Douglas K

Thanks @GRiker. I should have been more clear. I do exactly what you do with micro planing, and dumping it all in at once. My first batches everything was moving so fast for me that I just didn’t wait long enough for it to melt completely and do its job. I re-tempered that batch with the more traditional lower and raise temperature method, which taught me some patience. I did completely melt the cocoa butter this time and let it solidify. When I let this batch which was over melted, and yet still milky, solidify, it made a nice uniform solid in the jar. Lowering the temperature .4 degrees F the second time around made a perfect batch.

Funny that this became a thing. 8 years ago I went with my wife to Europe, and we spent a week in Amsterdam so she could learn where my family came from. One day we stopped in a bar/cafe and my wife wanted hot chocolate, and they came out with a hot cup of milk with a solid chocolate on a stick to stir in it. It was great, so I made hot chocolate on a stick for Christmas gifts that year for family, and it was amazingly well received. Fast forward to now, and it’s all about bombs. Go figure. The neat thing with the stick is you made it as strong as you wanted.

So, I don’t have an EZ Temper, but this seemed to be the best place to ask this since it’s the same process. I’m making silk in a sous vide bath. An EZ Temper is out of the question right now for me since I’m not a professional, and will not ever be one. If I were, it would definitely be a high priority item since I like the method of tempering, and the EZ temper way is such an easy way to do it with instant results. My failures with tempering has been not being patient with my stirring in of the grated solid “silk”. I’ll never have a chocolate business, so my emphasis is buying equipment to do my tree to bar business at home in Puerto Rico. So I hope you understand I am focusing on roasting and fermentation for now. Perhaps it will be in my distant future. My question is regarding temperatures. My latest batch of “silk”. Was with some natural cocoa butter, and at 93 after 24 hours it wasn’t totally melted, but was definitely not mayonnaise. It was definitely translucent, but also very liquid. I let it solidify in the jar, and it made a nice solid “cake” for better word, which seemed to me to be a good type 5 structure. I’ve put it back into the water bath now at a lower temperature, but I was wondering if something that was as translucent as it was might have solidified to the mayonnaise thickness at a lower temperature without letting it crystallize and then melting it again. I totally understand why the EZ temper is so great, but just asking how someone with one would handle this.

What are people using for a wrap for bars. I’m new to this, and the one business I know that does bean to bar wraps in plastic sleeves, which I don’t want to do. I see foil wraps, and various paper lined wraps. I’m looking at Alufoil foil on 15# tissue. Is this a normal inner wrap for bars?

This weekend I made my largest batch of chocolate so far. 2500 grams. A mix of nibs I had left over from other batches, but the predominant is from Fiji. A 56% milk chocolate which I tweaked my previous recipe on to make it a bit darker. The idea is to use it for shells for bonbons, but man it tastes pretty good on it’s own. I decided to practice decorating the bars for the first time. I’ve not done this before, so I piped some white chocolate I made last weekend into a couple of the molds, and this is the result. Definitely a learning experience because the other mold didn’t turn out so well. I think mainly because I jumped the gun unmolding it. Next step, using color and the airbrush.

Those are all interesting answers. I realize it was a somewhat generic question, but my specific examples kind of shocked me. @teonzo I worked in California winemaking (winemaking and beer brewing were my formal education), and I am certainly aware of differing tastes between Europe and the USA 😉. A major part of winemaking is having a good idea of what a wine is going to do so you can get it where you want at bottling, so I was curious how chocolatiers looked it. So many different permutations to be aware of! @Jim D. My lavender flowers were freshly purchased from a local and reliable spice shop: Savory Spice. They have spread to other locations in the country as well as providing online shopping. I don’t know what their source is, but it is indeed strong. With the difference in taste between Europeans and Americans, do you see that in the recipe approach between Greweling and Wybauw? I just got Wybauw’s “Fine Chocolates: Gold”, but haven’t had the chance to make anything from it yet. Was hoping to today, but life got in the way, and only got to finish up my batch of white chocolate. @Kerry Beal I like your approach. Now I just need to get experience and figure that out! We’re ( or I am) making bonbons and bars for Christmas gifts this year for friends and family, and I’ll have to do it over a period of weeks. It will be important for me to get the order of operations right. My salted caramel seems to be pretty steady so that can be early. It will be a big learning experience for sure! Thanks for all your insight.

That’s amazing! Is the frame edible too???

I am very new to the world of chocolate. I do have goals, but I honestly don’t want to have a business. I’m old, and ready to retire, so I don’t want any of that stress. Mainly I’m about making chocolate from beans, but I’ve started making bonbons as an aside to use what I make. So here’s something interesting I’ve found. One of my early efforts was a lavender ganache made from Greweling’s recipe in his book. When I made it, the ganache punched me in the mouth with the lavender flavor. I got worried at the strength and lack of sweetness, and added a small layer of a soft caramel to the filling. A few days later, the lavender mellowed out and was quite nice. The caramel was a nice addition, but totally not necessary. I had a similar experience with a whisky ganache. We also recently bought some bonbons from a bean to bar place not far from us, and some of them it was a head scratch to taste what was supposedly in there. How does one deal with that? I can’t imagine being a commercial business and putting out a product that doesn’t taste at all of what is says, but also I can’t imagine putting out something that tasted like the lavender ganache I made which needed a week to mellow out. Just curious...

So finally something I know a little bit about. I work in instrumentation and controls in a large food processing plant, well more in the information side of things now, but that’s my history. Yes, it’s definitely a good idea to drain your compressor on a regular basis. So one, yes it can cause rust in the tank and weaken it. If it gets weak enough, it will explode, though more likely it will tear and leak horribly, but explode is a good way to scare you into maintenance. And two, even if you have a filter and a separator (I’m sure no one really has a true drier here, but it’s possible) then there’s the possibility of carrying water over into your spray. Again, it’s probably a low possibility, but those of you living in humid climates that don’t drain their compressors, it’s more likely to happen. The upshot is really that it’s a job that takes less than a minute to do, and the upside benefits far outweigh the cost in time. How often you do it really depends on the load on your compressor, but it’s such a simple, short duration job, why not do it every day?You take care of your equipment so it lasts longer. It’s safer to run. And, you don’t run the risk of funky stuff happening to your spray because of water. Think of all the things that people would consider silly that you do to ensure that your product comes out looking as pretty as possible, why not do some of the little things for the equipment the helps you get there?

I am thinking I found the culprit, somewhat embarrassingly enough. When cleaning it the other day, I pulled off the grinding wheels, and was trying to clean inside the shaft area when I moved one of the bushings out. I didn’t realize they would come out so easily. Normally when I work with something pressed in like that it’s much tighter. Anyhow, I took them all out, and sure enough there was still some chocolate as well as water from washing. I will definitely be adding that step to my cleaning regimen. I’m somewhat obsessive with cleaning have worked in the wine and beer industries, and being a home brewer so it really isn’t much of a chore for me.

My recipe was 27% nibs, 18% cocoa butter, 18% whole dry milk powder, and 26% sugar. By my calculations that between 35 and 36% fat, but it’s possible the nibs were lower in fat and could be the cause of the issue. Nothing fell apart, and no chunks of anything in the chocolate, but I was definitely worried.

@jedovaty I’ve definitely given in to the mess. It’s funny where I will find a smear of chocolate, but as you say it cleans up easily with water. @Jim D. and @Kerry Beal I appreciate the tips. I have used parchment paper for catching drips when resting the molds, but never thought of just dumping the chocolate onto it. I never saw myself really getting into making confections a lot, but rather found it a good way to use chocolate as I learn to make it. I like to cook so it combines my interests, and I’m really finding it a lot of fun, and so I see myself doing it a lot more. As for bowls, I have a large 2 liter measuring cup from Pyrex Like this. I used to use it a lot for brewing when I did that more, and I find it handy for when I’m making chocolate. I like the mass of it for temperature inertia when tempering much more than my stainless steel bowls, and the handle is handy. I am getting ideas for how to do things, and I work in process control, so I’m fairly handy with those kinds of things. I see some fun challenges ahead before I invest in equipment. I am definitely learning from the folks here, and I definitely appreciate how helpful everyone is here, so thank you!

@Kerry Beal It was polycarbonate. I did not have a good scraper yet then, but I do now! Amazing how much easier it is with a proper tool. This was only my second batch, so I’m learning as I go along. There’s so many things to keep track of, and I tend to rush things when I haven’t done them before. Plus figuring out how to hold things etc. while trying to get the chocolate mostly back in the bowl... it’s quite a choreography. The last batch was much better.

I made my fifth ever batch of chocolate over the weekend, a 45% milk chocolate. I did the usual warming of everything, and the batch started off without a hitch. After running 24 hours I got ready to cool the chocolate to temper, and the stone seemed awfully hot. Sure enough the chocolate was 147 degrees F. Normally it comes out at around 120. The chocolate seemed kind of thick, but this is my first batch as low as 45%, so not sure if that’s normal. The chocolate tempered just fine, and tastes fine for have gotten so hot. I’m wondering if I got a minuscule amount of water in the batch? I’m not sure how that would have happened, though thinking of everything ad nauseum I can think of possibilities. The ingredients themselves are all ones I’ve used before without issue, though first time with the roasted nibs, but they came from the same reliable source as all my other nibs. Just curious if anyone else has seen this happen.

Thank you Kerry, you’re one of my heroes here so much appreciated. I think he’s there to take care of our fruit flies as well. We’re having our first snow as I type this (101 F in Denver on Saturday and today is Tuesday) so much less to worry about them now. They never seem to hang out in the winter, the fruit flies that is, not sure where spiders go.

I am new to chocolate, but have been a home cook all my life. I have been reading here for awhile as I go on my chocolate journey. I learn a lot from the things I read here, but I really don’t have a lot to contribute since I am such a novice, especially with chocolate, so I thought I’d share something light with the community to hopefully give you something fun to take your mind off of some of our intensity these days. Sunday I made my second batch ever of bonbons, and they’re made with my own chocolate, a lavender ganache filling with a little taste of salted caramel. I saw this little guy on top of one of my leaf bonbons offering to protect it from any renegade bugs as they sat on the counter. I love these little jumping spiders, and they’re welcome in my house any time. Cute little sucker who hung out for quite awhile. Anyhow, something lighter for your day.