I used my chocoa chocolate melter for the first time to practice my tempering. Its a 6kg melter. I used 2kg of 54%semi-sweet dark chocolate couverture. The melter temp was set to45 C (113 F), and I left it alone foR about 2 hours. Once it was completely melted, I inserted my chocolate thermometer to get a read. It was only at about 90 F, so I turned up the melter. I basically had the melter at full blast at about 65 C and it took 30mins to reach 113 Fon the thermometer.
I then removed the tray from the melter, added a handful of seed, and stirred. The temperature dropped very slowly. 2 more handfuls of seed, and 25 mins later, the thermometer still read 90 F. At one point I noticed the 3rd handful of seed was not melting at all. I stuck a finger in the chocolate and it was barely lukewarm, yet the thermometer still read 90 F.
The thermometer is a basic glass thermometer. Arent these supposed to be accurate? Shoud I invest in a infrared digital thermometer, or is there something I am doing wrong?
I appreciate your comments.
Donny
updated by @donny-gagliardi: 04/09/15 19:40:34