Jim D.

Thanks for that suggestion. This is the one he told me he has: https://www.katom.com/042-GRS36I120QS.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwhaaKBhBcEiwA8acsHDWWNziX2YGbRCT1ZgESbvNe-mQGtfy4rmEJnCHedhmjV928DTO8JxoCXjwQAvD_BwE Do you recall if that is the one you saw?

I have continued to use the method described in this thread for cleaning colored cocoa butter from molds but am having further issues. As I stated previously, the warming tray I have gets quite warm, and I have compensated by laying towels between the surface and the molds. I takes quite a few towels to get the temp down to a safe level (which I would consider well below 90F). But in the last two batches, more bonbons than I care to think about came out with damage around the base and bits of CB staying in the mold. The spots are exactly where heat would have had an impact on the shell. So excess heat in rubbing off the CB came to mind. The second time I was very careful, swiping the mold for a few seconds, removing it for a few seconds, then swiping again. But the issue occurred again. Today I laid even more towels on the warming tray so that the surface temp on the top was around 85F or so. But that temp is not really high enough to get the CB off without much effort and time. I went back to another method I have used, and that is scraping the mold. Even done with the mold upside down, this is quite difficult and very messy--and it's difficult to get proper leverage to scrape well. When the procedure is done right side up, the scrapings go into the cavities. So it's back to the drawing board. The more (apparently) sensible way of cleaning the molds is to rub them immediately after spraying, so I tried that again. But in the time it takes to paint a mold thoroughly, the CB crystallizes and won't come off without lots of effort. Meanwhile the CB in the airbrush is cooling off. It's difficult enough to keep CB at the proper temp without being interrupted constantly. I suppose if I stopped to wipe a mold after each pass of the airbrush, the CB would come off, but the time spent seems really problematic. As luck would have it, Felchlin chocolate and AUI sponsored a two-hour video demo by Luis Amado a couple of weeks ago. He cleaned off CB with a warming tray. So I emailed him to ask the brand, and he told me. I checked with the company and was told the tray has a surface temp range between 80 and 180F. If that is true, it sounds like an improvement, but these trays aren't usually very accurate in maintaining temp. On the other hand, I would expect some level of quality as the cost is $555. So what do other people do to clean CB from molds? Any insights would be helpful.

I had not heard of that airbrush, and it looks impressive for the money. I can't account for the large difference on price except perhaps country of manufacture. The 0.8mm nozzle would be good. Two differences I can think of: The largest cup is 13cc. If the conversion to milliliters I found online is correct, that is fairly small (it's fine as long as you are spraying a mold or two, but you might get annoyed at having to refill it with more molds). Grex has a 50mL cup (which translates to 50cc). A second plus for Grex is their amazing customer service. The tech support people went beyond expectations to help me with setting up the compressor and airbrush connection (even did a setup and photographed it for me complete with labels on all the many parts and options). The Grex can handle up to 80psi, but you probably wouldn't need that (most people seem to spray between 30 and 60psi). If you go with the Yosoo airbrush, I think a review would be a helpful addition to this forum.

This is the thread with the most information on spraying molds. It is long, but it does contain the accumulated wisdom of eGullet people who do this sort of thing. The short answer is that under $100 will get you an airbrush (Badger and Paasche are two). I don't know of any airbrush that has a 1mm nozzle. To get that, as you discovered, you need to get a spray gun. They can be had for much less money but do require more air, thus a compressor with more capacity. I have a compressor with 4.6 gallon capacity. It's fine for an airbrush but struggles with a spray gun. It's the capacity that matters most. I have a Grex airbrush with a 0.7mm nozzle, and I like it, but it's well above $100. You will want a gravity-feed airbrush (or spray gun). So, long story short, you will have to make compromises: If you go with an inexpensive mini-spray gun, you will need a larger compressor, and you will definitely use more cocoa butter than with an airbrush. Or buy a more expensive airbrush (such as the Grex) and perhaps get away with your current compressor, although a 0.7 nozzle profits from a better compressor (Grex has details on this).

Yes, just yesterday I spoke to someone about the "rush-hour" traffic in Staunton. Here we put the phrase in quotation marks. So what are you still doing up there in the chaos?

Now I envy you being so close to AUI.

I meant I see no difference in qualitytaste. When Ponthier offers both an unsweetened and a sweetened version, I always buy the unsweetened one on the theory that a lot of sugar from other sources is added to whatever I am making.

@JonathanI am a huge Felchlin fan but have been, of course, skeptical about sugar-free chocolate. What do they use as a sweetener, and can it be tasted? The only sweetener I have ever tried (not in chocolate) that is not bad is sucralose (Splenda). But there are so many chemical roles that sugar plays in a confection that I am curious as to whether it is a crucial ingredient that can, in fact, be replaced.

I respect @Bentley's views on just about everything, but I started out using a siphon (first a Badger, then a Paasche). To me, the difference between a siphon-feed and a gravity-feed airbrush has been like night and day. I don't think the cost difference between the two types is much if anything.

That's an interesting question. As you can imagine, I obsessed over what had gone wrong. The bonbon had layers of strawberry PdF and lemon ganache. The pieces I left in a storage room (at 60F) were the ones that had the mold (not sure how long they were there). Those I had frozen had no trace. So there were not many that were affected, and no one at the retail outlet where they are sold reported a problem. But I freaked out and contacted anyone who had some of them. Nobody, for what it's worth, had noticed anything wrong. One customer said simply, "Oh, we've already eaten those, no problem." But it was a turning point for me, as you can well imagine. I now refrigerate or freeze (in sealed bags to minimize condensation) everything as soon as possible. And the retail outlet has been taught to keep some of the boxes I deliver in a freezer, others for immediate sale in a refrigerated case. As far as I am concerned, freezing is the way to go. I have never noticed any defect in a frozen and proper thawed bonbon--and no mold!

Perhaps there isn't a minimum for pickups. I would be surprised if there is a charge for in-person pickup. I cannot say enough positive about Felchlin chocolates. Once I tasted Maracaibo Clasificado, I was hooked. And Créole is the best milk I have tasted (thanks again, @pastrygirlfor that suggestion).

I have found that Aw readings differ from one batch to another, always within the same general range but different numbers. Of course that is not difficult to understand since measuring is an inexact science (at least when done by me). I followed Wybauw's recipe without any changes. No, I have never sent a sample for testing elsewhere. I am content with a reading below 0.80 (with a couple of exceptions--both Wybauw recipes too delicious to give up in spite of readings above 0.80). If the reading for a new recipe is too far above 0.80, I look for ways to change it to add some solids or eliminate some water or else I abandon it entirely. I have had one mold episode and have never forgotten the sight! Of all things it was in a pâte de fruit (one assumes all that sugar will protect it), so now I add a bit of sorbic acid to all PdFs. As for the meter, it is the least expensive one that I know of (if $2200+ can ever be called inexpensive), and I don't expect it to provide extreme accuracy. It is a model that many food inspectors commonly carry around with them and so has to endure some abuse. It does come with test vials of salt water, and so far the reading has been exactly what the vial says it is supposed to be. My kitchen inspector is impressed that I have the meter, and that counts for something, I suppose.

That question was discussed in this thread. I order my chocolate from AUI, and they carry Ponthier purées. I have been very pleased and see no difference between those and Boiron (same conclusion was reached in the thread to which I referred). One disadvantage is that AUI has a minimum order of 12 cartons, but the major advantage is that shipping is free (if I meet their minimum--which is hard NOT to do when buying chocolate!). The overnight shipping from Florida (the closest warehouses that carry other brands) is horrible. AUI also has great customer service. Some of the flavors I ordered recently were out of stock in the Maryland warehouse and so were sent from Florida. All were in the process of melting or were totally melted because an employee "pushed the wrong button for method of shipment." They told me to throw away the entire first shipment and sent another one in a day. I must add that it nearly killed me to throw away that first shipment. I was reasonably sure the purées were fine to eat but decided not to take any chances with customers. Because of having to meet the minimum, I experimented with flavors I had never had before, such as guava. Unfortunately it was out of stock for the replacement shipment, but I decided to taste the melted guava and loved it--and am still alive.

Yes, I think the conclusion in past discussions has been to avoid the completely plain molds. Since bars are so popular especially of late, there are lots of interesting designs available. But if someone insists on a plain mold, @gap's suggestions sound promising.

I'm no expert in making solid chocolate bars, but I encounter the same demolding marks when I use magnetic molds for filled chocolates. I am inclined to conclude they are unavoidable. I am sure that is not the answer you want to hear, and I certainly will be interested in your future experiments.

@pastrygirl, any reason you prefer Roxy & Rich over Chef Rubber or Chocobutter (from Chocotransfersheets)?

Thanks, I'll look into those ideas. I ate one of the crème brûlée bonbons. Once the caramel bits and buttercream plus dark chocolate shell get into the mouth, it all melts together. To my relief (since these bonbons were requested for a wedding), there is some crunch and not too much gumminess. I can tell it isn't exactly what was intended, but I don't think most people will notice. I have some time to explore this before I do it again. Sometimes, I should add, it works beautifully. Those times must have been in January or February!

That is an excellent idea. Thank you.

Good idea. It would be a mess, but part of what we do for our art! Thanks.

I make a filling that aims to mimic the tastes and texture of crème brûlée. To get the crunch, I make a caramel (just sugar and water), let it harden, then grind it in a small food processor. I put a 1/2 tsp. or so in the bottom of each cavity, then cover it with melted chocolate (with a little coconut oil to keep it from hardening too much). On top of that I add a vanilla butter ganache (Greweling's eggnog but with no nutmeg or rum, just more vanilla). The issue is the caramel bits. In my notes on this recipe, I say sternly, "Don't attempt this on a humid day." But recently it seems, regardless of the humidity, the ground caramel sticks together and forms a more or less solid mass in the bottom of the cavities before I can seal it with the white chocolate. It makes for a less than ideal mouthfeel, more chewy than crunchy. Can anyone think of something that might keep the bits separate? Confectioner's sugar maybe? I tried it, and it made a mess. Am I simply limited to making this only in the dead of winter when the humidity is something like 30%?

@choc.frogs, I agree with pastrygirl's diagnosis. You can test to see whether this is what's happening by carefully scraping off some of the chocolate that appears on the sides (at the bottom edge) of the bonbons. When I have done this, the colored cocoa butter appears underneath. No one I have ever seen has a remedy for this irritating blemish. For me it occurs mostly with shallow molds, such as demispheres, quenelles, eggs, cocoa pods. What mold were you using?

I don't heat the molds. I tried it for a while but saw no difference. Apple caramel (particularly prone to leaking) leaks with or without heat. The theory of heating (to form a better bond) makes complete sense, but didn't follow through for me, and there is always the danger of easily overheating the edges.

😖 That's the closest emoji I could find for saying I'm jealous. Of course, you do realize how chocolate-related obsessions progress...you're quite satisfied with one Selmi now, but you'll have at least another for milk before the year ends. Think of the holiday production you could accomplish! 😜 The Selmi is definitely a worthy home for Felchlin couverture.

I should have qualified my statement by saying that I don't use my melter for overnight melting, not that it could not be done. I am a new user of the Mol d'Art and so far haven't found its temp controls very accurate (other users have said the same, maybe it's just the one I received). I probably wouldn't use the melter to melt (as un-obvious as that sounds) for one simple reason: As I have described my process previously, I use a Chocovision Delta to temper the chocolate and have found its thermostat to be very accurate. I haven't had a lot of success emptying the melter into the Delta bowl without making a mess. I use the Mol d'Art for dumping molds (as, obviously, the round Delta bowl makes that impossible, or at least messy beyond what even I can put up with). I can keep the melter at a temp of 95F or above, so that it contains untempered chocolate, ready to be added to the Delta whenever overtempering starts. With the Mol d'Art (so I gather from others), the user controls overtempering by turning up the thermostat for a while, then lowering it (or keeping some untempered chocolate ready from another source). With the procedure of adding untempered chocolate at 95F or above to the Delta bowl, it takes a very short period of time (a minute or two) for the temp to come back down to working temp, and at that point the chocolate is noticeably more fluid. A final reason why I don't use the melter for filling shells is that it would be difficult to ladle chocolate into the last molds when the chocolate level is low, whereas the Delta bowl provides a smaller, deeper area so the chocolate level remains higher longer. I try to use as little chocolate as possible for a batch so as to reduce melting time. We don't all have the luxury of having a Selmi at our disposal (ahem, @pastrygirl). I really think it all comes down to what each person finds most convenient and efficient.

This is exactly what I do. Although I love my dehydrator, its thermostat control is far from exact. I set the temp for a little above 100F. I put the chocolate into the dehydrator the night before I am using it, and it's melted by the next morning and ready to temper. When I don't have the overnight time, I have left it in for about 6 hours, and it has melted (or mostly so). If I'm in a real hurry, I put it in two bowls and that helps noticeably. Still better than waiting for it to melt from scratch (whether one is using a melter or a tempering machine).