Help with tempering chocolate

dslucki
@dslucki
09/28/16 08:30:56PM
2 posts

Hello.  I’m brand new here and new to the world of tempering chocolate.  I’ve done a lot of homework, reading up on how to temper using the seeding method.  I’ll take about 300g of chocolate and melt it to 120-124F.  Then I add 100g of seed chocolate (which is in temper) and cool it down to 84F.  I then heat it up to 89.5ish F.  I dip a knife in and wait for it to setup properly.  Once everything looks good I proceed to fill my polycarbonate molds with the tempered chocolate.  I then let them cool and release them from the molds.  The chocolate is then stored at proper temperature (60-62 degrees F and humidity at about 50%).  After a day or two or three I get some sort of bloom, but the bloom is only on the chocolate that didn’t touch the mold.  (I can't seem to attach a picture.)  I wonder if anyone can help me out here with my issue?  Thanks in advance!

Full disclosure:  The temperature of my kitchen is always above 74 F.  In order to cool the molded chocolate, I place the molds in a thermoelectric wine fridge.  This fridge does not have a compressor thus the humidity is equal to the humidity in the room.  The fridge registers at 60-62F with 48-52% relative humidity, tested with a thermometer/hydrometer.  If I lived in a cooler climate my room temperature and humidity would be at these same levels. 

Chad Martinell
@chad-martinell
11/14/16 05:04:24PM
4 posts

How do you fill your molds? Spoon? I found that when using pastry bags to fill my molds I was getting this type of issue. I finally figured out that my hands were heating some, but not all, of the chocolate so it was out of temper.


updated by @chad-martinell: 11/17/16 04:25:45PM
dslucki
@dslucki
11/14/16 05:11:37PM
2 posts

Ladle into mold and scrape top.  I have also used a syringe.

Chad Martinell
@chad-martinell
11/14/16 05:28:34PM
4 posts

One thing I learned at the NW Chocolate Festival this weekend is that chocolate loves to throw itself out of temper. The best way to combat this is to watch it in the mold. As it begins to harden around the edges of the mold, (i.e. the edges get dull but the middle is still shiny), at that point put it into a cold fridge. This will help push the crystallization and keep it from losing temper.


updated by @chad-martinell: 11/17/16 04:25:47PM

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