Forum Activity for @jas665

Box sizes for fermenting cocoa beans

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

@sebastian - can you point to some of those manuals or give some quick word on how box design impacts fermentation? Deeper is more acidic?

I'm doing some experimenting at ~400kg batch level, changing every 2 days across 3-4 boxes (~ 32" wide x 35" long x 35" tall), drainage holes on the bottom, banana leaves and jute sack on top. We're finding some temperature/fermentation inconsistency within this set of boxes -- by 96hrs there was still some pockets of cool fresh cocoa on bottom and corners. Could this be because box is too deep or cocoa too wet at start?

Our cocoa is quite wet compared to other areas i've seen. My best guesses are (a) add more drainage holes in beginning boxes (b) make the first box change at 24hr instead of 48 (c) mix in between box changes (d) make a more shallow box with less cocoa touching the wood. Looking for any tips you can offer though..

Forastero fermentation advice for beginner

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Thanks Clay for the advice. We're in East Africa. Nearest laboratory is a couple days a way and I think very unlikely we'd be able to use a mechanical device to pressing beans.

I was going for 90% because this seemed like the minimum acceptable quality for an FCC contract and I thought that would be a good place to start. I did not realize all of the flavour would be lost.

We are using thermometers to monitor temp each day. I do not know pH or sugar content. Do you have any recommendations for tools that would allow us to regularly measure pH of the cotyledon?

Forastero fermentation advice for beginner

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Hi,

Obviously these questions are dependent on the local situation, weather, harvest specs, etc. but just hoping for some general advice which may shorten my learning curve.

1. What is the best indication of complete fermentation for a box of forastero beans? (Drop in temperature below 45C? Purple/brown color inside? Absence of acid smell? Time in box?). Assume we are looking to acheive 90% or more. Is some remaining acid after fermentation good? Would it reduce if I lengthened drying time by transferring beans to the drying beds at night?

2. Generally speaking, How easy is it to over-ferment beans? Can this happen if beans are left for an extra 0-12hrs? 12-24hrs? or does it require more like 48-72hrs? I have read that longer fermentation time is generally correlated with better fermentation rate, but I've also read that fermenting up to 100% can cause a vinegar taste and formation of bad bacteria.

Background:

Our beans are all smallholder sourced, mostly forastero. Farmers cut pods themselves and deliver 'fresh beans' to us same day as harvest. There is a lot of mucilage so we stack the beans on pallets in pp bags for 2 days before putting them in hard wood boxes 3'x3'x3' covered with banana leaves. We shift boxes every 48hrs. We are experimenting with soaking/washing the beans after fermentation. Beans are sun-dried on raised beds for 5-7days.

For this recent batch, I have found that by day 6 the beans are still quite warm in the center >45C with an acid/alcohol smell to them. When cut open many are dark purple with brown juice others pale. (see attached @ 2 days on pallets + 6 days in boxes).