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

[gfron1]

I finally relented to the obvious and put a turtle filling in the green dome, my house made Trappist beer is in the front red one, the back red has apple crisp, and the blue is hazelnut crunch.

[Kerry Beal]

Yeah - that finish totally says turtle!

[Tri2Cook]

Yeah - that finish totally says turtle!

Most definitely. I was actually wondering how he did it but it occurred to me that it almost definitely involved skills that I don't possess... so I didn't bother asking.

[Kerry Beal]

I'd like to know too!

[gfron1]

 I've been playing a lot with "screening" my cocoa butter. I have a Malaysian screen scoop that I sprayed yellow, then a full spray of the green. The screen creates negative effect.

[Kerry Beal]

Ok - need picture of 'malaysian screen scoop'.

[gfron1]

I bought this in LA about a decade ago at a Malaysian market. They told me it was for deep frying little savory doughs. Depending on the effect I might spray through the side, like I did here, or straight down.

Edited October 10, 2015 by gfron1 (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I see those every so often.

[Gups]

I'm enjoying reading about others' experience with the EZTemper as I'm interested in getting one. However, as I'm purely a hobbyist its a little hard to justify! It does look like a dream for small batch work 

[Kerry Beal]

Gups - welcome to eG. Love to hear a little more about what you are up to as a hobbyist. Have you seen the threads Confections, what did we make? and Your daily sweets - what are you making and baking?

 

 

 

  

[Tri2Cook]

I'm enjoying reading about others' experience with the EZTemper as I'm interested in getting one. However, as I'm purely a hobbyist its a little hard to justify! It does look like a dream for small batch work 

That's kinda where I'm at with it. It would be useful for work but not in a capacity that would justify the expense so I can't wrangle one on their dime. To buy one for myself, I'm going to have to greatly increase the private stuff I do so that I can convince myself I need it as opposed to just want it. I'm not really at a point where I can do that right now so I'm just having fun watching what others are doing with it.

[Kerry Beal]

Finally got around to making a YouTube video on the cocoa butter extraction - not going to win any Oscars! So far my experiments with the Piteba press have been an abject failure - but I'm hoping when I get some truly raw beans that I might have some success.  

 

Here is the video

 

[Deryn]

Thanks, Kerry. Very interesting. What do you do with the mass left in the pot ... or is that garbage after the cocoa butter is removed?

[Kerry Beal]

Dry it and grind it into cocoa powder.

[keychris]

That was a really interesting video, Kerry! Thanks for posting it. Given that in the cocoa butter colours thread we say that cocoa butter can absorb moisture from the air, does the water in the mix not end up in the cocoa butter you're taking off? Or is it all absorbed by the cocoa mass?

[Kerry Beal]

The water all seems to stay with the cocoa mass - I used the cocoa butter I made to temper chocolate today - worked perfectly. 

[YetiChocolates]

So played with the EZ temper for the first time tonight, wanted to check and make sure my transfer sheets survived the summer!  Like Ruth I was a bit nervous when I added the silk, but it set right up...really fast! So awesome! Even though I watched Kerry for 3 days demoing this beast I needed to play with it myself to truly see the magic.  So freakin' cool!

 

[RobertM]

I just did a small "class" here at the community center and showed off the amazing EZTemper.  They were amazed at how wonderful, and easy, it is to temper with the EZTemper.  Especially when we demoed other methods of tempering....

Next class 12/10....

[Kerry Beal]

On Sunday I did demos at the Luxury Chocolate Show again. Last year I had a prototype EZtemper tucked in the closet where no one could see it - so I tempered all the chocolate before I started when no one was looking. 

 

This year I had all the chocolate in my melters untempered - and I quickly tempered it a la minute as I went along. It was a real treat to do it this way as I didn't have the melters full of thickening chocolate to continually fuss over.  I didn't even bother to weigh the chocolate or the seed, just dumped some into a bowl and added a little glob of the silk - and it worked perfectly. 

[MelissaH]

Kerry, you're making it sound like everyone who occasionally decides to do a little chocolate work should have one sitting around, plugged into an out-of-the-way nook in the kitchen, ready to go at the drop of a hat. Wouldnn't that be fun, and convenient too?

[Tri2Cook]

Kerry, you're making it sound like everyone who occasionally decides to do a little chocolate work should have one sitting around, plugged into an out-of-the-way nook in the kitchen, ready to go at the drop of a hat. Wouldnn't that be fun, and convenient too?

I'm not sure she's suggesting everyone who occasionally decides to do a little chocolate work should have one. Actually, I haven't heard her suggest that anyone should have one. She's pretty much just answered questions and related her experiences. But that aside, I think this is probably geared more towards those doing at least a fairly consistent amount of chocolate work. To have a $1000 machine sitting there waiting for the once or twice a year "chocolates for a holiday" person to use it probably isn't what's being suggested. Though, if that person can afford to have it for that rare use, it would probably still be pretty nice. I do more than occasional work but probably not enough (at this point) to warrant the expense... but that won't stop me from getting one when I can work it into the budget.

[Gwbyls]

YetiChocolates, I have been using it a lot more now that I am home! Feeling more comfortable with it and I too LOVE how fast I can temper! I have decided to give up the "pay my dues" mantra and now say "hell, yes!"

[keychris]

I too LOVE how fast I can temper!

 

How long does it take to cool couverture from 45C to 32C to add the silk?

[Kerry Beal]

I've found that it isn't really necessary to heat as high as 45C - just above 35C or so to melt out any crystals - then it's the time to cool to 33.5C before seeding. Tests I did with a temper meter in Utah showed the same result when I heated badly out of temper chocolate to 45 and cooled and just to 35.  

[gfron1]

This morning I had the opportunity to test what I really needed to test with the EZTemper - would it work on slightly off temper chocolate. I took 4000g of grainy, slightly bloomed 75% and melted overnight to 36º. I actually went too high and in the morning it was at 38º. I stirred, dropped the dial a bit and came back later in the afternoon. It was 35º. Let it go overnight because I was out of time. This morning I added my 40g of the butter, shelled and chilled for 15. They popped right out perfectly shiny. That is what I need this machine for! I'm too distracted to not have temper issues and I hate doing the whole process from the beginning if I don't need to. So this was great news.

Edited November 25, 2015 by gfron1 (log)