Forum Activity for @Peter3

Hi,

Please understand that I work in an operation making tens of tons of chocolate every week and I can offer very limited advice on how to use small scale machinery.

I am not sure if you can replicate "normal" chocolate making process in a Santha wet grinder and putting chocolate in the oven will not work.

"Normal" as what what is used to make most of the chocolate worldwide, using mixers, refiners and conches.

Process where raw materials are being dosed and mixed, refined to required particle size and loaded into chocolate conche as dry flake.

This flake in the conche is processed "dry and powdery" first to remove moisture, turned into "dry and pasty" phase to allow mechanical work and flavour development and at the very end cocoa butter and lecithin are added to liquefy mass and turn it into liquid chocolate with correct viscosity.

By controlling a range of variables like temperature, time, speed and direction of rotors or level of ventilation in the "dry and pasty" stage we can create a very wide range of chocolates from the exactly same mix of raw materials.

Conching is the magical part of chocolate making as we have a good idea how to do this but very little understanding of what exactly is happening.

I'm also interested - carl@altuschocolate.com

I'm also in Virginia and interested if it is still available. 

thank you,
I didn't fully understand the process..
I just put the cocoa liquor in my Santha 11 and let it grind. Undoubtedly, the temperature inside can not rise over ~60C because of the epoxy.
I can put the chocolate in the oven but what does it mean "before liquifying the chocolate?"

Used Chocolate Melter in excellent condition 400.00

Table top melter for up to 6 kg chocolate. The chocolate is melted evenly at low temperature. Temperatures can easily and accurate being set by an electronic thermostat. The heating is provided by an induction heating device. This guarantees a perfect preservation of all the characteristics of the chocolate during the melting and tempering process.

http://technobake.com/products/6kg-mol-dart-chocolate-melter

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Chocovision Revolation x 3210 Tempering machine
Extra bowl, works good its about 10 years old
Will take 900 OBO

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You can develop a very strong caramel flavour in milk chocolate if during chocolate making process.

Typically you would want to keep the mass temperature below 55C for first 2 hours to remove the moisture and then raise it to 75-78C for 2 hours while it is still dry/pasty. Drop down to 65C and continue normal way. All before liquifying the chocolate.

Trying to do the same with already made/finished chocolate will not work.

How do I order this?

Hello.  

Building a production space for Bean to Bar production.  Looking for ideally second hand equipment when possible, but new in some circumstances will also be an option.  Have been producing small quantities with wet grinder, etc but now looking to scale up and make it a full time business.  In terms of production capability I would like to be able to do 60-80 kilos a week to start with and be ables to grow from there.  

So anyone who may be looking to sell equipment, let me know.  Also would appreciate any insights into distributors in Europe to provide more options.  So far I am mostly familiar with CPS or FBM and not any others.  I appreciate all the help.

Thanks!

Hello everyone,

I'm Ricardo and I am in Spain. I've been making chocolate a bit now on an amateur scale, and now I planning to start my own business. I've trained many years in pastry and have a shop as well and finally looking forward to dedicate more time and energy to bean to bar chocolate!  

Looking forward to reading more on the forums and hopefully contributing when I can.  Also starting to look for equipment so anyone with any insight into the market in Europe would be of great help.  Thank you.

Cheers!

Yes. Precisely.
You mean making regular milk chocolate and then heat it to 75C? it will not burn the chocolate? I suppose that this process caramelized only the milk powder because caramel stage in sugar is higher than 160C.

I have 2 and am looking for a couple more.  I can't even find any on line to buy new.

If you're wondering what they are:

http://consciouscat.net/2013/10/08/katzenzungen-unique-candy-cat-lovers/

Love to see what you come up with!

I am very confused about what are you actually asking about?

How to make chocolate with with caramel flavour/taste?

This can be achieved in the process of making chocolate with normal milk chocolate recipe. Best method is to keep the mass at dry stage at 75-78C for 1-2hours.   

According to "Hotel Chocolat" recipe for the "caramel" bar, there is barely 10-15% of caramelized sugar. I tried my caramel milk chocolate recipe:
20% cacao nibs
28.6% cacao butter
15.4% caramelized sugar
27% skim milk powder
9% Cashew nuts
0.37% lecithin

What I found is just a slight hint for caramel flavour.
I carmelized the sugar on a pan, the color changed to caramel color and the temperature was higher than 160C. By all parameters it was a good caramel.
I also think to caramelized the milk powder but its time consuming and the flavour is approximately the same (according to previous experience).
I is noteworthy to mention that I mix 50% of Hotel Chocolat caramel with 100% dark chocolate and I could still sense the caramel.

So, What is the secret?

If it doesn't work out in LA, I'm still interested in one  to start with.

• 250 new molds;  all same style (Chocolate World Polycarb #2166)
• outside measurement:  10.75" x 6.875" x 1" deep
• 32 cavities per mold (4 x 8)
• finished piece is approx 1-1/4" x 1-3/8";  tray cavity should be 1-3/8" x 1-1/2"
• Paid $25 USD each
• If buying less than 50 molds - asking price is $10 USD each + shipping FOB Austin, TX
• If buying 50 or more - asking price is $6 USD each + shipping FOB Austin, TX
• If buying entire lot of 250 - asking price is $3 each + shipping FOB Austin, TX

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• French stainless steel trolleys from Bourgeat; purchased from Chocolate World in Belgium; 15 shelves each, grills included.
• 8 trolleys available for sale
• Paid $690 USD for each trolley with grills
• Asking $195 USD each + shipping FOB Austin, TX
• If all 8 are purchased, asking price is reduced to $145 USD each + shipping FOB Austin, TX 

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• Reconditioned Walker Tank, model PZ-K, 25 gal stainless steel double action and water jacketed.
• Only in service since Oct 2015, very lightly used
• Swept surface agitator with scrapers and counter rotating x-mas tree style agitator
• 21" diameter x 23" deep; 1.5" dia bottom discharge
• Tank mounted on load cells with scale
• Scraper motor mechanical variable speed; 1-hp, 3 phase, 60 cycle, 230 volt motor
• Counter agitator driven by a 2-hp, 3 phase, 60 cycle, 230 volt motor
• Electric hot water jacket system with thermostat
• Comes with a Savage multi-product metering pump; model 1300-09-40 
• Paid $14,500 for tank + $4,800 for pump
• Asking $9,500 for tank & pump + shipping;  FOB Austin, TX
• See attached photos 

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Hey I don't see the private note anywhere I was looking. Can you just send me a direct email?

stevenshipler @ g m a  i   l

Thanks! I spread it out so it doesn't get caught for spam.

Hi Steven. I think the logistics of the LA offer is better for you. I really only wanted one to try out making my own from the nibs. I am actually in eastern Canada, so god knows what the customs people would do to me, not to mention the exchange rate which currently changes the price of a machine from $300US to $450 Cdn.

Remember, if you find you have an airflow issue, it's really very easy to add a small cooling fan(s) (similar to what computers use to cool their processes) to existing cooling cabinets.  Might be a more budget friendly option than buying new units.  Good luck!

Thanks for the input folks.

My feeling is, it's the inclusions, we are doing some tests as you suggested.

Fridge - we purchased from Vantage House in the UK, this is a fridge designed for chocolate work. We have been using it for years and still, to this day, have never had a problem with hand ladled bars. The only difference is that instead of mixing through the inclusions and hand ladling, we are dousing straight from the machine and sprinkling the inclusions on the back. That's what makes me think its the inclusions. 

Calum - I am taking a look at the specs on the fridge and it's not clear to me what the capacity of the fans is. Air circulation is an important consideration when cooling molds. I've been a fan if Irinox cabinets for a long time but they are really expensive. A good alternative, I have found, is sold by Angel Refrigeration in the UK (ask for Julie Croker and mention my name) – Everlasting. They make temperature and humidity-controlled cabinets specifically for crystallization and holding chocolate.

It's not enough to get the right temperature, you need airflow and to remove the latent heat of crystallization that the bars give off and the airflow need to be top and bottom - under the molds is just as important as over the top.

One test is to use exactly the same chocolate in two different bars – one with and one without inclusions. You'll see pretty quickly whether or not the inclusions are the problem or contribute to it. This will either eliminate the inclusions as a source of the problem or give you a clue that there is something about the inclusions that you need to look at. Temperature could be a factor. I am not sure you have to get them up to 29 ...

10-12C is a little cold. I would start at 15 and then work down by degrees.

I've reduced the price....  

Call with any questions

well, not knowing your chocolate recipe and not being able to see exactly what you're doing, or  how you're doing it - makes it difficult to say what you must do.  I would say that adding cold inclusions/toppings certainly would be one of the things that i'd assess, as from here it appears that it certainly could be a factor.  Whether it is or not, or if it's the largest factor, remains to be seen...

Edit - do your bars tend to warp more if they're towards the top, mid, or bottom of that unit?  Or does it not seem to matter?

*heat (not hear)

my thumbs on a small phone!! 

Sorry for all typos above, autocorrect!

We use a manufacturer modified (for chocolate work) Foster fridge:

http://www.foster-fridge.com/foster-ep-1440-g-ecopro-g2-refrigerator-with-glass-doors

we set this at 10-12C

So, are you saying that we would have to hear the inclusions to around 29C? 

If i'm reading that right, your inclusions are colder than your chocolate.  That'll cause localized cooling at a faster rate.  w/o knowing more about your cooling setup, it sounds to me like there's an uneven airflow issue.

Hi Steve,

If the items are still available, We will also be interested we are located in Los Angeles, California and Anna left you a private note regarding all 3 items.

Sebastian 

the inclusions will be at room temp 18-22C. The chocolate is at 29C when taken off the machine and inclusions vibrated in. Is that a. Station that would effect the cooling?

its strange as we use the chocolate fridge of about 1000 hand Ladeled bars a bay and they cool without any issues.

A dollar says it's the result of uneven cooling.  Is your topping material about the same temperature as your chocolate?

You may wish to consider leaving your chocolate in the cooling unit longer.  You may also wish to put a fan into your cooling unit to move the air inside it around.

Santha is sold. Savage brothers tempering machine is currently still for sale.

Hi folks,

We have done some tests with just plain milk, all looks fine.

Quick thought, the inclusions we were sprinkling on the back were a mix of hazelnuts and sea salt. Do you think the sea salt was drawing in moisture when left sat on the shelves and that may have caused this?

Thanks!

The molds were clean. I'll be honest I didn't check the temperature of the mold before I poured the chocolate in. The room temperature is about 20 degrees celsius. Out of a batch of 8 chocolates I made, this is the worst looking (so I'm not using this). The others, I left longer in the fridge and the marks were a lot less visible. Still not perfect, but okay. But maybe a combination of checking proper mold temperature, and leaving them longer in the fridge would do the trick. An extra 2 minutes patience could have saved me a bar. The mold is polycarbonate and measures 10x10cms and it is plain flat, I knew this would probably not be the best idea.

Thanks for the advice.

Mark:

Patience. You need to wait for the chocolate and the miracle of proper and sufficient crystallization. These look to be mold release marks. I would definitely wait before you try to demold and see what happens. Your molds may not be clean enough or they may not be the right temperature when you put the chocolate in them. And ... what's the temperature of the room you're working in the humidity, and the temp and humidity of whatever you're using to cool the chocolate?

Few quick points:

1. If your chocolate is correctly tempered but the surface temperature of the mould cavity is not correct (too cold) you will get the result as in your photos.

To put it in basic terms heat flows from the chocolate into the mould surface, chocolate cools too fast resulting in creation of "unwanted" type of cocoa butter crystals in this area.

Try warming your moulds up to 27-29C and see if this will improve the results.

2. The trick to making a nicer looking product is to have a bit of texture on the mould cavity which gives you texture on the product surface. Flat surface with nothing on it as in your moulds is not a good idea.

3. Keep tapping and vibrating too get rid of bubbles. Using lower viscosity chocolate will help.

Hi I'm from Kent, uk. Didn't go to chocolate show. Hoping to go to 2017!

Can anyone please look at the pictures and tell me what am I doing wrong? The chocolate is well tempered, but when I unmold, they come with a whitish area. Not all of them. I'm starting to think it's the unmolding part. I put the tempered chocolate to set in the fridge for about 5 to 10 mins, and perhaps I'm a little impatient, so as soon as I look at the mold and I see it is releasing from the sides, I help to unmold by twisting the mold. The area you see in white is the area which wasn't released whilst in the fridge. Should I leave it a little longer?

Also, when I put the chocolate in the mold I tap it so I remove the bubbles. Obviously the bubbles come from the other side. But I'd like my chocolate to be free from bubbles from both sides. Should I keep tapping it?

Thank you for your help my fellow wizards!

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Hi, Did you sell this machine yet? I'm interested. Thank you!

Will try and cool at room temp.

The temps from manufacturer are:

Melting 48-50C

Cooling 26-27C

Working 28-29C

Calum:

You should not have to wait when topping up the machine if you add chocolate that is melted to about the same temperature as the cooling cycle on your machine. So, if the cooling is set to 31C then add melted chocolate at between 31-35C in this way you won't interrupt the tempering cycle. If you add that amount of solid chocolate you may have to wait given the overall size of the bowl.

Although it might take a lot longer to cool - can you test some bars not in the fridge? Let them cool at room temp just as test? It looks like you have inclusions scattered on the top of the bar, can you try without inclusions?

Also - what are the temps on the bag from Belcolade? 45C is a good choice as a melting temp as a starting point and I recommend starting out with every new chocolate using the same set of temperatures and then work from there as it eliminates having too many variables to troubleshoot at the same time.

I forwarded off a link to this post to Carlo at FBM so I knew about the Compatta. Are you still having the same issue there or did you get that solved.