Molding chocolate bars on a small scale

[A Patric]

Hello all,

I'm trying to figure out the best way (in terms of a nice balance of time and money) to mold chocolate bars on a relatively small scale. I've been doing quite a bit of reading, research, and asking questions, and I've seen quite a bit of conflicting information. So, what I'm looking for now is real world experience.

I'd be interested to know what people are doing who don't use a cooling tunnel, but who end up turning out chocolate with a nice snap and gloss without any obvious swirling (noting that many bars have a light swirling on the back if held at a certain angel to the light) or other finish issues.

I have a number of questions that I would like anyone who fits the above description to answer (pretty please):

1) What is the thickness of your molds, and what is the material?

2) Do you warm up your molds to the temperature of the tempered chocolate prior to depositing?

3) What is the room temperature in your molding room?

4) What do you do with the molds immediately after depositing the chocolate? (i.e., do you do a number of molds and then put them all in a cooling area, or do you put them in one at a time?)

5) Your cooling area/room/chamber...what is the temperature?

6) Do you alter the temperature in the cooling area, or transport the molds to a different area with a different temperature while they are cooling? Please explain in as much detail as possible.

7) How do you handle airflow--what machines do you use (ceiling fans, large industrial standing fans, other?), and how are they mounted (how far away from the chocolate), and at what speed do you run them?

8) How much time do you give your bars before unmolding?

9) Finally, please explain any methods that you did use previously which led to bad results.

Thank you in advance to everyone who participates. Since I'm designing a couple of rooms based on moulding and cooling, in part, I'm hoping to rule out really problematic designs ahead of time by learning as much as possible. I've read about all the theory that I can find including Minifie's, Beckett's and Chatt's books among others and am hoping that all of your experience will fill in the missing puzzle pieces.

[A Patric]

Anyone?

Thanks in advance for any personal experience relating to the above questions.

[Kerry Beal]

Anyone?

Thanks in advance for any personal experience relating to the above questions.

←

Alan,

I use polycarbonate professional molds, I either order from Holland, or Chocolat-chocolat in Montreal.

They vary in thickness, I have molds that will make 500 gram chocolate bars and molds that make 5 gram tasting bars.

I mold with the molds at room temperature, ladle in the tempered chocolate, bang them on the counter to remove bubbles (or vibrate them), then put them in the fridge for somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes depending on thickness etc. So the temp is about 4 to 5 degrees C, with no additional air flow. My 'molding room' ie my kitchen is 22 to 24 degrees most days.

If I were filling 5 or 6 molds I would put each in the fridge as I fill them. I take them out when I can see a change in the state of the chocolate. You can tell when the chocolate has retracted away from the mold. Once this has happened I generally knock them out of the mold. I have heard reports that leaving them in the mold overnight might lead to shinier chocolate, but I don't have that kind of patience, unless I forget they are there.

When doing huge honking bunnies this spring, too big to put in the fridge, I put them outside. If it was too cold, the chocolate retracted unevenly and there were cracks.

I'm sure there are folks on eG who are doing things in a big way with cooling tunnels, cooling rooms etc better able to answer questions about cooling on the scale you envision, but I hope I have been some help.

Edited June 13, 2006 by Kerry Beal (log)

[A Patric]

Dear Kerry,

Thank you very much for the time you've taken to type out your experience. I appreciate it greatly.

Regards,

Alan

P.S. Anyone else?

Edited June 14, 2006 by A Patric (log)

[Trishiad]

Alan,

That's a lot of questions all at once. Tricky to answer without writing an entire book here on eG. Perhaps you could narrow it down to just a few?

I use polycarb molds from Tomric

I like my room to be at about 67 degrees

I warm my molds only if the room is chilly

i cool my bar molds (not bonbons) in the fridge for just a few minutes, until the chocolate begins to set and then move them to a cool room (50's) to finish.

What are you doing that's working for you?

[A Patric]

Alan,

That's a lot of questions all at once.  Tricky to answer without writing an entire book here on eG.  Perhaps you could narrow it down to just a few?

I use polycarb molds from Tomric

I like my room to be at about 67 degrees

I warm my molds only if the room is chilly

i cool my bar molds (not bonbons) in the fridge for just a few minutes, until the chocolate begins to set and then move them to a cool room (50's) to finish.

What are you doing that's working for you?

←

Hi Trishiad,

Well, I wouldn't want to narrow down the questions because I find that every one of them deals with an issue relevant to molding and cooling; at the least, these topics are all covered in industry books, and so I'm trying to get a feeling for how and whether they have been taken into consideration my most people molding small numbers of bars without cooling tunnels, and if so, in what ways. However, I don't expect that everyone will want to answer every question, or that every person will feel that each question is relevant to her/his situation, and that is perfectly fine with me. Some input is better than none.

So, thank you for yours.

Alan

Edited June 17, 2006 by A Patric (log)