Help!! Is my thermometer wrong?

I cannot shout HELP!! loud enough. Can my thermometer be wrong? I am waiting for a infra red one, but until I have to use what I have.

I am tempering Valrhona. Whilst seeding I try to let the temperature go down to 28C, but I cannot do it as the thermometer says it is still 31C, but the seed does not want to melt any more and the chocolate is very thick and starting to clump on the sides. What am I doing wrong or is it the thermometer? I have to say the weather is not ideal as it is raining, so humidity is a problem. I try and keep the temperature at 20C, but as it is the same room I have to melt the chocolate with a bain marie causing moisture.

Another question, can the humidity give me trouble with my ganache? It is way to soft even though I follow the recipes to the letter as I have been doing all the time with no problem.

Any help will be appreciated.

updated by @magrietha-hendrika-du-plessis: 04/21/15 07:20:23AM

I would temprer the chocolate via different method. First, you need to follow the temp chart on the Valrhona bag, the chocolate contains lots of cocoa butter and thus needs to be melted to a higher temp...in the 50's celcius. The technique you should use, I am not sure of how many pounds you are trying to temper, but I would use a marble slab or a bain marie.

With the marble slab, or stainless steel work top, cool the table with ice first to get the surface cold. Dry table well and then pour 2/3 of chocolate on table and cool the chocolate until the chocolate feels cool on your top lip (THE LIP TEST). Pour it into the remaining 1/3 warm chocolate and stir well. Try taking the temp or do the lip test again. You should not feel any warmth on your lip. It should feel slightly cool.

If you don't have a marble slab or hard surface, then use the bain marie. Instead of hot water, you need to use ice and water mixed together and place 2/3 chocolate in the pan and on top of the ice. Cool it down and then pour the remaining 1/3 chocolate into the mixture and stir well.

Humidity can be a problem. Sometimes you need to add cocoa butter to thin the chocolate out if it gets to thick.

Thanks, sorry I am only replying now as I have been struggling with this. I find the water method difficult, but I suppose I should try it again. Thought I will just let you know that I have read your answer even though I did not reply immediately, things are hectic with me having a hard time with the tempering. I thought I had it and today things started going all wrong again.

Go to the BArry Callebaut website.Actually, Callebaut and Cocoa Barry may have their own website. In both websites are training videos which you might find very helpful

http://www.cacao-barry.com/uken/1855

I don't know if this link will work but it is in the Cocoa Barry website. They both have excellent training videos.

Thanks Debra, will do

Here is the Callebaut link for the on line videos

http://www.callebaut.com/caen/333

Thanks

Magrietha;

It sounds to me like your thermometer is innacurate. Your working temperature should be around 31 or 32 degrees.

Check your thermometer's high and low temperatures.

High temperature test: boil some water and take the temperature. Adjust your boling point approximately 1.5 degrees celcius for every thousand feet above sea level. (for example, your boiling point of water at 3,000 feet above sea level will be approximately 95.5 degrees C)

Low temperature test: fill a small bowl with as much ice as possible, then fill the rest of it with water. Stir and insert your thermometer. It should read very close to zero.

You need to test both ends because the way that thermometers work doesn't mean they are accurate at all points along the range they measure.

You will also find that highhumidity will require you to raise the "bottom" temperature of your tempering cycle a degree or so on occasion. Chocolate is very hygroscopic, meaning it very easily absorbs water and odor from its surroundings. Water causes chocolate to get very thick, and will cause you grief if you don't make the necessary adjustments.

No offence to Debra, but I personally wouldn't recommend that you add cocoa butter to your chocolate to thin it. Not only does that dilute the chocolate, dull the flavor, and change the viscosity of the chocolate, but it is a quick band aide fix whichin the longrun adds to your problems (after all it's the cocoa butter in the chocolate which is causingyou the problems in the first place. It doesn't really make sense to pour more gasoline on to that fire!). Understanding how thecocoa butter crystals behave, is the KEY to temperingand working with chocolate.

One other thing: When reheating your chocolate, take it off the heat source when it's a couple of degrees below your target (especially for small batches done in a baine marie). The heat of the pot will carry the temperature up, sometimes as much as 4 degrees, hence if you take the chocolate off your heat source AT your target temperature, within moments it will again be out of temper and you have to start over.

Hope that helps.

Brad.

Thank you for your detailed answer. This is what is so great about Chocolate Life, you get all this info with all people's responses and even if you do not all agree, it always broadens my understanding of chocolate.

Thought I will just thank you Brad. My thermometer WAS wrong, I was idiot enough not to realize the battery is flat as it still measured, but obviously wrong. After replacing the battery I did the test as you recommended and it is spot on. So, you can see now how stupid I can be. Old age taking its toll LOL.

Glad I could help, and no you're not being stupid. One would logically think that if the thermometer works, it's taking the right temperatures. I've also learned something from this exchange: Even though the thermometer works, a low battery can screw with the temperature readings.

So, for that I thank YOU!

Cheers.

Brad

Can your chocolate be too shiny? I am asking this because I have tempered some chocolate to use in my molds. At the correct temperature, 29C for milk chocolate it became really shiny. When I molded with it I had chocolate bloom within minutes and I had to really tap it to get it to release from the mold after I have left it overnight.

Maybe when I molded it I tapped the molds too much to get rid of air bubbles? I just do not know. I am having two threads now that should probably have been one.

The shinier the better. Always do the lip test as a second check and also do the paper test. Check the temp with your lip as explained earlier. Even with your broken thermometer you could have succesfully performed the lip test for tempering. Test to see if the chocolate is tempered by putting a swipe on some wax or parchment paper and see if the chocolate sets up within a few minutes. Then make sure the chocolate doesn't appear streaky. Your description of what happened indicates to me that the tempering was incorrect. The temperature was slightly on the high side, but probably not by much.

Thanks Debra, I think it is my nervousness that is making things worse. I am under pressure to "perform!" and no time to really practice.

I do the paper test and it seems fine, my dipped truffles are sort of OK, but the molds not. I think I wish the paper test right when it is not really. It dries OK, but the snap takes a while. I will try and add the lip test. Up to now I have not had the confidence to do it. Not trusting myself that I will be able to tell if it is right.

I'm off to temper another batch for my molds for Saturday. I'll try the lip test as well and I will let you know how it goes. It is a bit difficult to teach yourself with only the internet as your source.

Horrible to try and get a business going on less than a shoe string. Hardly money for the chocolate. This is actually one of my problems. I cannot afford to buy another bag of chocolate to use as seed and now I am probably skimping on the seed!

Thanks again.

Magriet

Use the double boiler technique. When I have to do demos using a stage kitchen and have a lack of time I get one bowl that is big and I get ice and water in it. Then I get my warm melted chocolate and temper in over the bowl of ice. If it is too cool either use a heat gun (or hair dryer) or the microwave to bring the temp up. So you wouldn't need the seed for that.

OK, so I just want to make sure. Even if I start with chocolate that is not in temper I can still use this method? That would really help me a lot because I sit here with LOTS of chocolate that is out of temper because of my failed attempts at tempering. The plain chocolate is getting better but the milk chocolate is still giving me problems.

Thanks so much for your willingness to help. I hope one day I will know enough myself to be able to help others as well.

thats correct. you don't need to use any tempered chocolate. milk chocolate must be a bit lower in temp and tends to be more finicky.

Thanks Debra, this week it is me and tempering without seed!

Good Luck. If I get a chance I might try to do a quick video using a blackberry to show the process. I am a very busy soccer mom. So when I am not doing production I am the road to soccer stuff.

Thanks, and yes, that is what moms are there for.

Debra thought I will just come back and thank you. I new about the double boiler technique, but I have never had the guts to try it until you prompted me. Thank you so much. On my first attempt my molds came out just fine. Not perfection yet, but definitely usable which is a relieve as I do not have a lot of time. I tempered some milk chocolate even though I knew it is more difficult but I wanted to get them out of the way. Now I can move on to the fun of the dark chocolate.

Thanks again

Magriet.

updated by @magrietha-hendrika-du-plessis: 06/19/15 05:23:08PM

OK, so now I still have problems. I am tempering the Valrohna Manjari, Guanaja and Jivara Lactee without any problem. T

he Equatoriale Noire as well as the Lactee I just cannot get in temper no matter what I do. I have been tempering all morning using the tempering guidelines as on the package without any luck. Is there something special about the Equatoriale that makes it more difficult to temper?

I have tried the seed method as well as the cold water method without any success.

Sometimes chocolate just won't temper. I will have problems tempering if the amount of chocolate is small. So, if I have maybe 1 cup of liquid chocolate, it is hard to temper. You need to have enough chocolate to work with.

Thanks Debra, maybe that is the mistake I am making. I try and temper just enough because of the HUGE amount of untempered chocolate cluttering everywhere, even the bedrooms!

So, I will see what happens if I try 1 kilo at a time. I still have quite a bit of tempering to do for this weekend. Some of the bad results I have heated a little with the hair dryer and sprinkled some grated chocolate on them. At the moment they look fine so I will see what happens during the night.

I am getting desperate here so I really appreciate your help. I feel a little sorry for myself and feel as if there is too much pressure on me to learn tempering while I have to produce for the markets.

Sorry, but one more thing. I sit with chocolate that must have overheated and my battles with the thermometer. It tastes fine and feels smooth in the mouth, but it has very little hard pieces that looks like caramelized milk.

Will it be possible to temper it? I'm even thinking of caramelizing it in the oven as I see a recipe from Valrhona for white chocolate. I was thinking I can them mold it and sell it as some kind of caramelized chocolate, or something. I cannot afford to lose it, so I am trying to think of a way to use it as the taste is still perfect.

I am not sure how well it would carmelize. That, I would suggest experimenting with a small amount. Many chocolatiers have had experiences of overheating/cooking the chocolate. Especially in microwaves!! Another idea is to make almond bark with the chocolate. Or make a ganache filling and strain the ganache to get the chunks out.

Thanks Debra, I also thought ganache is the best idea. I will not even have to strain it as the little hard bits in it is so small it will go right through. It is just the slightest bit of graininess that you will not even pick op if your attention is not drawn to it. (At least the average person at the food market, I will not fool any chocolatier with it!)

OK, more troubles this week! I have tried to temper Manjari THREE times already without any success. Could it be because it is too hot. I know temperature and humidity can be a problem, but I do not know how much.

The temperature is about 32C outside but inside I think it is about 28-29C. I cannot measure the humidity, but according to the weather bureau it is not high only about 14% so that can not be the problem. I am using the cold bath method as I am running out of seed. I have been able to temper this way with quite a bit of success last week, but now it simply does not want to happen.

Help, please!

The indoor temp is high and can cause some difficulty. I have trouble on hot days. Also, how much quantity are you tempering. A little amount is hard to work with. Don't forget, the Manjari needs to be melted in the higher temperature range because of the the cocoa butter content. The indoor temp could be your culprit.

Thanks Debra, I had to check and make sure about the indoor temperature. I am heating the Manjari to the recommended 58C and then I bring it down to 27C and very carefully up to only 30C even though the working temperature is 31C for fear of overheating it. This seemed to work just fine last week so it must be the room temperature. I think I am going to start working at night when it is cooler.