have ever seen with humidity is when it's too high, and the chocolate, being hygroscopic, absorbs moisture and thickens making it difficult to work with.

Another issue - I suppose theoretically - is that you're not melting out all the crystals before starting to cool the chocolate down. This would result in "bad" (unwanted) crystals still being in the chocolate, forcing improper crystal structure. When you warm the chocolate up, to what temperature and how long do you keep it there before starting to cool it down?

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Humidity shouldn't really affect your tempering process. I work at 10,000 feet here in Quito with probably 40% or lower humidity much of the time and never had an issue.

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hello,

I am trying to pinpoint my recent tempering difficulties in my store's kitchen. I've ruled out machine malfunction and the chocolate itself, since the same poor temper is happening with both machines and different % and brands of chocolate. (Plus, I have also gotten beautiful tempers from these machines and chocolate brands.) The only other variable is the atmosphere of the kitchen.

My kitchen is currently at 66 degrees Fahrenheit and 31% humidity. I know the ideal atmosphere is 68 degrees Fahrenheit and below 50% humidity.

My question is: is 31% humidity too dry to get an excellent temper?

Looking forward to hearing from everyone, as I am stumped about this problem.

updated by @Jasmine Mead: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Tempering problem

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hello !

I have just started making chocolate from the bean. I make 70% chocolate, two different origins. They taste good, I think I have found the best temperatures for the tempering process, but I have some problems... I use Selmi tempering machine. My molds are warm, but not too much.After tempering, the structure and the color of the chocolate are ok, but there are always 2-3 very bright, glossy, spots, not white, and not always on the same molds.

Do you know why ? I don't know if there is a problem with the molds or with the temperature ?

Thank you in advance !

updated by @Maria6: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Bean-to-cocoa butter and cocoa powder

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Antonio,

I was researching the same topic a while ago.The people from Grenada Chocolate seem to have been able to build one themselves:

http://grenadachocolate.com/tour/press.html

And I also found a thread discussing how you would go about building it yourself. In short, it is not very easy or reliable to do this.

I look forward to reading other, more up-to-date opinions.

Bean-to-cocoa butter and cocoa powder

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi Kat, not really... we have received some info and quote for a LOT of money and huge scale... otherwise smallest scale and very "home style" nothing in the range of 100 to 300 kg...

Anyone can Help??

Bean-to-cocoa butter and cocoa powder

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi! Did you find any solutions to this-I am in the same process.

Bean-to-cocoa butter and cocoa powder

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi Everyone!

anyone any idea how and what needed to go from bean to cocoa butter in a medium scale?

updated by @antonino allegra: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

It's important to have the right tool for the right job. Each tool has it's limitations, and once you ID the right tool, it's just as important to understand how to use the tool. For the vast majority of folks on this site, a micrometer will likely be the right tool - as long as it's used right. For this group of people, actually, the mouth itself is probably the right tool. Given sufficient experience, I've found that I've been able to 'resolve' down to 15-16 um particle size (largest particle), w/in a +/- 4/5 um range. Most of you making chocolate here aren't going to need a deep, deep understanding of particle size, shape, or distribution, and spending lots and lots of money to get a number that your tongue could probably tell you may not be money well spent.

It's important to ask yourself "why do i need this piece of information, and what will i do with it". If the # itself isn't important to you , and really the information you're looking for is 'do i have a chocolate with a good mouthfeel or not' then just put it in your mouth 8-)

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Sebastian:

Is there a reasonably priced option that addresses these limitations of micrometers?

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Muchas gracias Sebastian.

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Remember there are caveats with any tool. Caliper type micrometers with spinner adjustments:

1) only measure the largest piece in the sample, and the sample presented to the tool is very, very small

2) can actually crush the largest piece by using the spinner to close the gap, thereby resulting in a smaller reading than it should be (can compensate for this at some level by having a pressure guage affixed to it)

3) only measure in one axis. ie, if you put a pencil in it and measure the width of it, you'll get a small reading. however, it's unlikely the pencil would be presented in such a fashion as to have the tool 'see' it from eraser to lead - which would be a much, much larger reading. those types of shapes exist in chocolate.

Still a very useful tool, just need to be aware of what it's actually telling you and what it's limitations are 8-)

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=mitutoyo+micrometer&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=11394996720134678078&sa=X&ei=SZ48T8SXK4eYiALcl83MAQ&ved=0CE8Q8gIwAQ Yes Mitotoyo Micrometer that's what I have..maybe it was 100 bucks. Works perfect.

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

50 bucks and you will find a digitl one at a good tool store. I find them very accurate as long as they are good ones that allow you to tighten with that second spinner

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Well, we just buy a Mitutoyo 293340. We are going to try with it.

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

chocolate is a suspension of mostly solids in a bit of fat, the more fat you add, the more disperse your solids are, and the less likely that they'll be 'stacked' or agglomerated together on your measuring device. strictly speaking, you don't need to add a dispersant to your chocolate to measure it, but it sure does help with the precision.

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I read that we need a 50-50 oil-chocolate mix to make a measurement. It is true?. (it was an old book)

Quest for micrometer

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Definately suggest you run some tests batches before you buy it. Make sure you run enough of it to get it to steady state, and think about cooling, because it's going to get very, very hot.