Hi, This is my first attempt at making chocolate from beans. I attached a photo of the chocolate I attempted to temper. Does anyone know where I went wrong from just looking at that formation of crystals?
I used a doulble boiler. Took the chocolate up to 124 F, then cooled it to 84 F just using a fan and stirring the chocolate in the bowl. Then brought it back up to 90 F and put it in the molds.
Thanks for any help offered!
The chocolate was either not tempered when it was molded or lost it in the mold. Did you test the chocolate prior to molding? If the test was ok, then your chocolate was not in a cool enough environment while it set. What was the ambient temp while in the molds? I usually cool my dark chocolate to 80 to 81 F in a cold water bath when tempering.
I just left the chocolate in the double boiler bowl and stir it with a fan blowing on the choc. It was a slow process. Probablt took over ten minutes to drop down to 84 F
I put the bowl back over the steaming water for 15-20 secs to bring it back to 90 F.
I did not test the choc before molding. How do I test? The room temperature is 72 F and I used food grade silicon molds.
When do you do the cooling in the bath?
Always test your chocolate for temper. Place a little on the back of a spoon or on a piece of wax paper. It should set in a few minutes and have a nice snap. If not, then it has not been tempered.
A room temperature of 72 F is on the high side for me. I prefer 68 F and I always have a fan blowing over my chocolate molds. I learned the hard way that tempered chocolate will produce bars just like your photos if the room temperature is too high.
I also use a double boiler to heat my dark chocolate to 120 F and then cool it in a 65 to 68 F water bath to 80 F, then back on the boiler to bring the temperature back up to 89/90 F. I am always stiring and allow some time at each temperature. One must take care if using a water bath as water in chocolate is bad.
I hope this helps.
How many pounds of chocolate are you trying to temper? After pouring it in the molds, how are you cooling your chocolate at room temperature or fridge? (how long did it take to solidify?)
The cooling via stirring and fan may not be cooling the particules properly. You would be better with a Cold Marble cooling or seed cooling (You may need to use a 3rd party seeds at first then you can save your own seeds)
PS - You do not need to go up to 124 (118 - 120 should be enough to melt all particules), coold it down further to 82 and then bring it up to 88 - 89 and test it on a parchment parper before you pour it in the molds to make sure it is well tempered.
I let the chocolate in molds cool at room temperature. But I'm going to put it by my fan next time around. It did take hours to solidify which sounds like it was never tempered.
I'll give an update after I try @thomas-snuggs steps. I'm really trying to avoid buying marble and I'd like to try to not use seeds because I bought specific beans from different parts of the world and I want to find out if I can taste a difference.
