So maybe I am going out on a limb here but I am looking to create a dedicated conching machine for home use. I have looked at possibly doing a metal bowl with a drill over the top pointed down with a baffle attached at the end to agitate the chocolate. I am sure this will work with a pod pad to provide the heating element, and a stand to hold the drill and keep pressure on the trigger.  

Option 2 which is the one I am more interested in to see if it works. Imagine a glass or plastic container, taller than wider, filled with chocolate. Through the bottom and possibly the sides if need be there would be air nozzles through which air would be coming out of. Think an aerator in a fish tank, I would probably use one of these to make a easy. The air would be passing through at a near constant stream going through the chocolate and in turn, I hope, agitating the chocolate.

Would this agitate at the required force to actually turn over and coat the cocoa particles for a noticable different?

Would the chocolate fill with so many micro air bubbles that it would be a major pain to release them all when it came time to mold into bars?

IF this seems like a crack-pot theory/idea, has anyone made conche machines? I am having a hard time finding any at the home level (I doubt they exist) and as for commerical grade (even large ones) I am having a hard time finding them.

Suggestions, comments, all are welcome.

 

updated by @ian-horvath: 04/18/15 12:28:52

Ian -

I can make your life a little easier, maybe, experimenting with Option 1. Put the chocolate you want to conche into a stand mixer. Get one of those new scraper paddle blades that scrape the entire bowl. Use a hair dryer for the hot air source. This is going to be a lot easier than the drill method you're suggesting.

Option 2 is a non-starter for lots of different reasons.

There are two processes during conching. One affects texture and the other flavor. To affect texture you need shear force that will break of small clumps of particles and coat every particle with cocoa butter. You won't get that with an air bubbler. The part that affects flavor is about evaporating volatile aromatics you don't want (mainly acetic acid) out of the chocolate. This can be done by blowing hot air across the chocolate and stirring the chocolate to make sure that all surfaces are exposed to the air blowing over it.

If you wanted to experiment with making a small home conche, I would suggest that playing with stirrer/scraper designs that were more effective and efficient would be the way to go. You could also experiment using a dough hook. The reason why no-one has created a small home conche on the scale of the small table-top grinders is that the market is too small.

 

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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Thanks Clay. I will try option 1 out.