Soleil

Third picture...

So I’ve done two batches after Tempering the cb. I heat to 45, cool bottle in ice bath while spinning and shaking until down to 30 then warm to 31-32 and hold. When I’ve shelled using Callebaut 811, I have it at around 32. How long should I let the mold sit when I’m shelling? I have been using about 30-45 secs. Is that too short a time to throughly blend with the colored cocoa butter? First picture I had very little white left in mold. Second picture the lines were painted or finger swiped. Both solid colors were sprayed and had no problems... any other thoughts? Could it be that I didn’t let the shells sit long enough to crystallize? The cocoa butter sat for 12-18 hrs before I shelled them...

Does any lone have a specific Rec for a moisture trap for air compressor? I have a Home Depot pancake compressor I use for spraying cocoa butter into molds. It’s oil less but I’m sure there is some moisture in the air. Of course the filters I saw at HD all read “it can cause cancer to touch this” etc... what do you guys use? Thanks!

I would like some info on best way to retemper colored cocoa butter. I had some issue with some roxy and rich cb not releasing from my mold. I tried twice to retemper without success. So if anyone is kind enough to spell out exactly what they do to make sure the cb is tempered, I’d be grateful. Normally, I just microwave the bottles in 10-30 sec intervals until it’s at 87F and agitate to well, then paint or finger swiped the molds. If I’m using my paint sprayer, I will push sometimes to 90-91 and haven’t had issue. Please note, my molds were clean and polished, at room temp, and the cb seemed to set in a few minutes. I tried another color in the same cavity that wouldn’t release the blue cb, and it released fine. So- having to ditch 14 trays has not made me paranoid that I’m playing with fire and not doing something correctly that has now burned me. Thanks in advance. Btw- I have also used Chef Rubber cb and am confused why they say just to reheat to 86 while the Roxy and Rich says to heat to 95. Any education and advice is appreciated. The picture is the blue that would Not release.

Beyond the food saver type system, any suggestions on how to seal a box of molded/filled chocolates to help extend self life? Any systems that aren’t too costly for a someone just starting out to make hobby to business jump?

Thanks. I’ve just been using air to blow excess cocoa butter out at end but wanted to make sure I wasn’t creating an potentially environment for something to grow or contaminate anything.

I have a Husky HVLP sprayer that I bought at Home depot on advice. Works well for my small volume needs. My question is how do you guys clean them? I was made aware that cocoA butter can go rancid, so any suggestions on what to use and technique to clean this sprayer? A friend suggested Steamine tablets. I’m still at the high end hobbyist- trying to become more than a hobby stage so I’m not familiar with these. Any advice? Thanks. Soleil