Forum Activity for @Mark Gerrits

Hi Francis.  I realize that this post of yours was from a while ago.  However, I am running into similar issue now with a cocoatown that i have here in Chile.  I am wondering if you figured out a way to fix the issue, without having to buy new stones of course.   cheers, mg

I take milk chocolate down to 25 C when tempering by that method.

I am about to start my chocoalte business but I do not have a cooling tunnel..... I put chocolate into refrig. to cool and finds too many white surfaces (moisture i guess).

Is it possible just let the chocolate self dry at RT (66F-70F), RH<50. Any concerns? I know it takes a littble bit longer time though.

I must admit I am not stirring it really well when it is melting.  I melt it half way then transfer it then stir it like crazy until i get it to te temp required.

Are you stirring it really well when you are heating it up?

This is critically important as it keeps temperature of the whole batch uniform.

Equally important when cooling down.

thanks heaps for that.  I transfer the chocolate out of the glass bowl that I melted the chocolate into another one to stir it.  Does that make sense.  But I am going to try the steel bowl.

Now I understand your process.

Please remember that if a given set of temperatures (low and high) was working well before there is no guarantee that it will work today.

Chocolate varies from batch to batch (some less, some more) and changes sometimes need to be made. 

I would suggest replacing glass bowl with a thin walles stainless steel one. One of the problems possinle with your method is that if you heat the glass bowl up (while mixing the chocolate) until the chocolate reaches set temperature than take it out of the hot water the glass bowl is still hot and keeps transfering heat to the chocolate. Using steel bowl should reduce this problem (and if it falls it doesn't break).

Try this, try lower heating temperature until you find the best settings and be ready to do it again in the future. 

I stir it in a glass bowl to cool it down.  once a reach the temp I want I reheat on top of a small pot of water.  it has always worked for me in the past.  I'm not confident enough with chocolate to pour it onto a bench top.

Not sure what do you mean by "cool down by stirring". Do you do it on a steel/marble plate or just stir it in the container that is cooled by room air?

Once you have reached low temperature how do you warm it up?

If you leave the moulds in the room for 20-30 minutes they will be the same temperature as the air in that room, this you can check with a normal room thermometer.

I cool down my chocolate by stirring it.  How do I know the heat of my moulds???  I have always just poured in my chocolate once Ihave tempered it.  You are so right about dark chocolate being forgiving it is so much easier to work with.  I hve so many easter orders for milk chocolate eggs and bunnies but just can't get it right.

Thanks for the reply

Clay, I'm trolling this subject.  I am in San Antonio, TX, which is cold right now (and unusually so), but we can get plenty warm starting in mid April and lasting through late October.  Temps reach 96+ fairly easily, and too often over 100; humidity is all over the place, but usually a wide range between 30% and 85% (if not raining).  So, controlling heat/humidity is an issue here, too.  What about the plastic industrial curtains like in the link below; are they effective in helping control temp/humidity for chocolate purposes?... or do they just invite the possibility of shocking chocolate?

http://www.barefrigeration.com/Products/Walk-In-Cooler-Strip-Curtain-40--x-84-.html?gclid=CjwKEAiAmuCnBRCLj4D7nMWqp1USJABcT4dfbUuwhsxQzebA3JsX1CWZR9iV_4TdPTCbB80Ou5d04RoCeGfw_wcB

 Hi Michelle,

Two possible problems:

1. Your chocolate is undertempered.

You may try to warm it up to 30C or 31C and see what happens, very vigorous mixing throughout the tempering will help as well.

How do you cool it down?

2. Your moulds are too hot when you pour your chocolate in. This melts too many crystals and detempers chocolate. 

Try making sure that the moulds are about 27-28C before pouring the chocolate in.

Dark chocolate is little more forgiving so problems may not show up as much as with milk. 

Mould temperature should be just below the temperature of tempered chocolate.

In very simplified terms.

Correctly tempered chocolate has only one type of cocoa butter crystals with melting point above 31C. Only some of the cocoa butter is crystalized (seed crystals) and the rest is still liquid. These seed crystals are small and spread throughout the whole mass. When we pour the chocolate into moulds and start cooling we hope that our seed crystals will grow and whole mass will crystalize in the same crystaline form.

If the moulds are much colder than our tempered chocolate some of the remaining liquid cocoa butter will be cooled too fast by the mould surface and in this area we will create crystals with a lower melting point which will result in bloom.

If the moulds are much warmer then tempered chocolate our seed crystals will melt at the mould surface and this part of chocolate will later (during cooling) crystalize in "uncontrolled" manner. It will be difficult to take it out of moulds and it will bloom later.

I hope this helps a little.

I can try to explain in much more detail if needed.

Hi 7ltr

hi Peter, thanks for your post.

I  temper sbout 1 kilo of chocolate at a time.  I use a chocolate thermometer.  I bring my dairy choco down to 27 then back up to 32.  I use a double boiler when melting choco and stir it until it is at the correct temp.  I don't do anything to my molds.  I never have.  What am I doing wrong???

Peter, please allow me to "troll" this topic a bit.  Specifically, could you address the mold temperature question?... i.e., should it be close to the temp of the chocolate when first poured into it?  (to avoid "shocking" it... that's my gut-feel anyway)  I'm a rookie and would appreciate any insight.  Many thanks!

What is the capacity of this machine

there's sufficient moisture in your chocolate to allow acids and bases to work together, if that's what's really causing your taste problems.  adding water to chocolate is never advised.  Remember your goal here isn't to dissolve anything, it's to adjust for flavor.  if flavor required soluability, you'd never taste your chocolate in the first place 8-)

Dear sebastian,

Potassium carbonate seems like it doesn't dissolve in chocolate well, but it dissolve very well in water. Should I mix it with a little bit of water first, making it a concentrated water solution then add it to my chocolate? Will it seize my chocolate? or it will be ok and I can conch the water out later?

Thank you

Could you describe your tempering process?

How do you check if chocolate is tempered correctly?

What is the temperature of your moulds before depositing chocolate?

- See more at: https://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/forums/new_posts/14825/where-is-the-tempering-errors#sthash.0l3zAvu8.dpuf

I may be guilty of that.

My apologies.

Hi All, Since I got such wonderful responses last time I posted I thought I'd try again.  I'm having problem with milk chocolate.  I'm molding in 3d molds.  My easter bunnies won't pop out and it is really sticky and tacky.  The molds aren't the problem as they are fine when I use dark chocolate.  What am I doing wrong this tme.

Peter,

I think you're confusing two different people (the second poster was not the original poster) - I made the same mistake initially.

Hi Antonio,

I don't want to sound harsh but:

1. You are looking for help with a tempering problem.

2. I have asked a few questions that may help to find the solution.

3. You have not bothered to answer these questions but posted a link to a chocolate melter. This machine will only melt the chocolate and will not temper it.

I'm not sure if you have posted a wrong link (hopefully).

Could you please look at my questions again and try to answer them.

Peter

Oh Thanks I will post it there  

Chocolato -

All For Sale Classifieds have been moved to TheChocolateLife.info. 30-day listings are $5 and 60-day listings are $10.

:: Clay

We have One Twirlo Coating Kettle for sale ,Brand New never used.

We purchased 2 of them and just used one ,moved now onto a bigger one now but keep one small.

Great for startup coating business or Coffee roaster to make chocolate covered Beans.

It is a great little tabletop machine ,easy to clean (patented Bowl  mounting) incl cooling via Fan

More info below:-)

http://www.pastaline.it/products/twirlo/?lang=en 

http://www.pastaline.it/download/schedeprodotto/pastaline_twirlo.pdf

Paid 5350 euro + Transport -Tax ....

Asking $4750 ONO This is a bargain!!!

 We would love to help you with your custom recipe: http://davischocolate.com/pages/co-manufacturing

We work with you to develop to your exact specifications and have no minimum size orders.

Contact Brent@davischocolate.com for more information!

Have sweet day

Hi All!

We are cocoa enthusiast and need help from the experienced.

We roast coffee and now want to roast cocoa and planning to start a small shop selling Bean to bar single origin chocolates.
We are situated in South Africa, and finding it very hard to break into the cocoa import market on small quantities that are cost effective to produce single origin bars.

Can anybody recommend who can supply me with cocoa beans,in small quantities (ie.100 kg. approximately)?
We would like to do this directly from farm suppliers, if it is possible? 

We appreciate any/ all help with referrals, suppliers , direct farms contact details etc. or any other information to make this seemingly imposiible task a little lighter as we are 100% commited in Cocoa and very much look forward to roasting great world quality beans and growing into a full production Bean to Bar manufacturer in South Africa.

Thanking you in advance... for the love of cocoa.

Sumari & Frederick

Yes, understanding the process helps. I follow instructions in my temerping machine booklet. May be there is good adivise in it for you: https://www.krebsswitzerland.com/image/data/Mktg_PDFs/chocMELTER_6KG_manual_low_res.pdf

Could you describe your tempering process?

How do you check if chocolate is tempered correctly?

What is the temperature of your moulds before depositing chocolate?

Marinko than good, congratulations, then I'll buy that machine!

this very cheap

thanks for the info

Very cheap grinder ( 1000$ )  but everything works, I just added the electric fuses, start-stop.

 Maybe in the future I add in the speed control. 

I drilled a couple of holes for better ventilation, but the engine is not warmed up at all after 30 hours with 10 kg of chocolate. 

These days I'm going to test 35kg so I'll see how it works. 

Watch the video on facebook NADALINA COKOLADE. 

that good thing receivedst! and it works well ?, is good quality?

thanks for your answer

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=934215193264584&set=vb.182031788482932&type=2&theater

I waited two months but the grinder 20L SRI LAKSHMI  arrived and looks the same and has the same capacity as the SPECTRA 65 mélanger (18 "drum). Only there is no regulation of speed.

20LTR COMMERCIAL TILTING GRINDER - $ 955.00

With 2 HP THREE PHASE MOTOR

WOODEN PACKING CHARGE - $ 41.00

TRANSPORT CHARGE to the EU CROATIA --485.00 $

There is only one problem: no CE certification, should be checked for the USA.

https://www.facebook.com/182031788482932/photos/p.934215793264524/934215793264524/?type=1&theater

Here is some more food for thought.  In my experience, the more cocoa butter the dipping chocolate contains, the more prone to cracking with colder temps.  The Callabaut/Cocoa Barry suggested in the previous post I'm sure contains soy lecithin, which helps to counteract it a bit.  I use a lot of dark chocolate that doesn't contain soy lecithin, and it seems like the manufacturers use more cocoa butter to help emulsify.  When I started my biz, I read that ganache should never be chilled, and I've stuck to that train of thought.  The space I work out of is sometimes a bit of a challenge to keep warm during the winter, though, and if it is cool enough, some of my dark chocolate truffles will crack like crazy.  Hope this helps!

hello marinko, 

I was reading that did you do an order Srilakshmi, wanted to know if they sent you the product or the company is a scam?

thx

Did you ever solve your truffle cracking issue? I had the same problem. Check the fluidity of your couverture. Callabaut/Cacao Barry rates their couverture with droplets on the front of the package. I was using a "3" fluidity when the cracking occurred. Try using a couverture that is more fluid. Get a "5" if you can.

Check out Cargill Chocolate on the web. I use their Wibur and Peters brands manufatured in Lititz, PA.     Linneas is a distributor- but you must be a business to order.

Quite welcome

Hello,

I have been tempering for while. Beans from Grenada worked perfect. But recently I'm having problems. I use a 20Kg tempering machine with rectangular tank and revolving disk to mix. I then place the molds in the fridge at about 8 C. When I take them out and unmold, all bars are shinny and great. But after one day some become bloomed and pale and develop a powdery texture. What puzzles me is that within the same 4 bar mold, 2 could be perfet and 2 bad. 

The chocolate is made with Hispaniola beans (low butter content) and yes, there is humidity as I'm doing this in the ODminican Republic. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong? Thanks for your help

 temperBAD.jpg - 452KB

Thanks Sebastian - much appreciated as always