Forum Activity for @Choc Man

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

All of my molds are polycarbonate. I spray them with lukewarm water until I can see no chocolate remnants. Then I fill the sink with lukewarm water and a little Palmolive and I splash each mold around in the water for a few seconds -- no washcloth or anything else. Then I rinse the molds with reverse osmosis water, rap them on the counter a couple of times, and let them air dry on towels. I have perfectly clean molds with zero water spots. Chocolates release beautifully and I never see any chocolate residue in the cavities themselves. They seem to be slowly but surely building a microscopic CB presence. I also wipe the molds and cavities with a shammy before each use. I've noticed no ill effects at all. But after reading through this thread I worry...

Am I woefully ignorant of something here?

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you very much for all the information that has been shared. Would anyone please share supliers or brands used.
Thank you

Stefano

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

We've been using it weekly on the same polycarbonate molds for 4 years. If it hasn't broken down the mold by now, it never will.

updated by @Brad Churchill: 09/08/15 02:08:04

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

do you mean the products one uses to clean grease and fats from ovens ? it is apretty strong stuff and i am a little puzzled if it is this stuff are you sure it doesn't shorten the moulds' life i am afraid to use it and then to see that something happens to all the moulds!

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Every comment seems to be about cleaning the molds. Could it be that the molds were too cool? I know that's why chocolate sometimes sticks. I was told that molds are supposed to be 80 degrees. I use my warming oven. I also have a surface temp thermometer that is really helpful.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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is somebody using a dishwasher for mold cleaning? it might be a great time saver if possible.

updated by @Domantas Uzpalis: 01/19/15 00:27:29

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Hi All, an update:

my friend (chemical engineer) says that 1 cup per 40 lit (S.H diluited at 40%) is safe (-ish) , just to be careful if in a concentrated form.

As for any "Hydroxide" chemical, there is risks of skin burn.

So if you get in contact with S.H., rinse your skin with running cold water for a good 5-10 min.

if it still burn after 1 hour or longer, just seek medical attention for precautions.

Take care!

Antonino

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Thank Brad,

we buy it directly from a Chemical Company, and we are still trying to figure out how much

S.H. per liter of water.

we started with about 100 ml for ca 25 liter of water , and it works as quick degreaser but the molds have a thin layer of fat still on.

next we are going to try with 250ml and see what happen...

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

The sodium hydroxide solution we use comes already bottled and somewhat diluted. I purchase ours from a commercial food service company, and the bottle states that it's safe for use in food establishments on food equipment for degreasing purposes.

Also, yes, the molds will be "squeaky" clean once washed. You will also find that it makes the water slippery, and the molds hard to hold on to when cleaning.

We have been using it for 3 years now, are regularly inspected by the Canada Food Inspection Agency, AND our local Health Inspectors, and all is just fine.

Cheers

Brad.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Just a quick note of caution, Sodium Hydroxide is used in rat poison and is very dangerous if not used properly. It will definately work for cleaning your molds.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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I hope so Antonino, I have not tried it but it sounds right and works for you and others... plus you are only using 1/2 of the % they are saying to use.

By the way my molds are new never been used and they are squeaky :P

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Great Rochelle,

so if we put a cup (200ml) 40% S.H (sodium hydroxide) in about 40 liter of water we have a solution of a pretty safe cleaning product?

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Chemical Resistance - Polycarbonate

http://www.fiboxusa.com/pdf/ChemResV707.pdf

so what they are saying S/O is ok at 20% on polycarbonate

if you use too much you could release bisphenol A

http://www.classle.net/node/24741

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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@Brad,

just a question: once dry do the molds feel "squeky?"

and is anyone that knows what could be the risk/effect if the S.O. is not rinsed properly?

Rochelle, just make sure that you buy the right product, it comes in 2 format: liquid in a dilution of 40% or pure in crystal form.

Do not confuse with ammonium hydroxide or bleach or anything else cause it could be harmful. We,all, are still Chocolatiers and not chemical engineers, so please do your research!

As soon as my friend (chemical engineer) is back in town, i will discuss with her what really is S.H. and the risk/benefit. I think that is good if we post some words from a Chemical Engineer....

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Glade I read this thread as I have some new molds to look after and will trySodium Hydroxide as well.

I take it is the same stuff you would clean the heads of a coffee machine with and sock your plates to make them look white again.

I would wear gloves when using sodium hydroxide and rinse very well.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Antonino;

Glad I could be of help!

Cheers

Brad

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Hi William,

i think that all of us have have started or still use dish washing and hot water. The point was to find something that clean/degrease and no need to polish product.

If you have to deal with ca 200+ molds to clean, the scrubbing and the polishing (cotton wool i hate you!) is not real fun.

I have tried the Sodium Hydroxide and you should have seen the excitement on my employee's face seeing that with almost no work the mold where clean! After a quick rinse (i think we put too much SO in it.) the drying happened overnight and finished off with with a air-gun ( air compressor).

No Bloom, no marks on the chocolate. Now when i ask to have the molds clean, no ones run away!

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Bloom can form on molded chocolates if the the molds were previously used with compound coating or white chocolate and then used with real chocolate. The fats are not compatible and will react to form bloom.

As far as cleaning, hot water and Dawn Dish Washing Liquid works the best. Dawn cuts the oil in the chocolate. Just completely dry and you are ready to go. if you want to disinfect after washing, use 1 capful of Clorox Bleach to a gallon of water and dip the mold before drying with lint free towels.

Don't use a hair dryer, it can warp the molds if the are plastic.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi All,

we finally got our supply of Sodium Hydoxide, 25 l drum with a dil. of 40%

We tried a cup in about 40 lit of warm water and i must say it went so quick! my employees loved it! in few minutes we washed everything.

The rinsing part was a bit of issue: the molds after 2 rinse still have a slippery feel, not the "squicky" one as i was expecting.

@Brad and any one else: do i need to rinse them more or reduce the amount of Sodium or is just normal?

thanks in advance!

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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I picked up some deep fryer cleaner (sodium hydroxide-based) today from smart and final and used it at 1 cup per 1 gallon water and it worked great. it doesn't list concentration of NaOH. its not the cheapest stuff at $10/gallon but its worth the $1 in cleaning materials to not have to cotton ball all of my molds.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Brad, you are referring to Red Lightening that Clay mentioned in your most recent post of approx. 14 hours ago?

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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brad...that's what i thought and was suspicious for

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Yes, that does make more sense --- now to figure out what to do with half a gallon of janitorial strength ammonium hydroxide Glad this got sorted out before i started looking for the stronger stuff (I used to work with concentrated NH4OH at my old job and it fumes when you open the bottle...nasty stuff to use even with a fume hood.)

updated by @Mike3: 09/08/15 02:06:55

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Don't use it straight. It can be considerably diluted in warmwater, removes ALL cocoa butter very nicely with almost no effort. The molds will feel slippery when being rinsed, and you'll see the water sheet right off of them. No spots. We take a bit extra care and use a hair dryer to blow off the remaining few spots.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Ahhh, Brad - that makes so much more sense . I am glad this got straightened out - ammonium hydroxide is pretty nasty stuff. Not that sodium hydroxide (aka lye, caustic soda) is a cakewalk.

Please note, everyone, that this provides a very good reason to RTFM (that is, read the material safety data sheet, or MSDS) on any chemical you are considering using. I was looking at the MSDS for ammonium hydroxide and wondered what others knew about it that I couldn't find out.

In doing some follow up research on sodium hydroxide I ran across the following ( Red Lightning degreaser ), which might be a good (and perhaps safer and easier to handle) alternative for anyone who's at all skittish about using lye as a degreaser. I plan to try it - and I will let people know what I find out.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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CORRECTION:

A while ago I put a post in here that we use Ammonium Hydroxide to clean our molds. THIS IS WRONG!!! What I meant to write is that we use a solution of water anddegreaser containing SODIUM HYDROXIDE.

IT WORKS AWESOME, AND REQUIRES NO DRYING OF THE MOLDS, WHICH COULD POTENTIALLY OVER TIME CAUSE SCRATCHES IN THE POLYCARBONATE.

Sincerest apologies everyone.

Brad

updated by @Brad Churchill: 01/19/15 00:24:20

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Someone came to me asking about sourcing ammonium hydroxide. I can find semiconductor grade, 99.5% pure 29% dilution - but the MSDS is pretty frightening for a product at that concentration.

What are people sourcing for the original strength before diluting to what level?

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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hot water and airgun

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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What exactly are the "make-up remover pads from walmart (less than $2 a pkg). They are soft cotton but don't leave the little fuzzies the balls do." Do you have a pic?

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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CAN YOU SHARE PICS PLEASE? I MAY BE HAVING SIMILIAR ISSUES........

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Well, the ammonium hydroxide i found locally apparently wasn't strong enough. Its 10% according to the label, and I started with very weak solution and increased the concentration until I literally couldn't stand to breath the fumes (even tried a few drops of full strength and that didn't do the trick). The result was that the chocolate/cocoa butter was dissolved, but instead of staying in solution it coated my molds completely when i took them out to rinse.

Brad/Ben---you're the only two that have confirmed using NH4OH, what concentration are you buying off the shelf?

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Interesting and yes I agree that the washing is a real pain. I went to a class with the technical advisor and they gave out Callebaut promotional materials. Inside it listed common reasons for bloom. Mold cleanliness was listed as a problem. Go figure.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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They are called Kissner

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Hi Mike,

What is the company in Canada you found that it supplies ammonium hydroxide?

Thanks,

Omar

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Our bars have a lot of fine detail, and are cleaned with water/Amonium Hydroxide on a regular basis. The same18 molds (3 bars per mold)have made over 60,000 bars in the last 3.5 years and stilllook like new. They are washed and then dried with a micro fibre cloth.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks Brad. I think I found some locally, hope its strong enough!

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Real Canadian Wholesalers (Similar to Real Canadian Superstore). Both Owned by Loblaw's. Hope that helps.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

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Thanks for the reply Brad. I have a background in chemistry, so I was picturing ammonium hydroxide (lab grade, caustic), but then realized I couldn't find it as a cleaner so I thought maybe it was a nomenclature thing since NH3 + H2O <-> NH4OH.

I did find a company in Canada that supplies it, but only in Canada (unless I buy a truckload!). I will keep looking, but anyone in the US that can offer tips on a source, please let me know (I know of most of the lab supply houses, but they are generally pretty expensive when you want very pure/food grade solutions).

-Mike

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I have been told by a notable chocolatier not to wash them out but polish with a shammy cloth. If you cleam them too often, more than monthly you will break down the polycarbonate .

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

There's a difference between ammonia and ammonium hydroxide. I don't know that I would recommend ammonia. I buy our ammonium hydroxicefrom a local commercial food wholesale store.

In the past I've used full strength (from the bottle), and it did no harm to the molds.

Be sure to wear protective gloves though.

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

For those of you using ammonium hydroxide--are you buying it from a lab supply company or using ammonia from the hardware store? I tried some dilute ammonia and it didn't really cut the cocoa butter much, but i was worried about ruining my molds by using higher strength.

thanks

mike

Cleaning Chocolate Molds

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Instead of cotton balls, try cotton dish towels. The very thin ones work well. We use the warming cabinet, then wipe away residue. Seem to work pretty well. We don't wash every time.