I am adding a post to this thread on the over-crystallizing problem and ways to solve it. Today I was using Valrhona Opalys to line 8 molds. I have had problems with its thickening too much in the past, so was prepared--or so I thought. The first four molds went OK; in fact, the chocolate was a bit too thin for the first two. Then problems developed. I used Brad Churchill's suggestion (described in this thread) of melting additional chocolate, bringing it down to the working temp (84-86 F. in this case), then adding it to the over-crystallized chocolate. I was using a Chocovision Delta machine. I added half of the extra chocolate first, and that seemed to thin out the batch sufficiently for a couple more molds, but soon it thickened again. So I added the rest of the extra (still at the same temp), but this time it did very little good. I raised the temp several degrees and got the last two molds lined only by turning them upside down immediately after filling them and beating on them as hard as I could with the bottom of the scraper to make the chocolate fall out.

I am very discouraged as I thought I had conquered this problem. Does anyone have additional suggestions? I'm now thinking of thinning out the extra chocolate with cocoa butter, although I hate to tamper with the original manufacturer's recipe for the product. Another thought: would it make any difference if I tempered the original batch with Mycryo instead of chocolate from the bag? And still another idea: would stopping the rotation of the Delta bowl help with the problem? Any thoughts would be welcome.

That's why I like this site so much. The answers you get are always top-notch. Many of these participants have a wealth of knowledge that they're more than willing to share.

This is good information. I recently purchased a 50 lb. Savage Brothers melter with the tempering device and will be delivered today. So if I can melt additional chocolate, lower the temperature, add to the machine and keep it in temper without melting a full tank and doing an additional temper cycle, will be a big help. I hope to be able to mold 100 lbs in maybe 6 hours and will see.

Savage and Hilliards machines are far superior to the others I have. Each has it's own use though.

Thank Brad

Which machine do you find the best?

Thanks All. I tried this today and the temper held just fine. Keeping dark chocolate melted at 90 degrees in the Bakon, I was able to add an equal amount of melted chocolate to my tempered chocolate with no problem. Thanks again for the help, John

We have several - Savage Bros, Pavoni, Hilliards, and ACMC

The process works for all of them, as the machine's primary function is to agitate the chocolate.

Cheers

Brad

What machine do you use?

Louise.

My staff do this exact thing regularly. It's actually pretty simple.

Let's say you're down to 5lbs of well tempered chocolate, and you need to refill, but you don't want to retemper everything.

Chocolate A = working chocolate

Chocolate B = new chocolate.

Heat B to at least 120 degrees F and stir well to ensure any crystals are fully melted.

Now Cool B to 90 degrees f, and add it to A.

Stir lots for a couple of minutes for the crystals to propogate.

That's it! Super easy. You can add the same quantity of B to A as long as you don't change the temperature of the final product, and as long as A is properly tempered. In fact it even helps if A is over crystalized a bit.

Cheers

Brad

Assuming that you are not working at the warmest of the range, for ex you can comfortably work with good dark at 29 C or at 31.5 C, deduct a degree for milks and whites. If you are working with dark at lets say 30-30.5 in a 67 degree room you should at the very least be able to add 2 lb of 40 C melted chocolate for every 10 that you have in. Give it an extra good stir for 7-8 seconds and check to make sure that it did not leave the acceptable working temperature range. Ultimately, it is going to take a little trial and error and then you should have no problem.

Assuming your block chocolate is already in temper, the easiest thing to do is melt the already tempered chocolate carefully so as not to 'break' its temper - that is, melt it and maintain it at about 90F, then add it to your other batch of tempered chocolate. an accurate thermometer is a very useful tool for chocolate work.

Alternatively, if you melt it and break it's temper, you'll still be able to add it to your other batch of tempered chocolate, but in much smaller quantities as adding untempered chocolate essentially 'dilutes' the temper, and will require time for it to regain it's temper.

Hello All. I have a Bakon mini enrober that I'm having issues with and I also use a chocovision delta. At this point I'd at least like to be able to use the Bakon as a Melter and add that melted chocolate to my tempered chocovision machine, as needed. At what temperature should I keep the Bakon chocolate as I'm adding it to the Delta machine, and should I only add a certain amount at a time. Thanks for the help, John

updated by @john-duxbury: 04/09/15 04:22:51