Hello All,

This is my first blog post so I figured I would give you all a little introduction. I am 27 years old living in the greater Los Angeles area and recently taken on the challenge of learning how to make great chocolate.

Currently I am reading, "The Science of Chocolate" by: Stephen T Beckett. And although it has been very informative and I have no complaints about it, its been difficult not to have someone to bounce off questions I have. So, with all that being said, I'll start to get into what I'm doing and where I'm running into difficulties.

I have a Spectra 11 melanger that I am using and my problem is I don't know how much cocoa butter I should have in my recipe? I have read that my total fat content should be in-between 25-35% but what does that mean with my cocoa butter. Right now my recipe is 25% butter, 19% cocoa mass, 19% milk powder (I'm using a combo of non-fat and whole milk to keep my fat content down), and 37% sugar.

Does anything stand out thats wrong with that? Is my butter content too high?

Thank you!

updated by @mattworks: 04/11/15 11:28:08

You'll never achieve 25% fat in a spectra - so plan on a recipe of 35% total fat. Assume your liquor is 50% fat. For ease of sourcing, just use whole milk powder and assume it's fat content is 26%.

Part of learning how to make great chocolate is learning how to do the formulation math 8-) Homework assignment #1 - using the above formulation %'s and ingredient fat levels - calculate your formulation requirements for a milk chocolate that has approximately 35% total fat. You should also include 0.3% fluid lecithin if this is your first time. You may even wish to leave it in there forever.

Thanks Sebestian..

That leads to another question.. Before, when I was not calculating my percentage of fat in my chocolate, it would melt once I picked it up. Now was this a result of having a fat content greater than 35%?

No, the meltage is probably due to the temper (or lack therof) of the chocolate.

There are 6 types of crystal structures cocoa butter can form.

Type V is the 'desired' crystal that results in shiny, snappy chocolate that won't melt immediately.

The crystaltypes I-IVmelt at lower temperatures, and thus if your chocolate has lots of those crystals, it will melt very quickly.

Please check out this tempering explanation on the chocolate alchemist website. http://chocolatealchemy.com/illustrated-tempering/

Without knowing all the details, i'd agree lack of proper temper is the likely culprit.

Interesting...

Right now I am tempering using my Chocovision X3210 that I bought, I have been using about 8% seed chocolate and on temper 1 phase. I figured that it would temper it for me (I have set to 118.5 melting temp which was recommended on the cocoa butter bag I purchased from DeZaan).. Where could I be going wrong?

What temp are you bringing it back down to? How long is it stirring at 118? How long is it at the lower temp before using the chocolate?Finally, what is the temp of your room?Thanks

Hey Larry,

Right now it goes to 118 for a few mins, then it cools to 90 degrees then the machine beeps till I take out the seed chocolate (usually its all melted) then drops again to 83.4 then goes up to 86.6 and says its ready.

Thanks for all your help I really appreciate it!! And I apologize if these questions are novice.

Matt,

Thanks for the additional information. What is the temperature of your room?

One of thethings that will take your chocolate out of temper can include the temperature of the room/environment the chocolate is in. If it is too hot, the chocolate will not set quickly enough and lower forms of cocoa butter crystals will form before it sets.

The x3210 puts out a lot of heat. That could bring the temp of your room up.

Do you have any air movement over the cooling chocolate? - This will help pull heat out of the chocolate and preserve your temper. Not too much movement though. A small fan on low should suffice. - Play with it.

Is the thermometer on your machine accurate?

Also you could try raising the temperature of your chocolate on the last step a few degrees. Say to 88 or 89. The chocolate we use does best at that higher temp even tough it is a milk chocolate.

Is the chocolate melting immediately upon touching it or after several seconds of holding it?

I'm a novice too, but have learned a great deal from the generous members of The Chocolate Life.

I do believe that my room temp is the major issue here. But I also have a feeling I need to play with my temperatures a little bit more. For example leaving it at 118 for maybe 10-20 mins to make sure the maximum amount of type V crystals form? And then bringing up the temperature to 88 or 89 degrees.

I'll be making a batch in the next day or so, I'll keep everyone posted on my results.

Thanks again.

Crystals won't form at 118. They'll just melt. However you may get some benefit from holding it there for a bit to ensure complete melting of the crystals. - Think ice cube in boiling water. Even though the water is boiling, there can still be ice. But with a little bit of time the ice will melt.

Taking the chocolate to 118 will help ensure you have melted all the pre-existing crystals.

The crystals will form at lower temperatures. The link I posted above really helped me to understand tempering. Take a look.