Forum Activity for @deborah2

Adventures with Colored Cocoa Butter

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

What temp is your cocoa butter when you are splattering it? It looks like it might not be warm enough.

Adventures with Colored Cocoa Butter

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques


updated by @Robby Booth: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hai Dragane.

Dali si jos u potrbi informacia.To nije tako tesko.samo ne znam koliko mislis da proizvodis.Mozes mi se javiti na pmiladinovic@yahoo.com.bilo bi mi drago da ti pomognem.

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi everyone!

My name is Dragan, I am from Serbia (southeast Europe) and I would like to start small-scale production of chocolate dipped pretzel rods. I have to organize production of pretzel rods, since it can' be bought here, as well as dipping process which puts me in rather difficult position because I am not professional baker nor candy maker. I would try to use some homemade equipment for manufacturing pretzel rods (dough extruder, lye bath). In the beginning I would apply hand chocolate dipping. Major part of the pretzel rods would be dipped in cocoa coating which doesn't require tempering. For small part of production I would temper chocolate by the seeding method. Cooling of the chocolate dipped pretzel rods would be in the cold room with portable a/c.

Planned daily output is in range of 100kg (about 220lbs).

Please, if anyone has some advice regarding best recept for pretzel dough, dough extrusion method, baking process, process of chocolate dipping, cooling after dipping, storage, method for extension of the shelf life etc.

Thanks

Dragan

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

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Your final texture or firmness (i.e. stability)of your ganache should be a reflection of the ratio of cream to chocolate as opposed to tempered versus untempered chocolate. Your final product may be a little more firm using tempered chocolate but that is something you can experiment with to see what you prefer. Personally I'd give it a shot with untempered chocolate and see what happens. I do the same as you and melt the chocolate with the heated cream and it saves me from tempering more chocolate (I temper by hand since I don't have a tempering machine)

I am guessing that the room temperature butter should be added to the ganache as the last ingredient and once the ganache as cooled enough that the temperature of the chocolate is not melting the butter but only incorporating it. Think about when you make chocolate chip cookies. The butter is added to the recipe softened but not melted. If you added melted butter to the recipe your final texture of the cookies would be different- it is kind of the same concept here.

Take care,

Andrea

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Andrea, that is an interesting aside!! I usually just use hot cream to melt my chocolate and use that -- untempered!-- and it has never broken... I decided to use tempered chocolate for the same reason you did (someone swore by it), and this is when I encountered problems. I would happily go back to using untempered chocolate in my ganache but I am wondering if this will effect the truffles' stability when they are not refrigerated. What is your experience with that? I am looking to make truffles that can be stored in a cool place, but don't have to be refrigerated.

Also, If i continue trying to use the tempered chocolate in the ganache, what order would you do things in? I'm particularly interested in when you would add the butter.

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi Katie,

I do think the butter mixture was way too hot. Definitely cool it down into the low-to-mid 80's before adding it.

Do you mean you are planning to add the room temp butter to the cream instead of the the chocolate? If so, then I would not do that. Adding things at different times and temps can affect the texture and mouth feelof the final product. Also, make sure the butter reallyis at room temp before adding it.

Also, this is just a funny FYI. A few months back I was at a class where they were talking about ganache and the problems one can encounter (i.e. broken ganache, too hard, too soft, etc) and I commented that I had never had a broken ganache before. Well, I cursed myself... just about every ganache I made for that class broke and had to be repaired! It was interesting because I typically do not use tempered chocolate for my ganache and this instructor swears by it. He thinks the texture of the ganache using tempered chocolate is better over the life of the product. I have tested this notion (strictly on myself)and actually found that I prefer ganache made with untempered chocolate no matter when it is in it's life (i.e 1st day it is made versus 2-3 weeks old).I have taken recipes that call for tempered chocolate and just used melted chocolate with no discernable difference in the end - of course I make bonbons and don't usually slab my ganache. Just something for you to think about and maybe test for yourself in the future. I hope your next attempt with this ganache goes well. Let us know...

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

awesome, thanks Andrea! I will definitely whisk tonight.

As for the temperature issue, do you agree that the honey/cream mixture needed to be cooler? Also, my plan is to melt the butter right into the cream mixture. Do you think that is a smart plan?

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Grainy ganache and oil leaking out in a fewspots- sounds like your ganache was broken before it was poured into your frame. Did it have a sheen to it before it was poured? Did it look like therewas oil that was not incorporated? This could be related to the temperatures at which you added various ingredients or even the stirring technique (I've seen 2 people make the same exact ganache next to each other - one used a whisk and one used a spatula - the whisked ganache turned out perfect and the one made with the spatula was broken). Broken ganaches can usuallybe fixed - do a search online for suggestions on how to do this or look in Wybauw's books. Sometimes a broken ganache can be fixed by adding a little bit of liquid (usually alcohol) or by incorporating additional ganache that is not broken.

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you all for the tips! Sorry for my late reply -- computer out of commission. I am going to use all of these tips slowly but surely and hopefully the will fix my issues.

I'm still freaked about the grainy ganache -- I'm hoping adding the butter at a different time, cooling the cream more and mixing with a little more vigor will do the trick! I will try this all tomorrow night.

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I use parchment paper when I slab truffles. No problem with release once the ganache sets.

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Here's my two cents, would love to hear anyone else's technique as well...

1. you need a spreader that is just a bit wider than your entire slab, so that you can run it flush on top of the ganache frame and even out the thickness in one sweep (or several). It helps to have a little bit more ganache than what fits in the frame so that as you hit the edge, the whole top surface remains flush and you remove any extra as you hit the end of the frame.

2. not mixed well enough? not tempered? not firm enough? could be a number of things. i've had this problem too, but usually when the ganache is too soft. also, your ambient temperature needs to be just right (65f-69f) seems to work best, firm enough for it to hold together, soft enough to cut on a guitar without breaking strings.

3. maybe improperly tempered...fats will separate out if the ganache is not properly tempered (and the chocolate within) which leads me to 4.

4. I would say the 105 honey/butter mix is way too hot, should be more like 86F or so when adding, that could throw off any of the good crystals in your butter/chocolate mix if the quantity was big enough. The sequence seems kind of odd to me too-most ganaches using butter and another sweetener (honey, fondant, glucose, invert sugar) are processed by first mixing together the butter and sweetener, then adding the chocolate. You might try just combining all the butter and honey first without heating it (at room temp) then adding in the chocolate. Your mileage may vary but I think that's a better route to try.

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi Katie,

For your releasing issues...have you tried putting saran wrap inside the frame? I put the frame on a tray, then put saran wrap over the frame so it hangs over the side of the frame. Then I pour the ganache onto the saran wrap in the frame and tap the whole thing on the counter so that it evens out. When the ganache is set, I put the cutting board on top of the frame and flip it upside down. Now the side of the ganache with the saran wrap is on top and all I do is peal off the saran wrap. So far, I haven't had anything stick...just a few wrinkles from the saran wrap that I smooth out with a flat spatula.

Slab truffle issues

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi there -- This weekend I made slab/cut style truffles rather than the traditional round style I am used to and I ran into a few issues that I'm hoping you veterans might be able to help with.

1) I had varying thicknesses in different parts of the slab. I know they sell vibrating tables to ultimately fix this problem, but I'm wondering if there is a technique that I could try that might be a hair cheaper. My current "technique" (ha) is to just pour the ganache into my frame and spread it around the best I can with an offset spatula.

2) I had releasing issues. I made my frame out of some metal bars I found at Lowe's based on a post I saw at egullet, and as it noted in the post, I put them right on my Silpat. It molded beautifully, no leaks, but after taking the bars off, brushing on some tempered chocolate and flipping the whole thing to get it ganache side up for cutting, I went to pull the Silpat off and in a few spots it stuck and broke. I'm wondering if I needed to 1) let the ganache crystalize further (mine was about 18 hours old), 2) coat the Silpat with tempered chocolate first (I know this helps releasing from silicone molds), 3) put the whole slab in the fridge for a few minutes before flipping. 4) something else.

3) Some tiny cracks and pin holes formed on maybe 6 of the truffles and something oily oozed out. I'm guessing that is just liquified cocoa butter. It isn't a huge deal, but I'd like to avoid this. Any thoughts on what happened?

4) Slightly grainy ganache. I don't think this has anything to do with the shape of the truffles, but the recipe. I used a new recipe that called for tempered chocolate, cream, butter, and honey. Room temperature butter thoroughly worked into tempered chocolate. Butter and honey scalded together, cooled to 105, and then added all at once to the chocolate/butter mixture. My guess is that it was adding the butter to the tempered chocolate directly (generally I put it with the cream) or the fact that I did not incorporate everything fully enough. I just read something scary that said too much air whipping into ganache dramatically reduces shelf life, so I was probably a little stingy with the stirring.

I know this is a boatload of questions. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

updated by @Katie Perry: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Tales from Chocolate Mecca: Oaxaca

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Thanks for the warning. I found a couple of references to grinding and roasting (and smoking) which I presume is a translation error.

Tales from Chocolate Mecca: Oaxaca

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Hi Ice Blocks,

Yes, the mamey seeds have to be carefully roasted to detoxify them of the cyanide that makes them smell so wonderfully almondy. Mexicans and Guatemalans do this differently but both involve some combo of roasting, drying, and boiling that we're still getting the hang of. Because of the cyanogenic compounds, I wouldn't want to adviseyou incorrectly how to do this. Get a book like Diana Kennedy's Oaxaca al Gusto for detailed directions.

Tales from Chocolate Mecca: Oaxaca

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Any idea how they prepare pixtle or the seed of the mamey sapote?

I have two Mamey Sapote trees growing in the garden and have never tried to eat theseeds.

The flesh is wonderful.

The seeds are quite large and have a thick black shiny case. I presume they are roasted?

Tales from Chocolate Mecca: Oaxaca

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

I live in Oaxaca city and would love to know about your trip here. Can you recommend some places to visit. think we can put a tour together? I do gardening tours and general tours now but chocolate is my passion.

Tales from Chocolate Mecca: Oaxaca

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

great post! lots of amaranth here too and the wonderful amaranth popcorn too!

Tales from Chocolate Mecca: Oaxaca

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

What a great post. Makes me want to go off & explore the world of Cocao!

Tales from Chocolate Mecca: Oaxaca

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

An update on Dave & Nat's research forMadre Chocolate in Oaxaca, Mexico....

After the success of finding exactly the right delicious cacao in Xoconusco, Chiapas to make you all hundreds of bars of Royal Aztec Chocolate, our trip to Oaxaca state was an even bigger success, where we located great sources for Vanilla from its geographic origins in Chinantla, Rosita de Cacao flowers and the foamed chocolate drink Tejate they are used to make, tons of nifty molinillo foaming sticks, plumeria flower infused bupu foamed drinks in Juchitan, and plenty of other chocolate drinks and preparations wherever we turned. As soon as you enter Oaxaca city you are struck by the wonderful rich smell of chocolate drinks like champurrado , mole vendors in each market, and cacao grinders on practically every corner, grinding up ingredients for chocolate recipes to your specifications. Though there is almost no cacao grown in Oaxaca state, this is truly the Mecca for traditional chocolate use and where the idea for starting Madre Chocolate was sparked.

The most common form in which you see chocolate in Oaxaca is in mole . There are many kinds of mole (at least 8 in Oaxaca alone) with different colors, spices, and bases, but the one most known outside of Mexico and the one with chocolate, mole poblano meaning it is a mole that comes from the state of Puebla. It usually has roasted chilis, roastedpumpkin seeds, tomatoes, raisins, almonds, garlic, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, and many other indigenous Mexican spices. To make a mole base, you can spend hours toasting, peeling, and grinding cacao and other spices or you can go to one of the plethora of these cacao grinding shops:

Where you can just tell them what amounts of cacao, cinnamon, cloves, and almonds you want ground together and they'll do it for you in a few minutes for a tiny charge. The Soledad shop I talked to said they grind about 400 lbs a week on their machines and they have to redress the grinding stones each week! The smell in these shops is absolutely heavenly for any chocophile, and you can get plenty of chocolate drink bases (with the rich cocoa butter still in there, not just cocoa powder) to satisfy your chocolate cravings by making something like this excellent champurrado with corn, water, and loads of rich chocolate:

Another part of our chocolate that was inspired by Oaxaca aside from the company idea was our Amaranth Crunch bar, based on the Alegria bars that are easily found in any market or street corner vendors. Alegrias are like rice crispy treats made most commonly from the popped healthy supergrain amaranth mixed with honey but also can be found made from pumpkin seeds, puffed corn, sesame seeds, peanuts, or a blend of all the above. Collect the whole set like we did pictured here in a small market in SE Oaxaca city in front of a tasty glass of horchata, a delicious and refreshing drink made from rice milk, almonds and cinnamon.

When Dave was living in Oaxaca last year he so loved snacking on the healthy & tasty amaranth alegrias that he was decided we just had to make a chocolate bar with the popped amaranth. Amaranth is the north American relative of quinoa, both supergrains in the spinach and beet family that have a complete set of amino acids, unlike regular grains like rice, corn, and wheat in the grass family which need to be mixed with legumes to have a complete set of Amina acids. Because of its nutritiousness, amaranth was a staple crop of the Aztecs that the Spanish conquistadors unfortunately outlawed since they thought its use in making temple sculptures was sacrilegious. This outlawing of their staple food possibly contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs and its use and growth now are supposedly at about 1/10th the levels at the height of the Aztec empire! We met the great group Puente de la Salud Comunitaria who are working in Oaxaca to encourage the replanting and use of this great food. It's a beautiful ornamental to boot that grows easily intemperate North America, Hawaii, andMexico (as pictured here at the gorgeous lush Oaxaca ethnobotanical garden).

TheOaxaca ethnobotanical garden is the only solely ethnobotanical garden we've ever seen or heard of in the world and it's a stunning celebration of all food, medicinal, dye, and psychoactive plants of the West Coast of Mexico. Another plan that was great to see there was the rosita de cacao, flor de cacao, cacahuaxochitl, or poyomatli , an incredibly heady smelling flower said to be redolent of maple syrup, fenugreek, and curry. Here a vendor in the vast Abastos market sells rosita de cacao along with several of the other spices used to make the delicious foamed drink tejate , like pixtle or the seed of the mamey sapote fruit, cloves, jaguar cacao, and regular cacao:

Just around the corner from the spice and flower vendors, you can find women selling the white foamy tejate, which theyve been mixing and foaming all day with sticks or tools called molinillo (little grinder) that are like low-tech hand blenders and were introduced by the Spaniards centuries ago where they quickly supplanted the Mayan foaming technique of pouring back and forth between to vessels from a height of several feet. The molinillos you can find in Abastos market as well, in nearly a million sizes and configurations:

The foam stirred up by the molinillo comes from the combination of the fat from the cacao beans, calcified jaguar cacao, and some of the spices. This foam is what most people in Mexico enjoy most about chocolate drinks. When you are served this drink in the beautiful jicara (painted calabash fruit shells) you can see at this vendors stand, you actually mainly get a bowl of foam that you eat with a spoon, not a liquid. I like to say that the indigenous Mesoamericans were making high-tech foams with keen plant chemistry thousands of years before the new rash of molecular gastronomists like Ferran Adria and Grant Achatz, who are obsessed with foams, were even born. This white foamy drink is a bit chalky at first from the calcified jaguar cacao, but the flavor and aroma are so addictive that you find yourself craving this foam that is like breathing in chocolate laced with the beautiful scent of the Oaxacan air.

These great flavor combinations and spices unknown outside of this area of Mexico are what we are trying to bring to the rest of the world with chocolate bars like our rosita de cacao bar made with Xoconusco cacao. With all of your incredible help backing us and spreading the word, weve gotten over halfway to our $15,000 project funding goal in just 1/2 the time allotted. Wed love it if you could continue to tell your friends, family, and coworkers who lovedeliciousartisanal chocolate or like supporting organic farmers about our project so we can make the final push to fund our project before the deadline in 20 days and get all those chocolate bar rewards out to you!

In our next update wellcover the last part of Oaxaca- Juchitan where they make the mythical bu'pu chocolate drink with the super fragrant plumeria or flor de mayo flower, commonly found in Hawaii leis, and how our Xoconusco chocolate with rosita de cacao was a smash hit at the Fine Chocolate Industry Association meeting in Washington DC last weekend. Stay tuned for more great updates!

updated by @Nat: 04/09/15 04:28:40

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Thanks for a great discussion everyone, so helpful to have these topics available for browsing!

Allison

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Hi Holly,

I have never hear CocoaTown Roasters but I can offer our roasters for cocoa roasting http://www.coffeenutsroasters.com/product-groups/1001/coffee-roasters.aspx

Our customer in S.Africa Cocoa Fair using our roaster I sqaw nice comments from them in this forum.

If you contact with us we can give offer.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Hi Brad

We have been struggling to find the right roasting method. We have tried coffee roasters and convection ovens. We like the idea of the convection ovens but have had too much temperature fluctuation with the ovens we have tried.

What type of oven do you use?

Do you need to stir or rotate the sheets during the roast. And if so how often?

Would you get the same oven again, if you were purchasing it again?

Thanks for your input.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Thanks for the info

Yes the turbo seem to be a good oven and they do heat up fast. I've used them before in a couple of restaurants I've worked at. The fan was a little over powering as it would blow the tops off some of my macaroons and other things, but I'm guessing that's a good thing when roasting cocoa beans.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Rochelle:

I recommended, for a client, a Moffat Turbofan D25. The D25 (not sure about the (D24) can be plumbed so you can inject steam into the cavity during roasting. Salmonella (in particular) can survive longer in dry environments than they can in moist ones.

Though getting the beans hot and keeping them there should kill all pathogens there has to be a reason why virtually every major chocolate manufacturer has a sanitization step the includes steam. There's no reason not to be err on the side of caution and food safety. Pressing the steam button for five seconds at least two or three times during a roast should be enough. If you are taking the pans out and rotating them (not a bad idea, along with shaking them, too), then do the steam after each turn.

The Moffats are good ovens and they quickly recover temperature after opening the doors.

Looking at the replies to the post, if Sebastian gives it a thumbs up then I would pay very close attention.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Just trying to understand the point after reading this post

http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=roasting&act...

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

No need to. We roast over 300 degrees F, so pathogens are killed in that step.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Oh nice!... are you pre-treat with steam to aid in bacteria kill and also for flavour development?.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

I'm sure that would work just fine. Our oven holds 7 full sized sheet pans at a time, and we put 5lbs on each sheet pan.

35lbs per hour X 8 hours = 260lbs of beans per day X 7 days a week =1820lbs of beans per week = +/- 2700lbs of chocolate per week - more than any artisan I'm aware of can make into chocolate.

And that's only utilizing 8 hours of the day.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Yes! I thought I might give it a second look if it could roast 30kg batches I'm using a fan oven with perforated trays and a Behmor 1600 at this time... and both are working well for me so far.

We are looking at getting a turbofan to start with http://www.moffat.co.nz/products/turbofan-e32d4-full-size-tray-digital-electric-convection-oven it can roast 8kg at a time 2kg a tray with a price of about 4500nz NEW

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Rochelle;

In several other posts I write that a special roaster is a waste of money. We use a convection oven with perforated trays, have been doing it now for several years, and have developed a very significant following of religously loyal customers.

Here's the bottom line: Cooking ANYTHING is about heat and airflow. Convection ovens offer both, are inexpensive, AND give you the versatility to offer other products as well without the expense of buying another piece of equipment.

Having made many thousands of pounds of chocolate in the past 5 years, in my opinion the Cocoatown roaster is a complete waste of money for an artisan.

Cheers

Brad

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

They are still offering them, the control is for if you need to change to single phase power. Do you think the price of their control panels for both the roaster and grinders are a bit high?.

I guess if you are in New Zealand like myself and you add on the $ exchange and post... its over priced. We could build one here with out to much hassle.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Rochelle -

You are right. I was hurried and misread the page. It's $4835 for about 13kg - but an extra $1350 for a control panel?

These are built to order and it says that they reserve the right to make changes (including the oven), so I wonder if this is like the big CocoaT grinder? It's still on the site but they're no longer offering it.

:: Clay

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

30kg?... am I looking at the same page as you Clay?

http://www.cocoatown.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=76 $4835

it says 30 lbs (13.60kg). If it does hold 30kg then that's a pretty good price for a bean roaster.

Where are the reviews?

updated by @Rochelle: 09/07/15 13:39:44

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

I just took a look on the CocoaTown site and it looks like they no longer offer a 15kg roaster. Their new 30kg roaster looks like a convection rotisserie oven with a custom basket. Hmmmm ...

updated by @Clay Gordon: 01/25/15 22:18:17

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

David:

Please contact Donald Hudson at CafeCoffees.com and let him know of your interest in their roasters for coffee and that you're in touch through TheChocolateLife. I cannot quote you directly.

As for the ABS ovens, the 5-rack version is about $3000. In order to get you a quote, I need a shipping address. I will mail you privately and you can respond.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Hi Clay,

Thanks for the great posts and information on roasters. I know this post is from 2011 -- curious if you still have the roasters available (both the ABS oven and the dedicate roasters), and if it would be possible to get a quotation. Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

David

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Something to consider in the whole roaster discussion is the relative lack of sophistication on the part of small chocolate makers when it comes to roasting - when compared with coffee.

Here's a link to a very interesting discussion about coffee roasting that just starts to scratch the surface of how the new generation of modern "technical" coffee roasters geek out about a topic like convection airflow (as opposed to conduction), pointing out that different bean origins want different roasts - not just time/temp, but time/temp/airflow - in order to bring out different characteristics of the origins.

What this suggests is that a lot more open-mindedness is needed when approaching the topic of equipment selection for roasting cocoa beans because having precise control over airflow can be critical in optimizing flavor development during roasting.

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Clay,

You've addressed many of the issues I've been struggling with in starting my new business. I realize that experience is a teacher like no other, but also appreciate all of your feedback as well as this forum, as it's not only a great resource, but a nice support system. I have a lot to learn, and appreciate the help!

Thanks,

Holly

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Holly:

While you can do commercial production in a small machine (e.g., the CocoaTown ECGC12) you don't have a hope of being profitable using machines that size unless you live in a country where the average hourly wage is around $1.00. So, I am going to assume that the 65L Grindeur or similar capacity machine is the one you're working with (you don't say).

Given that the 65L machine requires at least 20kg of nib, working on a 1 to 2 pound batch roast capacity makes no sense as it would take forever to roast the required amount. While individual roasts might be inconsistent, you'd be blending them together so that would even out. However, from experience with someone who went from a Behmor to a larger roaster (actually, a 250kg Barth Scirocco) there's a qualitatively different roast that you get from the larger machine. I think that has to do a lot with thermal mass, how quickly the Scirocco gets back to temperature (which is called recovery time), and the fact that the Scirocco does a much better job of agitating the beans during the roast.

A 10lb machine is closer. You might get 75% yield (~7.5 lb nib for every 10 lb of bean - this counts water loss during roasting as well as fractions winnowed out) so you'd need about 6 roasts for each batch in the 65L Grindeur.

As Brad correctly states, you have to properly account for the value of your time in figuring out production costs. While you might save $1000 on equipment, if it increases the amount of time per batch beyond a certain point, you actually end up losing money (i.e., not paying yourself anything for your labor).

Whenever you're looking at the tradeoff in the initial price of equipment you must also take a look at how trading down in capacity might increase the amount of time (and other costs) associated with the decision. And you should probably pay yourself at least minimum wage. Or, if not, you should know what paying yourself a decent hourly wage means to the actual cost of production, which will let you know what price you should be selling your product for. If you don't properly calculate all of the costs and underprice your product, then you don't have a business.

The concept is called total cost of ownership (or operation). While you might start out with one 65L Grindeur, each new one is not only going to cost at least $5,000 there is cost of hooking it up, the cost of electricity to run it, the cost of electricity for the increased load on the HVAC system and the cost of ground rent. Make sure to have line items for all of these in your cost of doing business spreadsheet.

Another thing to consider is what you're going to do to scale up. If you move from needing one Grindeur to 2, what does that do to the amount of time needed for roasting, winnowing, etc.? It may be that one 10lb roaster won't be able to meet the demand.

Here's the point - there is no perfectly balanced system at this scale. For some stage of production you're going to have machines that are too small and/or too large for other machines in the production line. The question is: where do you start oversize/undersize to begin with, knowing that, if you become successful, that you're going to have to upgrade and/or buy another unit of something.

Where you feel comfortable about making the tradeoff is something you have to decide. But, no matter which way you go, make sure you do a price/total cost of operation analysis - and make sure to include a fair value for your labor.

:: Clay

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Thanks, Clay. I'm wondering why you deem the Behmor and Ronco mods unsuitable for commercial production. Is it capacity? Or lack of consistency? I'm looking at the CocoaT that has a capacity for 10 lbs at a time, which is still on the small side, but definitely more affordable. I would love to be able to build my own or modify an existing one, but I'm not as mechanically inclined as some...