Forum Activity for @Kerry

Excellent - glad it worked for you.

Just wanted to thank you for your help, refrigerating it immediately worked a treat and did exactly what I needed!

Please can you send me the price 

decokraftgh@gmail.com.  Thank you 

I posted one for sale 3 days ago..you may contact me if interested, just see my post, or email me Dgpeete@gmail.com. Thanks.

Hi all, anyone know where I can get this style of packaging! ????

 20150726_084353.jpg - 1.3MB

LITTLE DIPPER...lol

Hilliards Little Dipper for sale, located in SW Pennsylvania.

Original invoice/purchase in Novermber 2012 for over $1500. This unit is in exellent condition and was used for a small home based business. It was never used comercially. It includes the lid, instruction manual an extra nylon temperature probe holder with allen key and a Hilliards nylon bowl scraper.

I am asking $1100 which will include shipping to the lower 48.

Need pictures? send me your email address, for some reason I can't load them here.

When I try to load pictures It says "file has an invalid extension (jpg)- it should be one of ."  ONE OF WHAT???

Please email me dgpeete@gmail.com for pictures.

Questions??? Respond here or call me 724-596-0538 Dave.

I have:

- 175 lbs Raw Cacao Paste ($170/25lb box, total: $1,190)

- 75 lbs Raw Cacao Butter ($150/25lb box, total: $450)

These are from Pacari, which is Arriba Nacional cacao from Ecuador. Both are certified organic.

I can't use them at this time and need to get them out of my space. I am in Brooklyn, NY and would prefer a local buyer, but can ship with serious interest. Prefernce for buyers taking the whole lot. I can deliver in the NYC area.

email: lynaemarie@gmail.com

Piping bag is large - about 18 inches, and holds close to 4 litres (quarts).  I have other smaller piping bags but rarely use them.

We use a tall and narrow 3 Qt. cambro and then just pour directly in from the mixing bowl. What size pastry bag are you using?

Hi everyone,

I have a Chocovision X3210 in excellent condition that I'm selling for $1600 including shipping to the continental U.S. Includes a holey baffle, 2 scrapers and 2 dipping forks.

Email me with questions: heather@verucachocolates.com

I use a 2-qt pitcher. Anything that holds the bag open works.

A tall, plastic drinking glass that is a few inches shorter than the bag; drape the top over the edge of the glass.  Fill the bag, scrape along the edge if you like and then pull it up and out and proceed to pipe.  Been doing it this way for years.  The reason you get blank stares is that most pastry professionals are accustomed to holding it in one hand and filling with the other...I never could master that.

Ok....

If you've ever tried to give a cat a bath by yourself, well.... that's what it's like trying to load marshmallow into a piping bag by yourself!!!!!

I swear I got more marshmallow on me than out the end of the tip of the bag!!!

Where can I find an apparatus that holds the bloody piping bag wide open while I scoop stuff into it - and I mean a BIG aparatus - not one of those dinky Wilton piping bag stands for the happy homemaker and her cup of blue icing.

I find it absolutely ridiculous that I can buy piping bags everywhere in this city, but when I ask for a stand or a holder, the sales guy looks at me with this "deer in the headlights" look, then says "Uhhhhhh....".

I appreciate the help.

Frustrated Brad.... 

Hello,  I am looking for a Hilliard Little Dipper, please  let me know if you have one available.   This would be our next tempering machine, we  just need shipping to Miami.

Email:  gerencia@chocostudio.pe

Thanks in advance,

Cesar Jose

I let the chocolate in molds cool at room temperature. But I'm going to put it by my fan next time around. It did take hours to solidify which sounds like it was never tempered. 

I'll give an update after I try @thomas-snuggs steps. I'm really trying to avoid buying marble and I'd like to try to not use seeds because I bought specific beans from different parts of the world and I want to find out if I can taste a difference.

How many pounds of chocolate are you trying to temper? After pouring it in the molds, how are you cooling your chocolate at room temperature or fridge? (how long did it take to solidify?)

The cooling via stirring and fan may not be cooling the particules properly. You would be better with a Cold Marble cooling or seed cooling (You may need to use a 3rd party seeds at first then you can save your own seeds)

PS - You do not need to go up to 124 (118 - 120 should be enough to melt all particules), coold it down further to 82 and then bring it up to 88 - 89 and test it on a parchment parper before you pour it in the molds to make sure it is well tempered.

Sounds great, thanks! I'll do those added steps tonight

Always test your chocolate for temper. Place a little on the back of a spoon or on a piece of wax paper. It should set in a few minutes and have a nice snap. If not, then it has not been tempered.

A room temperature of 72 F is on the high side for me. I prefer 68 F and I always have a fan blowing over my chocolate molds. I learned the hard way that tempered chocolate will produce bars just like your photos if the room temperature is too high.

I also use a double boiler to heat my dark chocolate to 120 F and then cool it in a 65 to 68 F water bath to 80 F, then back on the boiler to bring the temperature back up to 89/90 F. I am always stiring and allow some time at each temperature. One must take care if using a water bath as water in chocolate is bad.

I hope this helps.

I just left the chocolate in the double boiler bowl and stir it with a fan blowing on the choc. It was a slow process. Probablt took over ten minutes to drop down to 84 F

I put the bowl back over the steaming water for 15-20 secs to bring it back to 90 F.

I did not test the choc before molding. How do I test? The room temperature is 72 F and I used food grade silicon molds.

When do you do the cooling in the bath? 

The chocolate was either not tempered when it was molded or lost it in the mold. Did you test the chocolate prior to molding? If the test was ok, then your chocolate was not in a cool enough environment while it set. What was the ambient temp while in the molds? I usually cool my dark chocolate to 80 to 81 F in a cold water bath when tempering. 

How did you cool it down from 124 to 84? How fast?

How did you bring it up from 84 to 90?

Is your little dipper still available?  I am very interested simplysogood@hotmail.com  Thank you

Hi, This is my first attempt at making chocolate from beans. I attached a photo of the chocolate I attempted to temper. Does anyone know where I went wrong from just looking at that formation of crystals? 

I used a doulble boiler. Took the chocolate up to 124 F, then cooled it to 84 F just using a fan and stirring the chocolate in the bowl. Then brought it back up to 90 F and put it in the molds.

Thanks for any help offered!

 Temperingproblem.jpg - 1.9MB

Thanks! I was just curious on its capacity as I've always had a 10" w  tunnel etc. This is first time running a smaller machine. 

Hi there,

I have this machine. I have an older model from the 90s. I can tell you that this machine can work all day and all night. You can enrobe for as long as you want. You will have to add more chocolate when the tank gets low. I always have a supply of melted chocolate that is ready to add to the machine when needed. If you have any more specific questions. I would be happy to answer them. Enjoy your new machine!

Daniel

Ciao! Add me to the e-mail list, please! burgundyport@yahoo.com

I recently replaced a used and no longer functioning candy case with one from Alternative Air. The new case was reasonably priced (relative to others I explored), and is very nice. It takes a couple of months to get one made, and they don't communicate much on progress, but I'm very happy with the new case. It dehumidifies better than my old one, and holds my chocolates perfectly.

I spent a little time with Kerry the last few weeks and was able to see her work with the EZTemper first-hand. It seemed to work very well. I've been considering purchasing one.  Then two days ago, when the weather cooled and humidity dropped, I was dipping chocolate toffees and was having a terrible time tempering my lecithin-free organic milk chocolate couverture (tastes great, 45%, but hard as heck to temper) and I was wishing I had purchased the EZTemper. That was truly the moment when I realized that the cost is likely worth the time savings. You can see pics of the chocolate, and how we used the EZTemper on my blog here.  Kerry was testing it out to see if liquid, tempered chocolate could be kept in temper in the EZTemper for quick decorating and painting applications. It seemed to work well, but I think Kerry was planning to adjust temperatures to see if the chocolate could be less thick when it comes out of the machine. I'm curious to see the results of her experiments! But I think I will be making the purchase soon.

Hi Thomas!  That's exciting.  I'd love to try it someday.  What is your website (if you have one)? I can add it to the dark-milk list if you are selling it.

Thanks for your comments Clay! I have not had much experience with Felchlin, given the remote location that I have been living in for the last 7 years (I occasionally make it off this island, but 'occasionally' is the emphasized word )  I just began my head-first dive into chocolate while I was in France 10 years ago, but wish I had known more when I had access to Europe back then! Sigh. But thanks to your list suggestion, I just realized that one of my regular distributors sells Felchlin!  I will be asking them about it today.

It is interesting that dark milk chocolate has been around for quite a while, but truly is trending today. Europeans have always understood that rich taste and sweet-and-savoury combinations offer much more enjoyable taste experiences, but here in North America we have finally come around.  A whole lot is changing thanks to the rapid development of the bean-to-bar industry, and I love every change! When I left Ottawa, there was not a place to buy origin chocolate (except one pastry shop selling Michel Cluizel and an Italian store selling a few brands of that country). Now there are specialty retailers for chocolate, better access online, and an increased interest all around. So I am sad to not be livng there anymore. But I am doing my part to bring fine chocolate to Northern Ontario .

All that said, I've updated the list with Felchlin and a few others: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-ultimate-list-of-dark-milk.html

Have a great weekend!

OK, dropping the price to $675.00 plus UPS shipping.

Thank you

I've been using my EZtemper to help me make some favours for the wedding of a friend's son.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/151520-manitoulin-if-i-can-make-it-there…/?p=2024956

Thrilled to hear it is working so well for you Danielle!

Hi Don - I sent an email asking for information about the depositor, but I didn't hear back from you.  Maybe you didn't get the request.  Will you send information about the depositor to Jennifer@ExVotoChocolates.com? Thank you!

I made my first dark milk a couple of months ago and it was great. The milk adds some richness. Several people that had it thought it was my best ever. I think they had never had a dark milk before or maybe they just wanted more free chocolate from me.  I've only made a 55% dark milk. I'm going to make some higher percentage dark milk for my next batch.

You mentioned having a mess to clean up...  I hope you know you can pop your molds into the freezer, freeze the chocolate and then just unmold it.  No harm, no foul.  You can then re melt and reuse the chocolate.  We all have those kinds of days when we realize later we've made a mistake.

I am sorry Clay. I have now fixed my post.

So, I was tempering my milk chocolate, and after thinking it was ready, I filled a whole lot of shell molds.  Then I realized, I never added the seed chocolate.  Now I have a whole lot of mess to clean out of the molds.  (and a lot of wasted time).

Hello, All,

I am selling my Santha 4 liter tilting wet grinder. It has significant weight, so I'm looking for someone able to pick it up in the Dallas, TX area. The only apology is that it's missing the spring nut (Santha part spring nut 11/4), but this doesn't seem to affect use. Please contact me with offers. 

With thanks,

Sean Cotter

CR -

This kind of posting is frowned upon here on TheChocolateLife. If you want to post a recipe the entire recipe, and any accompanying photography, MUST be posted here on TheChocolateLife. You should not post "teaser" links whose sole purpose is to drive traffic to your site.

Lisabeth:

I had my first dark-milk many years ago, one of the Slitti Latte-Nero family (they come in a variety of percentages) and I was immediately hooked. Dark milks are my favorite category of chocolates. The flavor intensity of a dark chocolate, the creaminess of a milk chocolate, and they're less sweet than a dark chocolate from the same bean/roast would be because lactose is less sweet than sucrose. I eat a lot of single-origin, two-ingredient chocolate, which requires attention. When I am looking for something to simply enjoy, dark-milks are the first place I think to reach.

People who know my history know my connection to Bonnat so when they introduced the 3, 65% dark-milks I immediately started using them as a tasting flight.

Your list is missing the 49% Felchlin Creole, a great offering from one of the best  small chocolate makers - if not the best - in Switzerland.