EZtemper - The Help You Need to Achieve Perfectly Tempered Chocolate FAST!

[felipetruji]

15 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

So just let me confirm - you took the chocolate out of the melanger, cooled to around 32º C (checked after stirring to make sure that you weren't just getting the surface temperature), added the silk when the chocolate was at 32º C, stirred a bit more, then molded? Then put into the 19º C room to cool?

 

 

That's pretty much the way I did, except that the temperature of the chocolate (after stirring) was more around 32,5C.

 

If it helps, it was pure cocoa mass, at around 100 microns (is meant for drinking chocolate so no need to refine further).

I think It's somewhat possible I have some type VI on my seed, as the cocoa butter I used is an old one. Will check

[Kerry Beal]

1 minute ago, felipetruji said:

That's pretty much the way I did, except that the temperature of the chocolate (after stirring) was more around 32,5C.

 

If it helps, it was pure cocoa mass, at around 100 microns (is meant for drinking chocolate so no need to refine further).

I think It's somewhat possible I have some type VI on my seed, as the cocoa butter I used is an old one. Will check

Oh yes - and one other question - what was the weight of cocoa mass and what was the weight of silk added?

[felipetruji]

4kg mass for 40g silk

[Kerry Beal]

I know I said one question - but of course I never stick to that! How thoroughly did you stir the silk before taking that 33.3 measurement.

 

[felipetruji]

8 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I know I said one question - but of course I never stick to that! How thoroughly did you stir the silk before taking that 33.3 measurement.

 

I do Always stir VERY thoroughly before measuring.

Also did a lot of stirring after adding the silk.

 

[Kerry Beal]

So next experiment - try the cooling and see how it goes.

 

[pastrygirl]

10 hours ago, felipetruji said:

I'm super happy as i finally got my eztemper.

The silk looks right at 33,7, however I'm having this problem when tempering.

Hope you can enlighten me.

 

I made some bars like that recently.  Looked like nice temper from the back but similar crystal patterns against the mold.   Unfortunately I can't tell you exactly what happened, I assumed it was heat, humidity, or both and re-did them.  But know you're not alone! 

 

You mentioned room temp being 25C or 77F, which is quite warm for chocolate.  A thick layer of chocolate in a warm mold in a warm room is going to crystallize more slowly.  Usually you want chocolate to cool quickly and lock all the cocoa butter molecules into place asap instead of hanging out getting into trouble.  I second Kerry's advice to refrigerate the filled molds 10-20 minutes or until they release then move to the cooler spot.  Maybe even chill the molds slightly before filling?

 

Is there any way to work in the cooler room instead?  I prefer around 65F, definitely not more than 75F  (18C, less than 24C). 

[felipetruji]

12 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

 

I made some bars like that recently.  Looked like nice temper from the back but similar crystal patterns against the mold.   Unfortunately I can't tell you exactly what happened, I assumed it was heat, humidity, or both and re-did them.  But know you're not alone! 

 

You mentioned room temp being 25C or 77F, which is quite warm for chocolate.  A thick layer of chocolate in a warm mold in a warm room is going to crystallize more slowly.  Usually you want chocolate to cool quickly and lock all the cocoa butter molecules into place asap instead of hanging out getting into trouble.  I second Kerry's advice to refrigerate the filled molds 10-20 minutes or until they release then move to the cooler spot.  Maybe even chill the molds slightly before filling?

 

Is there any way to work in the cooler room instead?  I prefer around 65F, definitely not more than 75F  (18C, less than 24C). 

Normally the lab room is at around 19-22C, I did some heavy roasting that day ending that hot!

Yesterday I tried another batch double checking temps and stirring for each step, still a fail.

Today I'm gonna try both melting my cocoa butter to 60C+ and letting cristalize normally before putting it back into the ez, and some fast cooling, my fridge is out of order at this time tho

[Kerry Beal]

9 hours ago, felipetruji said:

Normally the lab room is at around 19-22C, I did some heavy roasting that day ending that hot!

Yesterday I tried another batch double checking temps and stirring for each step, still a fail.

Today I'm gonna try both melting my cocoa butter to 60C+ and letting cristalize normally before putting it back into the ez, and some fast cooling, my fridge is out of order at this time tho

Is your cocoa butter lumpy? 

 

Might be hard to do the faster cooling with the fridge out of commission - do you have an air conditioner you can blow on them?

 

 

[felipetruji]

3 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Is your cocoa butter lumpy? 

 

Might be hard to do the faster cooling with the fridge out of commission - do you have an air conditioner you can blow on them?

 

 

The cocoa butter doesn't seem lumpy, however I melted it to 60+, let it fully cristalize and then set the EZTEMPER to 33,2 put the cb back into the machine and let it go overnight.

I know it's a bit lower than it should, but I'm hopping with your help we will be able to find the perfect temp tomorrow when I report back.

 

 

 

[felipetruji]

Report: after 12+ hours at 33,2C it seemed too liquid 😭 

Now I'm in the dark again!

[pastrygirl]

12 minutes ago, felipetruji said:

Report: after 12+ hours at 33,2C it seemed too liquid 😭 

Now I'm in the dark again!

 

 

That's weird, I think mine is at 33.8 right now and much thicker

Did you accidentally turn the fan switch off?  I do that every now and then and the CB melts like that.

[felipetruji]

16 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

That's weird, I think mine is at 33.8 right now and much thicker

Did you accidentally turn the fan switch off?  I do that every now and then and the CB melts like that.

Fan switch was on

[Kerry Beal]

40 minutes ago, felipetruji said:

Report: after 12+ hours at 33,2C it seemed too liquid 😭 

Now I'm in the dark again!

Likely didn’t spend enough time at room temperature for all of the crystals to re-develop.

[felipetruji]

4 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Likely didn’t spend enough time at room temperature for all of the crystals to re-develop.

That's what I thought, letting crystals to develop now

[felipetruji]

Kerry, what's the temp range where I should only have type V crystals for pure CB?

[Kerry Beal]

It will be somewhere between 33 and 34 - each CCB might have a different sweet spot. The texture seems to be the most important indictor.

[Merry Berry]

I have a few questions for y'all

 

For one, why did you take your cocoa butter to 60°C.  Anytime I make my silk, I use the CB pellets out of the pail, set the temp to 33.7 and let it go for 24 hours.  Nice creamy silk when it's finished.  Taking it to 60°C would completely remove the crystalline structure necessary to hold its and the chocolate's shape, no?  I am confused there.

 

Also, when I add my silk to my chocolate mass, I do it at around 35°C and the subsequent stirring of the CB into the chocolate cools it off right to the 32.2°C, in perfect temper.  Any reason you wait to add the silk at 31-32°C?

 

Lastly, how humid is it there?  I ask because I saw this a few times at my school.  It is often hot and humid here, and if I leave my chocolate on the counters to set up instead of a quick pop into the fridge, this type of bloom happens.  Even if your room is cool enough, the moisture in the air is still hanging around and can play havoc with the surfaces of your chocolate.  I use the cooler no matter the time of year since it is almost always humid here.  If your cooler is down, is there a way you can work around it?  Cooler with ice packs in it to put the molds in for a few minutes?  I know for me, I have to get that setup going as quick as possible.  Typically after that, I can leave it at (a reasonable) room temperature without it blooming.

 

What type of cocoa butter are you using?  

 

Hope some of this helps.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Old cocoa butter that has had form VI conversion can often be saved by heating to 60º - you can sometimes get rid of the tiny crunchy clumps of form VI crystals. 

 

I add the silk with the chocolate at 33.5 or less because I don't want to melt out the form V crystals. 

[Merry Berry]

5 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Old cocoa butter that has had form VI conversion can often be saved by heating to 60º - you can sometimes get rid of the tiny crunchy clumps of form VI crystals. 

 

I add the silk with the chocolate at 33.5 or less because I don't want to melt out the form V crystals. 

Gotcha

[Jim D.]

20 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

It will be somewhere between 33 and 34 - each CCB might have a different sweet spot. The texture seems to be the most important indicator.

 

I take your last sentence as my guiding light when it comes to cocoa butter, and so currently I have my EZ set at 34.3. Lower than that and the cocoa butter was too firm to mix in easily. In theory 34.3 is too high for Type V crystals, but when the silk doesn't mix in easily, it's incredibly frustrating to try to incorporate it (and in the case of colored CB, using a stick blender is not practical).

[Kerry Beal]

2 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

 

I take your last sentence as my guiding light when it comes to cocoa butter, and so currently I have my EZ set at 34.3. Lower than that and the cocoa butter was too firm to mix in easily. In theory 34.3 is too high for Type V crystals, but when the silk doesn't mix in easily, it's incredibly frustrating to try to incorporate it (and in the case of colored CB, using a stick blender is not practical).

Yup - @patris has some cocoa butter right now that requires something in the high 34's. Her last cocoa butter was mid 33's. So texture is really important to indicate the correct crystals.

[patris]

29 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Yup - @patris has some cocoa butter right now that requires something in the high 34's. Her last cocoa butter was mid 33's. So texture is really important to indicate the correct crystals.

 

Indeed. I was concerned that it wouldn’t work because of the temperature, but it tempered flawlessly every time.

[Bentley]

When I have cocoa butter that doesn't give me nice silk, I melt it completely, then temper it using other silk I have on hand (or tabling it if I don't have any silk).  I let the tempered cocoa butter completely set over night, then put it in the EZ temper.  This has always worked for me. 

[felipetruji]

Update, things are going better but I'm still not at the right spot just yet.

Got my fridge fixed and that helped a lot (thank Kelly), however today I got this result when tempering 1kg block of 70% dark chocolate.

Got mixed results from the pure cocoa liquor I was tempering last time, some good ones, some not so good and a crack in the back.

Currently working with my silk at 33,6C