DIY Chocolate Temperer

[peterm2]

Re-reading the recent topic on chocolate temperers here got me wondering about making my own. The temperature control part shouldn't be too bad - either a Ranco device or an external sous vide controller type thing (the fancier ones I could program to run warming/cooling cycles) would seem to do the trick. Both would require a probe to be stuck in the chocolate. I figured I could heat it either by hot plate or light bulbs and cool it just with a fan and the heat shut off. Where I was hitting a wall, however, was what to use for a holding apparatus. Ideally it will be something with a stirrer, so I was thinking of a food processor type thing, but all the cheap ones have the two beaters for mixing, which wouldn't scrape the walls. I also thought of perhaps just using my Kitchenaid and cutting some of the supports out of one of the beaters/scrapers so my probe could sit in there, and then surrounding the bowl with a couple light bulbs. But does anyone else have other great ideas? Something where there's a flat-bottomed bowl that I could add a heat source to? It may be a futile project, but I thought it might be a nice thought experiment, as well as a way to potentially save several hundred dollars.

Thanks!

[emannths]

Kitchenaid and third parties now make scraping beaters for the Kitchenaid mixers. You could wrap the mixing bowl with a heating tape. Cooling I suppose could be with a fan, or if you needed faster cooling, you could rig an aquarium pump to spray ice water onto the outside of the bowl, either of which could be controlled using your temp controller.

There's also a Kitchenaid water jacket that you could use and control the temp of the water bath instead of the chocolate. It would be slower, but it would probably avoid overshoot issues. You might have to calibrate temperature offsets when you're getting started.

[Edward J]

The chocovision sells for around $400, and it's ready to work.

You can putz and futz around. Lightbulbs and compter fans, eletric heating blankets, electric seed germinating mats, etc etc. It's the thermostat that must be accurate within a half a degree, and no household appliance will have this, I'm not familiar with sous-vide, but the thermostats there should be that accurate.

A temperer is a device that brings the temperature up to around 45 c, then down to 28 or 29 C, and then back up to 32 C and constantly agitates it. Do not confuse this with a melter.

If you study chocolate, you will find that like ketchup and cement, it is thixotropic , which basically means a liquid that doesn't like to move and is best mixed with shearing action. Do not use beaters or whisks , opr you will incorportate air, which results in bubbles. If you look at professional chocolate melters and temperers, you will find a large thin plastic disc that sits vertically in the tub of chocolate and spins at very low rpms, at the top of this is a comb that scrapes off the chocolate from the face of the wheel and channels it into a spout, where it flows back into the tub. The motor that powers this disc is under some serious load--torque really, and should not be a universal motor, but an induction one, and should have a gear box, not a rheostat. Perhaps a bbq spit motor might work.

In the end, you will find that a purchased tempere is cheaper, but not as fun as making one yourself.

[peterm2]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I'll probably end up going the pre-made route, but you're right that it's more fun to make your own!