Chocolate Tempering: Tips and Troubleshooting

[pastrygirl]

Hi and welcome Phil!  Yes those back-to-back-to-back PNW atmospheric rivers have been super gross.

 

I agree with Jim that 'repeatedly working' the stamp may not be helping.  Cocoa butter doesn't like to be messed with too much once its in the mold.

 

I also think you may be working too cold, and chilling too often.  Unless it's summer and mid 70's in my kitchen, I only chill my bonbons after they've been filled to firm up the ganache before capping, and after capping for a few hours.  75F is not too warm for fillings, mine are routinely upper 80's.  

 

If you're airbrushing, the CB can be low 90's, as the cold air flow and agitation of being smacked against the cooler mold will temper it.  Full disclosure, I don't take the temp of or formally temper my CB, I just microwave until melted, stick it in the fridge if I went overboard, shake it up, and use it at 'warm but not hot' when touching the bottle.  I use Roxy & Rich pre-mixed colors.

 

[Phil Bard]

47 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

Hi and welcome Phil!  Yes those back-to-back-to-back PNW atmospheric rivers have been super gross.

 

I agree with Jim that 'repeatedly working' the stamp may not be helping.  Cocoa butter doesn't like to be messed with too much once its in the mold.

 

I also think you may be working too cold, and chilling too often.  Unless it's summer and mid 70's in my kitchen, I only chill my bonbons after they've been filled to firm up the ganache before capping, and after capping for a few hours.  75F is not too warm for fillings, mine are routinely upper 80's.  

 

If you're airbrushing, the CB can be low 90's, as the cold air flow and agitation of being smacked against the cooler mold will temper it.  Full disclosure, I don't take the temp of or formally temper my CB, I just microwave until melted, stick it in the fridge if I went overboard, shake it up, and use it at 'warm but not hot' when touching the bottle.  I use Roxy & Rich pre-mixed colors.

 

Hi Pastrygirl,

Thanks for the info, yes, I realized just last night that I was probably cooling too much. I saw a mention that it might be best to do the shelling soon after coloring the cavities so the chocolate and the butter both pull away from the mold together. I ran another batch this morning (with the compressor I got for Xmas, yay) and followed that procedure. I rolled a bunch of the shells and every one is perfect, below is one. I'm still very puzzled why in the past some of the shells that I've inspected before filling and capping end up sticking on de-molding, any opinion on that? Compression from the spatula while pushing the chocolate out when applying acetate?

 

Also, what are you chilling with, a standard fridge or a humidity controlled unit?

 

We are wet, but fortunately not torrentially like SoCal. I used to live down there and I'm glad I left...

 

Cheers,

Phil

[pastrygirl]

18 minutes ago, Phil Bard said:

I'm still very puzzled why in the past some of the shells that I've inspected before filling and capping end up sticking on de-molding, any opinion on that?

 

gremlins?

 

conversely, sometimes those last few that seem really stuck come out perfectly 🤷‍♀️

[Altay.Oro]

Hi ... I use Callebaut 811 with 10% cocoa butter added as my coating chocolate ... no tempering issue, but when I hand enrobed pieces with very sharp edges, the chocolate at the edges crack after setting. How can I fix this?

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, Altay.Oro said:

Hi ... I use Callebaut 811 with 10% cocoa butter added as my coating chocolate ... no tempering issue, but when I hand enrobed pieces with very sharp edges, the chocolate at the edges crack after setting. How can I fix this?

What is the temperature of your centers when you dip and also the temperature of the tempered chocolate you are enrobing with? Are they cracking only along the top edges? 

[Altay.Oro]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

What is the temperature of your centers when you dip and also the temperature of the tempered chocolate you are enrobing with? Are they cracking only along the top edges? 

 

My centers are at around 22 C, room temperature ... and the temperature of tempered chocolate is around 29-30 C. I don't refrigerate at all after coating.

Yes, chocolate is cracking only along the top edges.

 

I found the below photo on the internet. The edges of my centers are as sharp as seen in the photo below.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Altay.Oro (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Hmmmm - I wonder if a top and bottom foot might help?

[Jim D.]

8 hours ago, Altay.Oro said:

 

My centers are at around 22 C, room temperature ... and the temperature of tempered chocolate is around 29-30 C. I don't refrigerate at all after coating.

Yes, chocolate is cracking only along the top edges.

 

I found the below photo on the internet. The edges of my centers are as sharp as seen in the photo below.

 

 

Can you provide a photo?  I can't visualize where the crack forms and how pronounced it is.  Initial suggestions would include:  (1) The added 10% cocoa butter may be thinning out the chocolate too much, so that it flows off the filling and leaves what appears as a crack.  (2) What technique do you use when dipping?  Do you make sure that all six sides get covered adequately?  I bring this up because my technique is to create a foot/chablon for the entire slab (I don't ordinarily add one on top).  That means the bottom of each piece will have an adequate covering.  But it is crucial to have the top covered as well in the dipping process.