Forum Activity for @Willow Merritt

Hey Ruth, just wanted to let you know that I spoke with Decagon on the phone this morning after chatting with Kerry on egullet about them selling refurbished/used units and doesn't sound like they do that anymore unfortunately, so I'm guessing the best way to find one used is to continue to search for them on Craigslist/ebay.  The quote I got from Decagon for the paWkit was $1998 for the unit, then $388 in accessories.  They do offer a payment plan though, where you put 20% down, then pay the balance over the next 9 months interest free.  Something to think about @elephant if it's something you're serious about.  I'm definitely going to keep looking for a used unit, but if I can't find one by the time I set up shop then I might consider taking advantage of the payment plan option.

The process you describe should work fine, but it will probably take a long time to cool. I don't believe the jkv-30 has any active cooling, right? Does it just circulate air around the tank? You could probably speed it up some by adding a fan on the chocolate.

Ghent University's Cocoa and Chocolate Bean-to-Bar Workshop will be from August 26th to September 10, 2015 in Ghent, Belgium: http://www.cacaolab.be/workshop . Everyone is eligible to attend, although it is preferred that you have a Bachelor's degree in agriculture. Applications are due the 15th of May and for those from eligible countries, http://www.vliruos.be/en/countries/overview/ , scholarship applications are due in one week on April 15, 2015!

Please feel free to contact me for more details!

I have JKV 30 tempering machine with rectangular tank and revolving disk. Can someone tell me how to use the machine without seeding or using table slabs methods?

Do I just heat up my dark chocolate to 131F, turn on the revolving disk and wait until the chocolate to cool down to 81F and then re heated to 88F?

Also, if I want to add untemper melted chocolate to my tempered chocolate. What temperature should the melted chocolate be before adding it to my tempered chocolate?

Thank you

Look at a Stephan mixer.  Work very well, and they have a bowl scraper you use while grinding. 

I had a robot coupe (industrial size) that could have hours long run cycles.  The larger ones are more versatile.

de nada!

People also swore for centuries that using leeches to suck out the bad blood would heal their ailments, when in fact it simply made it worse.  Simply because someone beleives something is good for them when all the evidence points to the contrary doesn't mean we should embrace it.

Following this logic of prioritising antioxidants, would consuming fresh cocoa bean be superior to raw chocolate? I'm asking because the fermentation process and taking the beans out of the pod, in contact with the atmosphere reasonably has the same effect on the beans as cutting apples. This is not discussion just for discussion sake but would really alter my ideas about what I can do with fresh pods.

My take on the feasibility of a $100 bar is from the perspective of the market. More people need to geek out (be educated) on chocolate like they do on coffee and wine. When there are sufficient flavor junkies looking for the next chocolate high, the chocolate makers that gets a loyal following will naturally be forced to raise prices for not being able to meet all demand. In the mean time, I'm grateful for all the sharing and community spirit that is taking us there... :D

To me the whole bean chocolate marketing and to some extend the raw chocolate marketing are NOT targetting the flavor-centric audience like me (and you?). I have an aunt that swears by the benefits of raw food, and naturally would grab for the raw chocolate on the shelf, despite its flavor, or lack-of. The motivation here is one that is emotional, and no amount of rationalizing against whole bean / raw choc would change any minds... For the record, I made a chocolate with extra shells that were winnowed, just for kicks, and I really don't taste any merits in terms of flavor. I first hoped that the sugars from the pulp may come through slightly but after the fermentation and roasting, only the cardboard profile is dominant. I've since moved on.

thankss Sebastiann!

My Robot Coupe only has a 5 minute duty cycle. How are you able to make a oaste in that much time?

A colloid mill could easily handle that.  search JKV colloid mill, but be prepared to clean the living daylights out of it.

I am currently making a lot of almond praline paste in my robot coupe. It does a good job, but it can only handle small batches and it does take quite a while to get a nice paste.  I think I will need to upgrade to a bigger machine. Does anyone have any reccomendations on what to buy. I am looking at making about 30 pounds of praline paste in a day.  Thanks in advance!

Daniel

Wow!  Just re-read this whole thing and to be honest I'm frustrated as all hell.  I tried to get a case made up just like Carlos up there but my Wood working friend went bigger.  But it's an eye catcher.  

 https://www.facebook.com/488149624570362/photos/a.812392278812760.1073741827.488149624570362/818352691550052/?type=3&theater

(hope that link works...)   It is a wood and plexiglass tabletop case 35"x26"x25" with sliding glass doors in the back.

It's big and bad ass...but the Thermal Electric never worked.  He Macgyvered it using XBox powersupply to power most of it.  

After the show I cracked it open and replaced and rewired everything.

 I got 2 PSP's  ( http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Regulated-Switching-Computer-Project/dp/B00D7CWSCG/ref=pd_cp_hi_0?tag=vglnkc4130-20 )

A Temp Control Unit  ( http://www.amazon.com/Elitech-All-Purpose-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B008KVGWT4/ref=pd_sim_lg_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0N16Q2Z9B58JMHBBHR0Z&tag=vglnkc4130-20 ) 

Two TEC1-12726 Peltiers  

I wired everything the way I THOUGHT it should go, tested full flow with a meter- got lots of juice but I'm not getting any Temp Diference.  

I was hoping to have 2 smaller display units built and working by now but I can't get a temp difference.  

Anyone have any suggestions...good grief- it's been almost 4 years already?  

Sorry for all the links...it's been such a long time since I posted on a bbcode board.  :/ 

yes.  lecithin makes the chocolate 'thinner' (more like water when you pour it - less viscuous) - it's a way to use less cocoa butter and make the chocolate easier to work with.  It's an emulsifier.

if two wheels mill stone.

process lasts 12 hours, I would add the crushed cocoa butter and then sugar and milk. but especially at the beginning. this also correct?

Lecithin is it for?

thanks Sebastian!

It is Chinese.  I've had very good luck with it, but it will arrive very dirty.

Order of ingredients can vary greatly depending on what equipment you have and what you're trying to do.  If you're using a wet grinder (the stone mill), add your liquor, dry ingredients, and perhaps some cocoa butter (it's difficult for me to say w/o knowing the exact formulation - youll need enough cocoa butter to keep it fluid during mixing).  Always add lecithing if you choose to use it towards the end of the process.

Thanks sebastian, this mill is Chinese?

I see you know a lot of chocolate, I started with this issue about 7 months ago.

I can ask you a question?

I have doubts at the time of placement of the ingredients, Nibs, cocoa butter, sugar and milk.

You know the order and times?

sebastian many thanks and sorry so many questions!

You might want to consider a JML colloid mill (JML 65 is the smaller one, JML 120 is the larger). Both will require EXTENSIVE cleaning when you recieve them, but are quite effective at a lower cost than $5k ($1.5-3.0k).

The water cooling will be important to ensure you don't burn your liquor during grinding.

Hello Sebastian, I recommended a colloid mill but the price is 5000 dollars.

I need to grind 40 kilos per day

Can you give a sense of what you consider to be 'not too expensive' and the quantities that you're looking to mill?

Youngs Double Chocolate Stout - you should be abvle to get this anywhere

Boatswain Chocolate Stout - I get mine at Trader Joes

and my favorite beer of all: Gearys Winter Ale - the brewery is a mile from home.  

Lucky for us, our chocolate bars go into boxes, so the slope doesn't matter.

In fact, wrapping the bars "updside down" helps us, because our bar boxes are translucent, and having a very smooth surface actually works to our benefit, as opposed to being able to see the pattern of the bar as it's pressed through the foil when it's wrapped.

Hey there, Haven't checked out the dogfish brew yet. Looks like they are selling it here in California too. 

Clay, I'm a former Los Angelino now living in Panama (and making chocolate in the Chiriqui Highlands).  I will be visiting family in Los Angeles in mid-May and would LOVE to find Solbeso.  Will be available for purchase by then?  The company website says they are not yet launched in CA.

Any recommendation of machines to grind cocoa, before placing it in the Melanger that is not too expensive?

thanksss

Have you checked out Theobroma from DogFishHead Brewery?

http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occassional-rarities/theobroma.htm

Most 'off the shelf' vanilla extracts are what's called a single fold (1x) concentration, and use alcohol.  alcohol based flavors will be just fine in chocolate, just keep the concentration less than 1%.  As there are higher concentrations of alcohol (2x, 4x, 6x, etc) one can't really say  how much is the right amount, you'll need to p lay with levels a bit to find that out for yourself.  Other oils have differenet strengths - essential oils for example can be very, very, very potent - to the point where you may have a difficult weighing out a small enough quantity accurately to be consistent.  If you're getting oils from grocery stores (ie consumer type flavorants) those have already been heavily diluted to make it easier for the home cook to manage.

A cut test is *always* a good thing to do if you're looking for quality control.  The thing is - there's no right answer, what you're looking for and willing to accept is a function of what you want in your end product.  Purple beans indicates either the beans were unfermented or lightly fermented, and they will be higher in bitterness, astringency, and lower chocolate flavor.  Brown / dark beans indicates they are well fermented - how well is difficult to say from the cust test alone, but they'll likely have higher chocolate flavor, and less astringency and bitterness.  Very dark and crumbly probably means they're very old beans that have been in the pipeline for a long time.

Are you happy with the chocolate those beans are making for you?  If so, then do taht cut test 10 times and use those results as your baseline fo what you want to see.  Sadly, doing a cut test *after* you've recieved your bulk shipment makes it very difficult to do anything about your bulk shipment if you're dissatisfied. I have no idea what your scale is, but you may want to consider setting up a sampling/preshipment program where your supplier sends you a small amount for y ou to test, after which you give the green light to ship based on the results.

Buon giono a tutti vorrei un aiuto dove posso trovare in italia o in europa piccoli quantitativi di fave

Hi Larry, 

i saw this link posted to someone else on here (think due to their roasting issues) which is what made me think that I have never actually checked the beans using a cut test, and now I am wondering whether I should mention/complain about the fairly major differences between just 100g of these beans. I don't suppose there is much I can do if they are under fermented is there?

That's quite the mix of beans. Here is a useful link. http://ccib.gov.tt/node/116

I'm not an expert, just regurgitating what I've gleaned from TheChocolateLife

It looks like your purple ones are underfermented and the yellow/brown ones are unfermented.

Hi everyone,

read on here that it is a good idea to do a cut test of the fermented cocoa beans when they arrive. So i took a 100g sample of the cocoa bean and started chopping them up. I have a little picture table with examples of what the colours in the beans mean/represent, and am now a bit concerned about some of the ones i have cut up. I have attached pictures and grouped them in their colours. First one (biggest group) is the partly purple-chocolately brown coloured ones which are all good?

2nd group (and 2nd largest group) are these yellow/brown ones, i am worried these are mouldy? or maybe overfermented?

3rd group are these very obvious purple ones i am not sure if this is a good purple or a bad insufficiently fermented purple? plus one of these purple beans has a bit of white on it, not sure what this is?  

this last group of just the one bean was a very dark brown and was very crumbly which i think probably means it has been overfermented?

any help and advice would be brilliant. i dont know if this is quite common to have such a variety in just 100g or not, and so i dont know whether i should keep using them, or contact my supplier etc.

cheers chocolate community!

Hi everyone,

read on here that it is a good idea to do a cut test of the fermented cocoa beans when they arrive. So i took a 100g sample of the cocoa bean and started chopping them up. I have a little picture table with examples of what the colours in the beans mean/represent, and am now a bit concerned about some of the ones i have cut up. I have attached pictures and grouped them in their colours. First one (biggest group) is the partly purple-chocolately brown coloured ones which are all good?

2nd group (and 2nd largest group) are these yellow/brown ones, i am worried these are mouldy? or maybe overfermented?

3rd group are these very obvious purple ones i am not sure if this is a good purple or a bad insufficiently fermented purple? plus one of these purple beans has a bit of white on it, not sure what this is?  

this last group of just the one bean was a very dark brown and was very crumbly which i think probably means it has been overfermented?

any help and advice would be brilliant. i dont know if this is quite common to have such a variety in just 100g or not, and so i dont know whether i should keep using them, or contact my supplier etc.

cheers chocolate community!

Hi everyone,

read on here that it is a good idea to do a cut test of the fermented cocoa beans when they arrive. So i took a 100g sample of the cocoa bean and started chopping them up. I have a little picture table with examples of what the colours in the beans mean/represent, and am now a bit concerned about some of the ones i have cut up. I have attached pictures and grouped them in their colours. First one (biggest group) is the partly purple-chocolately brown coloured ones which are all good?

2nd group (and 2nd largest group) are these yellow/brown ones, i am worried these are mouldy? or maybe overfermented?

3rd group are these very obvious purple ones i am not sure if this is a good purple or a bad insufficiently fermented purple? plus one of these purple beans has a bit of white on it, not sure what this is?  

this last group of just the one bean was a very dark brown and was very crumbly which i think probably means it has been overfermented?

any help and advice would be brilliant. i dont know if this is quite common to have such a variety in just 100g or not, and so i dont know whether i should keep using them, or contact my supplier etc.

cheers chocolate community!

I just made some chocolate and then flavored it with some orange and peppermint oils. It was two different batches. I used about 15 to 20 drops per pound. This was the first time I used essential oils to flavor my chocolate. After I tempered my chocolate, I added drops of oil, stirred and then tasted it. I kept adding drops until I was happy with the taste.

It's because most tablet molds have a pyramid slope from wide to narrow (narrow being the front). If you wrap this way you'll have to invert the outside label and your customer will have to flip the bar over to open it, defeating the purpose. We experimented with this when we started and it made wrapping more difficult and customers thought the bars looked "backwards" when they were wrapped. I guess it depends on your mold.

What is the temperature of the room? What cooling temp and for how long? Only time we really ran into that issue was when the molds were too warm. We also aim for 68F ambient room temp.

Dunno if you've figured out since you posted but vanilla extract tends to have alcohol and won't work in chocolate - in fact, the more you add, the more you'll end up with a thick sludge and won't be able to temper. Have you tried using vanilla bean? You can add as much as you want.

Does anyone know how to make chocolate chips in 5 to 10 pound batches without having to buy a big machine that costs thousands of dollars?  Thanks!