Temperatures for cocoa butter?

[liderbug]

Just getting started making bon bons - choc covered cherries, ganache filled etc.  I want to do coco butter art - what is the best temperature for: finger wiping, toothbrush splattering, air guning?

thanks

Edited November 19, 2019 by Smithy
Adjusted title for clarity (log)

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, liderbug said:

Just getting started making bon bons - choc covered cherries, ganache filled etc.  I want to do coco butter art - what is the best temperature for: finger wiping, toothbrush splattering, air guning?

thanks

 

I usually start with 35º C - then pour a little out to cool a bit for finger wiping and splattering. I often use at 35 for the air brush. 

[Nickos]

I Made 10.000s of bonbons.

 

heat to around 40 cool down(keep stirring) to 28,5 and heat to 30c and your good to go.

[Jim D.]

9 hours ago, liderbug said:

Just getting started making bon bons - choc covered cherries, ganache filled etc.  I want to do coco butter art - what is the best temperature for: finger wiping, toothbrush splattering, air guning?

thanks

 

In the responses you have received so far you can see how widely opinions differ on your question--35C, 30C. Some people think cocoa butter gets tempered as it is airbrushed; others insist it must be in temper first. I go for 30C (86F) and test it for temper before using it. That said, however, it is very difficult to keep cocoa butter in the temper range during use. It seems to be forgiving in regard to temperature, but you will know when it has stopped being forgiving when it sticks to your mold. Always make a few extra bonbons to allow for cocoa butter's fickle side.

[Nickos]

15 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I usually start with 35º C - then pour a little out to cool a bit for finger wiping and splattering. I often use at 35 for the air brush. 

Kerry... 35 is just not in temper so that is absolutely not the right temperature.

 

its exactly the same temp as how you temper the Chocolate. 

[Kerry Beal]

3 hours ago, Nickos said:

Kerry... 35 is just not in temper so that is absolutely not the right temperature.

 

its exactly the same temp as how you temper the Chocolate. 

I'm cooling it for finger wiping and splattering as I mentioned which brings it down to the lower temped temperatures - but find that 35 out of the airbrush works just fine and doesn't clog the airbrush the way that cooler does. 

[Kerry Beal]

Pretty sure there is a lot of discussion here around tempering for cocoa butter colours - but I must confess I've gone back to doing it the way I always did and still seem to have success.

[Tri2Cook]

3 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I've gone back to doing it the way I always did and still seem to have success.

I do it the way you always did and still seem to have success as well. Until I cease to have success doing it that way, I will continue to forego the extra steps and more frequent clogged airbrushes I was getting at lower temps.

[keychris]

I just melt mine to 45C, cool it to around 31C and spray. If I'm not spraying it, I'll stir it as it cools to generate those crystals that would be formed through the spray gun.

[Vojta]

Dear people, could I ask some question please?

 

a) How can you apply cocoa butter at 30 °C?

 

I used oil-soluable coloring with cocoa butter, tempered it to 27, then heated to 30 as advised. When I applied a stroke with a brush it was too liquidy. Instantly sliding off the side making a drop at the bottom of my mould. I cooled it down to 27 and faced the same problem. I managed to "properly" paint at about 25 °C of cocoa butter and/ or when I put my mould into 7 °C fridge for 60-120 seconds... 

Room temperature was below 25 °C. What did I do wrong please?

 

b) My homemade black cocoa butter was matt, not shiny. Is it because of the color I used or because wrong tempering? Or it can not be said? (differnt batch from c))

 

c) Some of my bonbons were matt not shiny and it took ages (2 hours +) for my cocoa butter to set and when it set it looked like this: (pictures exceed 1 Mb limit) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b1RDubD7FGPPG7opHIwmsMgNz5rn1YkJ

I tempered all the colors in the picture. The first melting was done in a sauce pan over the lowest fire. The cocoa butter reached 70 or more °C. But there was no smell, burning, bubbling or anything. Did I destroyed the cocoa butter that way?

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, Vojta said:

 

c) Some of my bonbons were matt not shiny and it took ages (2 hours +) for my cocoa butter to set and when it set it looked like this:

Its not tempered. Tempering isn’t temperature alone, it’s creating seed crystals in the cocoa butter so it will crystallize all at once when applied to the mold. Chocolate or cocoa butter should set within 2 minutes when tempered, not 2 hours. 

[Vojta]

3 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

Its not tempered. Tempering isn’t temperature alone, it’s creating seed crystals in the cocoa butter so it will crystallize all at once when applied to the mold. Chocolate or cocoa butter should set within 2 minutes when tempered, not 2 hours. 

Thank you for your reply.

 

Well I tried tempering twice 2nd time the next day), twice this ugly result. At the same time I was tempering other batches the same way and they came up beautifuly. I think it was the overheating on the other hand I can not understan why exceeding 70 °C matters.

[keychris]

Just try again, with a new batch that hasn't been heated over 70C. The key, as @pastrygirl said above, is to generate crystals in your cocoa butter. These crystals are completely melted at 45C, so why bother going higher? You generate the crystals by cooling the cocoa butter *with movement*. So you either stir it as it cools or provide some other movement e.g. going through a spray gun.

 

This stuff takes practice as well, don't lose enthusiasm if it doesn't work out immediately

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, Vojta said:

Thank you for your reply.

 

Well I tried tempering twice 2nd time the next day), twice this ugly result. At the same time I was tempering other batches the same way and they came up beautifuly. I think it was the overheating on the other hand I can not understan why exceeding 70 °C matters.

Would you be able to post a picture of the black powder that you use to make the color cocoa butter?

[Vojta]

On 12/12/2019 at 9:58 PM, Kerry Beal said:

Would you be able to post a picture of the black powder that you use to make the color cocoa butter?

 Tried again with the exact same cocoa butter coloured black, this time super shiny. Really difficult to remove from the mould, but the reflection was from another world :3 So it works!

 

Still dont know how to paint with cocoa butter. Its too liquid, sliding off sides and translucent. Even with 3-4 coatings I can not get perfectly uniform colour, leaving the bonbon with stains or strokes. I dont have an airbrush, is it the only way?  

Thickening my cocoa buter with white chocolate (1/3 of the cocoa butter mass) solves the problem. But I lose the transparency I sometimes want. And maybe I am sacrificing some shine.

 

Is it bcs of 22-25 °C room temp? The proper one is 20 °C, those 2 degrees doesnt seem so much. Or is there mistake somewhere else?

[@baking.in]

On 12/16/2019 at 10:51 PM, Vojta said:

 Tried again with the exact same cocoa butter coloured black, this time super shiny. Really difficult to remove from the mould, but the reflection was from another world :3 So it works!

 

Still dont know how to paint with cocoa butter. Its too liquid, sliding off sides and translucent. Even with 3-4 coatings I can not get perfectly uniform colour, leaving the bonbon with stains or strokes. I dont have an airbrush, is it the only way?  

Thickening my cocoa buter with white chocolate (1/3 of the cocoa butter mass) solves the problem. But I lose the transparency I sometimes want. And maybe I am sacrificing some shine.

 

Is it bcs of 22-25 °C room temp? The proper one is 20 °C, those 2 degrees doesnt seem so much. Or is there mistake somewhere else?

 

Room temperature is crucial. You need 17-20Cº in the room so cocoa butter sets almost inmediately.