Chocolate Tempering: Tips and Troubleshooting

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

The Hilliard cabinets are essentially a box with doors, racks and an air conditioner in it. It's got lots of air circulation. 

 

I'm not sure how this differs from the Irinox (or the Everlasting), though the Irinox seems much more advanced, with all sorts of controls. Do you know if the Hilliard has a specific humidity control? Their website doesn't give a lot of details. It seems odd to me that a cabinet specifically designed for chocolates would not go lower than 58F/14C.

 

What did you think of my theory that if the room holding the (regular) fridge has low RH, the fridge won't have such a difficult time adjusting to the adding of a mold of chocolate?

[Kerry Beal]

Air conditioned air has lower humidity. The Hilliard is not adjustable for humidity as far as I can see.

 

For sure I think a low humidity room isn't going to give the fridge as much of a challenge.

[Jim D.]

15 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

@Jim D.  First, ugh.  Can you charge these prospective customers enough to make it worth the frustration? 

 

What are your overnight temps?  I don't have AC so I just get up super early to beat the heat.  Is humidity lower at a certain time of day?  Despite our (in)famous Seattle rain, we have relatively dry summers, so I only worry about humidity when making macarons.

 

I would definitely try a fan or several.  A large box fan at 70F might be better at blowing away that latent heat of crystallization and not adding humidity than a home fridge with no fan.   Otherwise, how about putting a pizza stone in the fridge ahead of time to pre-chill - wouldn't that conduct heat away faster than just the air in the fridge?

 

 

Daytime temps would be unacceptable for working with chocolate, but I turn up the AC and, as I said, get the temp and humidity down to acceptable levels. I am convinced it is the period of refrigeration that is doing the damage, and thus it is the humidity, probably not the temp (Greweling recommends a chilling temp of 41F, and my fridge is set for 38F, so that isn't much of a difference). The Everlasting chocolate fridge looks like the best option (aside from the Irinox that Kerry mentioned, but that will be for my next life, when I run a chocolate factory), but delivery time is 60 days, so the point would be moot, at least until next summer. Meanwhile I'm going to get some more Moso dehumidifying bags and a little battery-operated fan for the fridge (there is one that gets some high marks on Amazon). For the full benefit of a chilled pizza stone, I wouldn't be able to put the molds on a rack and get circulation underneath, and as I said, I don't think the fridge temp is the issue. All this experimentation may be for nothing (especially considering that Greweling doesn't mention chilling the molds when the shells are first made), but we will see.

[pastrygirl]

2 hours ago, Jim D. said:

For the full benefit of a chilled pizza stone, I wouldn't be able to put the molds on a rack and get circulation underneath, and as I said, I don't think the fridge temp is the issue. All this experimentation may be for nothing (especially considering that Greweling doesn't mention chilling the molds when the shells are first made), but we will see.

 

If there is no fan in your fridge, you're not getting much air circulation to begin with, so I was thinking that putting the molds directly on a cold surface would chill them more quickly.  But I'm no physicist  

 

I don't routinely chill molds, only when it is warm in the kitchen - like above 70F.  My work fridge is the sort that has wire racks and cold air blowing from both sides of a central column (2 door restaurant reach-in).  Since the air blows directly on the molds, I don't need to leave them in very long - maybe 10 minutes for solid bars.  So yeah,  a fan in the fridge should definitely help.

[Choky]

That is an interesting point.

In this case I'm using a chocolate that is 40% fat and has a molding suitability of 2,5 out of 5.

If I well understand, fat amount is not the only thing influencing viscosity.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Choky (log)

[Kerry Beal]

What actual chocolate are you using - I've never seen one that is 2.5 drops. 

 

In the production of chocolate there are other factors that influence viscosity such as lecithin (just the right amount), conching and the introduction of extra cocoa butter. At the point where you are using it - the temperature and if you add additional cocoa butter are probably the only influences you can bring to bear on the viscosity. 

[curls]

@Jim D. I am puzzled by your summer chocolate making issues. I too am making chocolates in Virginia in a home kitchen with a home fridge (with glass shelves) and have thankfully not experienced the issues you are having with unmolding. I shall share my process in the hopes that it may help you with your troubleshooting.

 

It is not clear to me if you run your AC all summer or just while chocolate making -- I run the AC all summer at 73 F. If it looks like the chocolate is not setting up quickly enough, I lower the AC anywhere from 68 to 70 F. I put the molded chocolate shells in the fridge for ~10 minutes after they have started to crystallize. I check to see if the shells have released from the mold & only remove them from the fridge if 95%, or more, of the shells have released. I do not put filled & uncapped molds in the fridge -- I let them set up (usually overnight). They set up in the kitchen or my chocolate room in the basement. After I cap / close the molds, they spend ~10 minutes in the fridge and are unmolded. The difficult to unmold chocolates go back into the fridge for another 10 minutes (repeat fridge cycle as necessary).

 

I don't think that this is the cause of your problems but I should mention that I do not airbrush my molds with colored cocoa butter -- I think this is your preferred decoration method. Most of my chocolates are unadorned. The few that I decorate are either a swipe of colored cocoa butter, colored cocoa butter splatters, or transfer sheets.

 

Wishing you the best of luck in solving your summer chocolate issues. Hopefully you don't need to purchase a commercial cooling / refrigeration system.

[Kerry Beal]

Also if they are clearly not unmolding I give them 3 minutes (but only 3 - though I might repeat PRN) in the freezer. 

[Jim D.]

8 hours ago, curls said:

@Jim D. I am puzzled by your summer chocolate making issues. I too am making chocolates in Virginia in a home kitchen with a home fridge (with glass shelves) and have thankfully not experienced the issues you are having with unmolding. I shall share my process in the hopes that it may help you with your troubleshooting.

 

It is not clear to me if you run your AC all summer or just while chocolate making -- I run the AC all summer at 73 F. If it looks like the chocolate is not setting up quickly enough, I lower the AC anywhere from 68 to 70 F. I put the molded chocolate shells in the fridge for ~10 minutes after they have started to crystallize. I check to see if the shells have released from the mold & only remove them from the fridge if 95%, or more, of the shells have released. I do not put filled & uncapped molds in the fridge -- I let them set up (usually overnight). They set up in the kitchen or my chocolate room in the basement. After I cap / close the molds, they spend ~10 minutes in the fridge and are unmolded. The difficult to unmold chocolates go back into the fridge for another 10 minutes (repeat fridge cycle as necessary).

 

I don't think that this is the cause of your problems but I should mention that I do not airbrush my molds with colored cocoa butter -- I think this is your preferred decoration method. Most of my chocolates are unadorned. The few that I decorate are either a swipe of colored cocoa butter, colored cocoa butter splatters, or transfer sheets.

 

Wishing you the best of luck in solving your summer chocolate issues. Hopefully you don't need to purchase a commercial cooling / refrigeration system.

During the summer I have the AC on most of the time but turn the temp down when I am preparing to make chocolates. As I said previously, I have the temp no higher than 70F and the relative humidity around 45%. I use the airbrush in the basement and have a window AC that I turn on when I'm doing this work, so the environment is about the same. Yes, I do decorate most of my molds. There is no question that adding colored cocoa butter adds a level of possible difficulty, but I do actually make sure the c.b. is in temper (if I heat it too much, I get the temp down, then add some EZtemper silk, and I test it every time, though I know most people don't).

 

So you try to get all the shells to release from the molds before filling them? I am impressed. I have tried that, but sometimes a shell will break, so I mostly gave up on that. Sometimes it is easy to tell that they are not stuck to the cavity wall. In general, I find that if one piece comes out of a mold satisfactorily, eventually they all will--though it may not be a pretty process.

 

All in all, we seem to follow mostly the same procedure, except that, like Kerry, I resort to the freezer for a few minutes if necessary.  As I always say, chocolate is a mystery. For example, why will one chocolate release perfectly from the mold and the one next to it will be stuck?

 

I am concluding that the issue that prompted my original post arose from some shells that would not release from the mold, and when I put them back in the fridge repeatedly, they picked up humidity, thus no shine. Here is where one of those cooling cabinets made for chocolate, which supposedly recover quickly from humidity, might have come in handy.

 

Thanks for your response and your ideas.

[Kerry Beal]

There is always that one damn cavity in certain molds isn't there?

[curls]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

During the summer I have the AC on most of the time but turn the temp down when I am preparing to make chocolates. As I said previously, I have the temp no higher than 70F and the relative humidity around 45%. I use the airbrush in the basement and have a window AC that I turn on when I'm doing this work, so the environment is about the same. Yes, I do decorate most of my molds. There is no question that adding colored cocoa butter adds a level of possible difficulty, but I do actually make sure the c.b. is in temper (if I heat it too much, I get the temp down, then add some EZtemper silk, and I test it every time, though I know most people don't).

 

So you try to get all the shells to release from the molds before filling them? I am impressed. I have tried that, but sometimes a shell will break, so I mostly gave up on that. Sometimes it is easy to tell that they are not stuck to the cavity wall. In general, I find that if one piece comes out of a mold satisfactorily, eventually they all will--though it may not be a pretty process.

 

All in all, we seem to follow mostly the same procedure, except that, like Kerry, I resort to the freezer for a few minutes if necessary.  As I always say, chocolate is a mystery. For example, why will one chocolate release perfectly from the mold and the one next to it will be stuck?

 

I am concluding that the issue that prompted my original post arose from some shells that would not release from the mold, and when I put them back in the fridge repeatedly, they picked up humidity, thus no shine. Here is where one of those cooling cabinets made for chocolate, which supposedly recover quickly from humidity, might have come in handy.

 

Thanks for your response and your ideas.

 

To clarify one point -- I am not removing the shells from the mold to test that they will release. I use clear polycarbonate molds & look at the bottom of the molds for indicators that the chocolates have contracted from the molds.  

[Jim D.]

23 minutes ago, curls said:

 

To clarify one point -- I am not removing the shells from the mold to test that they will release. I use clear polycarbonate molds & look at the bottom of the molds for indicators that the chocolates have contracted from the molds.  

Thanks for clearing that up. I was having serious inferiority reactions. By the way, we all saw Melissa Coppel in Las Vegas show that her shells released perfectly from the mold before they were filled--and I happened to see some workshop participants testing more of them, and all released.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Jim D. (log)

[Jim D.]

As I guiltily pulled some finished chocolates (still in their molds) from the freezer a few minutes ago, I wondered how widespread this technique (for making stubborn bonbons come out of their mold) is. I consider it a failure of technique, but use it whenever the refrigerator cooling fails to work. I have never had the freezer method fail, and I sometimes think it might make for a saner chocolate experience to put the molds there in the first place (a humidity-controlled freezer would be a fine invention--perhaps it already exists, no doubt for a premium price). When some bonbons fall out with no effort and others refuse without some time in the freezer--and all molds were created from the same batch--I wonder what was done wrong. There are just too many variables to make an educated guess.

[Kerry Beal]

I put recalcitrant chocolates in the freezer for 3 minutes at a time. 

 

Putting them straight in there tends to shock the chocolate and doesn't give you a better result - trust me on that!

[KawBaker]

To Follow Package temperature ranges or NOT?

 

I have successfully tempered dark chocolate (for bon bons and dipped caramels) in the past and of late have resumed with consistent failures - been using microwave to melt and then cooling, adding mycryo 1% at 93F then cooling to 88F and reheating to 92-93F - also tried seeding instead - both blooming - tests on parchment strips in frig are fine.  Final products bloom - I am using the chocolate to dip caramels which I have done without difficulty in the past.

 

Tonight I tries using the temperature ranges on the Valrhona guanaja package (which scare me!) - Melting 131/136F, Crystallization 82/84F, and Manual Working 88/90F.  The Melt seems very high, the crystallization very cool (my home is ~80F in Hawaii no AC ), and the Working too low (tends to be tight to work with) - again Bloom on 48 salted espresso caramels.

 

Should I disregard the packaging temp ranges and just follow the general concept - melt to 113-115, seed to cool to 88, then up to 92-93F which worked in the past?

 

Attached are some older pics of my success.  And no, I never wrote down any notes of my prior successes! grrhhh

 

Feeling like I no longer have my chocolate super powers! Green Kryptonite!!  Suggestions appreciated!

[KawBaker]

Last 2 thoughts - I double dip the caramels and it seems like the first dip chocolate is in temper - I think that I may be losing temper on the second round of dipping - I use a heat gun to raise the temperature of the chocolate, as it lowers with dipping - could invest in a heating pad?  Even at the 88F in the second dip the chocolate seems tight?  Perhaps I will try a new batch in temper for the second dip as perhaps the caramel is affecting the chocolate?

[Kerry Beal]

Couple of thoughts. How confident are you in the accuracy of your thermometer? and are you placing the items in the fridge for 10 to 15 min after dipping to carry off the latent heat of crystallization?

[Chocolot]

In my experience, there is no need to lower the temp to 88 after seeding with Mycryo. Just put in the seed, stir, test temper and go. If chocolate cools too much while using, add a little warm untempered or tempered chocolate to it and continue. Using heat gun and not stirring really well, could be part of the problem.

[martin0642]

I used MyCryo extensively (almost exclusively in fact), due to the small batches I was working with (and the tiny kitchen not lending itself to tabling). My procedure was as follows:

 

1. Melt to 45 c

2. Cool to around 34 c - I have heard that Mycryo needs the temp to be precisely 35 c but that hasn't been my experience at all. As long as it's 34-35 it seems fine.

3. Make sure it's well stirred and then add 1% mycryo by weight

4. Stir stir stir...as per any chocolate work...

5. Test temper - almost invariably fine. The only thing that ever threw it off was ambient temperature or humidity.

 

When casting or dipping, I would sometimes chill in the fridge briefly to remove latent heat as Kerry mentioned, but again...depended on ambient temp to some degree.

 

I maintain the temperature of the chocolate by using a heat gun every now and then; never really checked temperature after I got used to it, but I did re check temper before doing large (relatively speaking)batches. And lots of stirring - always.

 

I would say possible issues are - as Kerry and Chocolaot have suggested, also playing with temperature up and down too much, not stirring enough and possibly ambient temperature.

[pastrygirl]

92-93 f is rather high, I aim for 90-91 with dark chocolate. 

 

 

[KawBaker]

Thanks all - I have only used the frig between a couple of times - sort of afraid that cold shock might impact temper - but worth a try as I have hit a rut - I have an IR thermometer and feel confident as I use it for other things and it has been on mark.

 

I didn't see any comments about whether anyone religiously follows the temps on the product packaging - getting a sense that most do not, but rather follow the temps outlined above and develop a feel.

 

Appreciate the fast responses!

[gfron1]

8 hours ago, AtHomeMaui said:

Thanks all - I have only used the frig between a couple of times - sort of afraid that cold shock might impact temper - but worth a try as I have hit a rut - I have an IR thermometer and feel confident as I use it for other things and it has been on mark.

 

I didn't see any comments about whether anyone religiously follows the temps on the product packaging - getting a sense that most do not, but rather follow the temps outlined above and develop a feel.

 

Appreciate the fast responses!

The only time I think to look at the package is if I run into troubles. Otherwise I just follow the rules.

[prashamk]

Does the compound slabs that doesn't contain cocoa butter require tempering? 

[martin0642]

On 9/21/2018 at 5:22 AM, AtHomeMaui said:

Thanks all - I have only used the frig between a couple of times - sort of afraid that cold shock might impact temper - but worth a try as I have hit a rut - I have an IR thermometer and feel confident as I use it for other things and it has been on mark.

 

I didn't see any comments about whether anyone religiously follows the temps on the product packaging - getting a sense that most do not, but rather follow the temps outlined above and develop a feel.

 

Appreciate the fast responses!

 

The possible problem with using an IR thermometer, regardless of how accurate it is, is that it only measures surface temperature. With chocolate, that's fine if you have stirred it enough....but using a Thermapen (way more accurate than just about any IR) I've seen temperature differences of several degrees between the top and bottom of a bowl or the middle and sides. That difference could be a tipping point in some situations. None of that means you can't use an IR of course; it's just something to bear in mind

[martin0642]

10 minutes ago, prashamk said:

Does the compound slabs that doesn't contain cocoa butter require tempering? 

 

Nope - compound "chocolate" doesn't require tempering at all. (Although calling it chocolate is debatable.....chocolate flavoured maybe...but that might just be me being a chocolate snob  )