Trouble with Shelling Molds

[Bentley]

Had something strange happen today that hasn't happened to me before.  I sprayed my molds with colored cocoa butter, then filled the cavities with white chocolate.  Tap to remove air bubbles, then invert to let the chocolate run out.  The problem was that ALL of the chocolate ran out.  Barely any stuck to the mold to create the shell.  Most of the cavities had a little chocolate in the bottom and bare sides, like the chocolate just slid right off the molds.  I have no idea why this might have happened.  I have been using this same kind of chocolate for a long time.  It had a good temper.  Has anyone run into something like this before?

[keychris]

was the cocoa butter completely set?

[Bentley]

6 hours ago, keychris said:

was the cocoa butter completely set?

Appeared to be so.  Totally matte.  

[teonzo]

Only possible explanation that comes to mind is that there was a thin film of oil / liquid fat on the cavities surface before spraying the cocoa butter. This could act as a lubricant, preventing the cocoa butter and chocolate to stick to the mould, so when the mould is inverted almost all chocolate falls out.

Pretty difficult to know if this is really what happened, and if so how it happened.

Did you use the spray gun for some other use before this batch? Is there any possible risk that the moulds were stored in a place where some oil was in the air (like in the nearbies of a deep frier)?

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Bentley]

 I can't think of any explanation either.  There was no oil or other fat in the molds.  They are kept well away from any possible contaminants like that.  I also cleaned and polished them with alcohol immediately prior to use.  I'm going to try again next weekend and see what happens.  

The only thing that I could think was different this time vs all the other times I've shelled is that I may have burnt the colored cocoa butter as I overheated it when I melted it, taking it to 70*C.  I don't know if that could cause this issue, but I'm going to try next week using the same CCB and new CCB to see if it makes a difference.

[Tiffany B]

Maybe the white chocolate was out of temper or a little too hot that may it very fluid? Same thing happened to me with milk chocolate the other day and that was the reason 

[Kerry Beal]

I've certainly found when I have freshly tempered chocolate at a higher temperature - it has a tendency to run out of the molds - but not sliding off the mold entirely! Totally weird.

[pastrygirl]

What temp were your room and molds?  How do you test your temper?  I'd guess everything was on the warm side ... did the color come off into the white chocolate when you dumped it?