Forum Activity for @Calum

Better quality photo 

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- It's bee going on since we started dosing from the machine, we normally hand ladle from the machine.

- We may not have been waiting 15minuts after temp is reached. We only take about 2 - 3 kg out, before topping up. If we were to wait 15 mins between each topping up wee would only get through 8-12Kg per hour. 

- We are using a plain milk organic couverture from Belcolade

- Milk settings 45/29C

- Fridge Temp 10-12C (20-30 mins)

- Room temp 20-22C

- I don't believe there is anything wroing with that machine, it must be our settings as it also happened on our dark Compatta machine.

- It 7kg Prima

- Out of interest, what do you advise as a good setting on the auger, as we have this setting on our Compatta

- See photo for bending - it happens a 20-48 hours later. 

Thanks all! 

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Sorry for the delay, I am in Scottsdale, Arizona. I can bubble wrap it all in large boxes and make sure nothing is damaged in transit. I will also insure the packages to make sure if anything is damaged we can get it taken care of. But I will separate the wheels and bubble wrap them like crazy haha.

In a recent article in Confectionery News , Fairtrade has announced a partnership with Mondelēz that should mean more Fairtrade cocoa will find its way into Cadbury products in the UK & Ireland. This is to be done through expansion of the Cocoa Life program.

However, in a troubling (to me) comment from Barbara Crowther, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Fairtrade, [the cocoa for Cadbury] "isn't going to be certified either under the Fairtrade mark or through the sourcing program. It's going to be traded through loyalty payments embedded into Cocoa Life itself and we will work to hold that program accountable ."

We should take into account the fact that the International Institute for Sustainable Development, in its most recent report on cocoa, says that less than 40% of the cocoa that is certified is sold as certified. That means that the producers pay for the certification of 100% of what they grow but, on average, receive the premium on only 40% of what they sell that is certified.

This fact is not one that is advertised by Fairtrade, which is hardly surprising, as I think it's part of an overall lack of transparency with respect to how premiums do (or more importantly, do not) always make it to the producer. While there is an inordinate focus on paperwork and documentation up the supply chain, there is no corresponding documentation or commitment down the supply chain.

There are other aspect of Fairtrade's work that also need to be examined, one of the most heinous of which is the concept of mass balance, which guarantees a complete lack of traceability back to the producer in countries where this is practiced.

What immediately occurs to me, when Fairtrade says, "Trust us, we'll work to hold the Cocoa Life program accountable," is that they first must hold themselves accountable for the premiums that are collected and how those premiums are disbursed. My immediate suggestion is a report on the flow of money, down to the producer (co-op) level. If they can come up with total dollar amount for premiums collected globally, they should know the numbers that roll up into that number on a country-by-country basis as well as on a producer-by-producer basis. If they don't ... then their global numbers should probably be considered suspect.

What the industry needs is more transparency, not less transparency. Fairtrade has not earned my trust because they have never fully documented the flow of money back down to the producer. Fairtrade positioning itself as the monitor of Mondelēz's cocoa portfolio for the UK and Ireland is asking way too much and it is naive on our part (consumers' part) to assume that the job will be done properly.

The article talks about Mondelēz's $400 million, 10-year commitment to improving cacao farmers' lives and livelihoods. Last I looked there were something like 15 million people who rely on the income from cocoa in whole or in part. $400 million over 10 years is $40 million/ year, which is less than $3/year per person. And that's assuming that all $400 million actually gets spent in productive ways? How much of that $400 million is caught up in administrative overhead and other expenses?

Maybe this new initiative will produce positive results ... but I one thing I am fairly certain of is that the only news that will be published will be positive and glowing: the system is not designed to report its own shortfalls. We can only wait to see what sort of reports are produced, but I am not sanguine that the effects will be meaningful, especially absent any promotion or connection with Fairtrade. What will be the consumer messaging around this? How are they to know?

Calum -

How long has this been going on and have you been in touch with FBM yet (and where are you located)? Do you have the FBM Skype account for technical support?

Is this a chocolate you're making or a commercial couverture you're buying?

What are the temps you're using for the chocolate (bowl heater temp and cooling system temp).

How long are you waiting after the machine says it's "ready" before you start depositing? You should not start immediately as it takes some time to circulate all the crystals once the temperatures have equilibrated. I recommend 15 minutes at a minimum.

Basically, if you have the temper dialed in properly then this (the bending) should not occur. So, there's something about the way you are using the machine - or there's an issue with the machine itself - that's causing the issue.

My guess is that you've got a lot of lower-form crystal formation going on. That could be because you're not cooling the chocolate to a low-enough temperature. I need to know more about how you're using the Prima ... you can't use it the same way you use a batch tempering machine.

Is this a 7kg Prima or a newer 10kg Prima? If it's a 10kg machine, do you have a speed controller on the auger (and if do, what speed is it set for)?

Hi Clay,

Its a FBM prima.

when you say it might not be tempered, do you have an idea what might be the issue?

im going to get some photos tomorrow, hopefully.

thanks all.

Calum -

What machine are you using for tempering? If you never had problems hand-ladling then it may be that you think the bars are tempered but they are actually not.

Dan:

Welcome to TheChocolateLife!

Where are you located? Were you at The Chocolate Show in London? I was there.

All machines were sold!

Dear all,

I am new to you but you're not to me since I've been reading this forum for a couple of weeks now. So : please to meet you!

With my wife we are planning to open a bean to bar production in France in 2017, after we discovered cacao in Colombia where we are staying right now. The whole BtB world is new to us.

I have thousands of questions about machines, recipes, training, law, values etc. But let's start with one that, to what I read in this forum, has'nt been discussed recently. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

For those who produce BtB chocolate in countries without cacao production, where do you buy your beans ? Do you deal directly with producers (individuals? Cooperatives? Other organizations?) ? Do you deal with a cacao trader ? Do you buy in common with other buyers in your area ? 

And if you have any contact in Colombia, it would be very usefull. 

All your recommandations and feedbacks are welcome !

Thank you

Aurelien

hi all, I'm from the uk. I have been making 'craft chocolate' for about 6 months. I now sell raw beans online from all over the world in small bags. Love to get acquainted with you all.

Specific formula please, and photos if you have them?

They are plain milk bars. 

Melting 45c

tempered 30.5

Dosed straight ff the machine.

80g bar 150 x 80 x 9mm

Cooled in fridge at 12C for 30mins

they then appear to be fine and then a couple of days later they bend.

We never have this problem when we hand ladel, I just cant get my head around this.

Any help is, as always, much appreciated.

Where are you located? I'm in the Northeast so I'm hoping shipping won't be an issue.

The roll mill is sold.

Hello,

I am interested in the Santha spectra 40 with speed control and no cover.

Could you give me more details - busanapierre@gmail.com

Thank you in advance,

Kr

Pierre

Hi Trevor, i am interested in the tempering machine. Can you send me some more details and pictures? Where is it located? etc.

d.duernberger@gmx.at

kind regards, daniel

Hi,

We have Cocoa trees in Tanzania (Mbeya-Kyela District). We are looking for buyers to help support the building of a children's home.

Zanild~

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For some reason I can't upload my pictures to this post. I tried reformatting them etc.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. 

Asking $300 OBO and preferably would like to sell all three to one buyer.

Thanks!

Here is the link to the gallery of images. Sorry I had to do it this way, seems to be my only option.

https://postimg.org/gallery/2t83iokai/b568eaf7/

I am posting pictures today. Been very busy. I am asking $300 for them each. They are in perfect working condition. Two of them have the conical stones, and one of them has their new cylindrical stones which they tell me last longer! I am selling these as we are moving up to large grinders and I remember wishing I could find used cocoa towns when we first started out.

Only thing to point out is one of the grinders scraper has the bottom half missing. It doesn't change anything and makes the same quality chocolate as the other two, I just want to be as transparent as I can possibly be.

i was wondering if they are still available and if so how much?

thanks

As Sebastian said above lead and cadmium free chocolate products don't exist.

Both elements get into the bean from the soil where the cocoa trees grow.

Some origins have higher content levels (Ecuador, Venezuela) some lower (Pacific countries).

This should help a lot.

https://www.facebook.com/SoChoklat/videos/1132903850118884/

Have fun with it!

You will not find them.

I am looking for lead and cadmium free chocolate products, not reduced levels.  Thanks!

Selling prepackaged chocolate boxes from 'Kras' at wholesale prices.

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Hi Sabrina - your pot struck a chord so i thought i'd reply. I've been in business solely as a chocolatier for about 8 months and made a few pointless purchases so I thought i'd share!

I've now got contracts with a couple of restaurants and my market sales are starting to pick up a bit. I'm probably making around 400 chocolates a month at the moment (plus my own bars for markets).

I bought a keychoc 04 tank.... stopped using it very soon after buying it. I just don't need to have melted chocolate on hand all day with my production flow right now and it takes up very valuable space in my tiny kitchen. i'm going to sell it and at some point get a mol d'art melter (the wider space is way more useful for moulds etc). But right now the biggest help for me would be finding space for a microwave ...much faster melting chocolate (i'm using a double boiler) and useful for warming ganache etc when needed. (I hate microwaves but im going to bite the bullet on this one).

Other useless kit: chocolate moulds that i only have one of (useless for larger scale production..get several each of a few type rather than lots of different ones..and check cavity size against your packaging..I have several I can't use right now)

As for your making it question......... I would hold on to the job for now. I'm currently looking for one! Chocolate is great fun but to make it a profitable busines that will pay you enough for year round is hard. Summer time in particular is very difficult. You need money to pay bills..and then money to buy ingredients etc for your business...those two things probably won't come from the chocolate sales for quite some time.

One day...a chocolate shop......right now...same as you - working two jobs (when I get the other one that is!)

I am a chocolate enthusiast who has travelled extensively and has fine taste for various types of chocolate. Whenever I travel I try to taste that country's chocolate because each country has it differently. Not only that but big brands such as Milka even taste differently depending on where it was produced. 

I recently opened small online shop for chocolates from different countries and will be looking for vendors. Thanks for having me on this forum and I'd be excited to work with you.

One thing I learned at the NW Chocolate Festival this weekend is that chocolate loves to throw itself out of temper. The best way to combat this is to watch it in the mold. As it begins to harden around the edges of the mold, (i.e. the edges get dull but the middle is still shiny), at that point put it into a cold fridge. This will help push the crystallization and keep it from losing temper.

Ladle into mold and scrape top.  I have also used a syringe.

How do you fill your molds? Spoon? I found that when using pastry bags to fill my molds I was getting this type of issue. I finally figured out that my hands were heating some, but not all, of the chocolate so it was out of temper.

I'm always wiling to try out a new bean! Let me know if you can send a sample. I can PM you with my address.

Edit - Aaaand I just realized this was a very old post!

Hello all! I've been a member for a while, and maybe even posted a few times back a few years ago when I first started. My focus waned a bit, but it was snapped back into place this past weekend at the NW Chocolate Festival.

I live in the Pac Northwest. I am a traffic engineer by day and I wear many "hobby" hats. My wife is always pushing for ways to make those hobbies into businesses, and chocolate is the one that might click.

I'm still searching for the beans that I as a maker will want to work with moving forward. Thus far I roast in my oven, crack and make liquor with a Champion, winnow via hair-dryer and a large vase, melange with a CocoaTown (but I just got a Premier), and temper by tabling.

Being an engineer I think I can design a winnower and a tempering machine... well, just a temperature-controlled bowl to start. I'll be working on both in the coming months.

It is good to be actively thinking about chocolate again, and I can't wait to fire up the Premier and start grinding out some chocolate! (pun intended).

Hello Trevor,

I would be interested to learn more about the santha

emile@zartpralinen.at

I'm not aware of any purification system for removing lead or cadmium from cocoa powder or cocoa mass so this may be the wrong approach.

When you are stating "free" do you mean absolutely no traces of cadmium or lead or just below certain threshold?

Beans from Pacific countries and from Africa are generally low in cadmium.

Does anyone know of any source of lead & cadmium free chocolate products?  Please Help!  I'm particularly interested in contaminant free unsweetened cocoa powder.  Any referrals to anyone that might know more about this particular topic area?

Can you post your formula, your cooling settings (temperature both in and out of the cooling unit, time spent in both areas, etc), your bar dimensions, if there are any inclusions in it, and how you know you're tempered?

Thanks Brad. I'm pretty sure they are tempered. 

[quote="Trish Gowans"]

kate, i sent you an e'mail, did you receive it?

[/quote]

Thanks, I did and replied. But I guess it was not the correct channel to reply to you.  I said I would pass on the moulds at this time.  Thanks for your time.

Kate

Awesome.  Thanks for the advice.  Much appreciated

Without knowing what your chocolate recipe is, and assuming that you have enough cocoa butter in your recipe, I would have to say that your chocolate is not tempered properly.