Personally, I don't think it's a good idea at all, and it certainly won't improve taste. In fact, adding cocoa butter in most cases will MUTE the taste of the chocolate.
There's a sucker born every minute (525,600 every year), so it shouldn't be hard to unload 574 bars....
Hi Everyone.
I don't own any of these machines. However, with my knowledge of the origin of these machines and cocoa and grinding, maybe I can provide you some insight.
The grinders you are using were never originally designed for cocoa. They were designed to grind things like chickpeas and other soft seeds into meal. They were NOT designed to grind cocoa beans.
Cocoa beans are like little pieces of granite. Their shells are even worse. They are very abrasive - almost like a mild sand paper. Over time compounds like plastic will ALWAYS wear out if cocoa is applied to it with any type of pressure. In fact, as time passes so too will the shafts that hold your granite wheels.
I have machines in my shop that are specifically designed for chocolate making. They have sealed bearings, and even rubber seals in front of the bearings, but even those eventually fail and allow chocolate to pass through and destroy the bearings.
The question here will never be, "What can I do to prevent these parts from failing?" The question should be "If I'm serious about making chocolate, how often am I prepared to replace the parts that I know will fail?"
Fan belts as primary drivers, plastic bushings, plastic paddles..... These are all indicators that these machines were not designed for every day use to make chocolate.
I hope that brings some clarity to the reason you always will have trouble with these machines as long as "plastic" is used on any part.
Cheers
Brad
I agree with Sebastian.
Some craft chocolate makers are of the believe that the chocolate "mellows" out after being given a rest. They pour it out of their machines and into blocks and age them.
However..... (and this is simply the pragmatic Brad talking here) If you have a solid block of chocolate sitting on a shelf in your shop, how long will it take for ALL of the chocolate to mellow out? After all, It's only the surface of the chocolate that is exposed to air when it's solid. It's not like the chocolate is pourous, or a live culture as in the case of cheese. Anything under the immediate surface isn't affected.
Simple reasoning in this case would mean that the benefit of "aging" the chocolate would be in immediately tempering it and pouring it into bars, where a much larger surface overall is exposed to air, thereby helping reduce the tannins and astringency.
Further to that, wouldn't it be more intelligent to simply used good quality cocoa beans in the first place, and then roast them properly? If these two steps are taken, I can assure you that the resulting nibs taste better than most 70% bars BEFORE the nibs are made into chocolate and sugar is added. Why? Because the majority of the astringency and bitterness has been fermented and roasted out.
Here at Choklat we don't age it at all, and it's just as good day one out of the refiner as it is having sat on a shelf in a 50lb block for 2 months.
I can see that as more craft chocolate makers emerge, they are going to, as Sebastian said, "spin up a nice story" to differentiate what they do from the others.
Cheers
Brad
The problem you're running into is that the silicone is insulating the chocolate and keeping it warm too long at temperatures which create different types of crystals. Your silicone molds need to be cool.
I just bought a FemagTM250 Roaster.
Anybody know anything about them?
You haven't let enough crystals propagate at the time you started pouring. This is why the bars later on turn out ok.
Oh.... and STIR STIR STIR, then when you think you've stirred enough, STIR STIR STIR, some more.
Cheers.
Wow Clay.
That's the harshest I've yet tosee you write (except in private emails to me! haha!).
Thanks for keeping it real.
Brad
Terrible idea for the following reasons:
1. Shells are much harder to refine than the nibs. Smooth chocolate made with as much as 20% shell will be VERY over refined.
2. Shells are incredibly bitter, and honestly don't contain a lot of flavour. (I know. I've tried to do a lot of things with them to avoid waste)
3. Shells contain a very significant amount of acetic acid. Making chocolate with the shell means conching a much longer time to oxidize the acetic acid.
4. Shells are the part of the plant that stores the heavy metals and other nasty elements (cocoa is often grown in volcanic soil full of heavy metals)
5. For strictly health reasons, it's a very bad idea.
6. I tried a few years back, and the chocolate was terrible - bitter and gritty.
If you're making chocolate WITH the shell, unzip the top of your head, insert a brain and think about this for a second: Large chocolate manufacturers make a profit of pennies on the pound for the chocolate they manufacture, and in spite of some making 100's of millions of lbs of chocolate per year,some STILL go bankrupt. (I was fortunate to buy a winnower from onebankruptcy auction just like that) They are always looking for ways to mitigate their costs. Do you actually think that in an effort to shave costs, they would WILLINGLY discard as much as 20% of their key ingredient if they didn't have to??? Remember, they are paying not only for the product, but also the shipping!
Having said all of that, not everyone can make good chocolate, and I'm glad. It helps my customers appreciate what I do even more.
Cheers.
Brad
I never could figure out why a person would need to be traipsing around the world with a guillotine. A sharp knife is a much more versatile tool and works just as well.
...just sayin'
Simple solution: put more pressure on the wheels and conche longer.
Remember: The Santha was never designed to make chocolate. You may need to leave it in the machine a lot longer than you would expect. 48-72 hours is not unrealistic.
Cheers
Brad
Thomas;
I have two Savage machines, and me and my staff use them to make literally thousands of chocolate bars regularly. In fact just today I molded up over 400 92g bars with them.
There are a couple of tricks you can use to "Fix" chocolate that you have over-tempered with them. Chocolate globbing up around the agitator is a sign of your water temperature being too low. It is cooling the chocolate too much, and causing it to solidify on the side of the machine. The scraper picks it up, and causes the big lump you are getting.
Trick 1: when cooling (tempering) your chocolate, don't have your water temp in the kettle so cold.
Trick 2:If the chocolate gets too thick in the machine, your working temperature is too low and the chocolate is over-crystalizing. You can thin it out by pouring 4-5 litres into 8 or 10 litre bowl, heating it to 45 degrees over a double boiler and then pouring it back into the machine. That much chocolate at that high of a temperature will not take over-crystalized chocolate out of temper. In fact it will probably only raise the overall temperature of the chocolate, maybe 1 degree F. I do it all the time if we need to temper chocolate quickly. You can do this as often as you like to get the viscosity you are looking for.
One other thing: Higher percentage chocolate (80% through to liquor) that has no lecithin in it will become VERY thick, and is difficult to work with even for someone experienced with those machines. You will find that as you work with chocolate like that, your water jacket temperature will have to be about 3 degrees F LOWER than your working temperature in order to keep your working temperature consistent. Chocolateasviscous as 80% +creates it's own friction and heat as it's being agitated. Having your kettle temperature and working temperature the same will almost always lead to overheated chocolate. Dark Chocolate of lower percentages generally doesn't behave this way at all (at least that's what I have found).
You have chosen to start at the top of the learning curve. Good luck with that. All I can tell you is to expect failure and be patient. I failed lots at first.
Cheers
Brad
Savage and Hilliards machines are far superior to the others I have. Each has it's own use though.
We have several - Savage Bros, Pavoni, Hilliards, and ACMC
The process works for all of them, as the machine's primary function is to agitate the chocolate.
Cheers
My staff do this exact thing regularly. It's actually pretty simple.
Let's say you're down to 5lbs of well tempered chocolate, and you need to refill, but you don't want to retemper everything.
Chocolate A = working chocolate
Chocolate B = new chocolate.
Heat B to at least 120 degrees F and stir well to ensure any crystals are fully melted.
Now Cool B to 90 degrees f, and add it to A.
Stir lots for a couple of minutes for the crystals to propogate.
That's it! Super easy. You can add the same quantity of B to A as long as you don't change the temperature of the final product, and as long as A is properly tempered. In fact it even helps if A is over crystalized a bit.
Cheers
Brad
Tom provided some good advice.
I personally go by smell.
I start by roasting a small amount at 170c until they begin to smell burnt. That point in time is my max threshold.
Then I start again with another batch at the same temperature. The beans start smelling chocolatey, then the smell gets acidic (vinegary), and then the acidity slowly tapers off and a nice mellow chocolate smell begins to become prominent. I tend to track the time and stop the roast somewhere between the decline of the acidity, and the point in time where I have recorded them as burnt.
The longer they are in the oven, I find the fewer delicate fruity/floral notes remain. Personally i try and retain some of the fruitiness.
Cheers
Brad
That looks to me like it is molded that way.
Having said that, you can only cut chocolate while it is still partially soft. A large round cookie cutter will work, but you will have to clean it before each cut, and the edge of the cut will not be perfect.
Sorry Paul, but you can'tcall what you're doing"raw chocolate". It's not raw. Period. Here's why:
1. Cocoa powder and cocoa butter, when processed, FAR exceed the 120 degree threshold commonly accepted in the "raw" food industry.
2. If it tastes like chocolate it isn't raw. Cocoa beans, when unroasted taste like crap, and absolutely NOTHING like chocolate. Coffee beans when unroasted don't taste like coffee, and bread when untoasted doesn't taste like toast. It's a heat triggered chemical reaction (called a Maillard reaction)that changes the protiens in the food to create the coffee flavour, the chocolate flavour, and the toast flavour. That heat must be above 170 degrees F - high enough to kill pathogens, change the flavour and negate the ability to call it raw.
Oh... one other thing....
You use the term "vegan raw white".... Did you know that a significant amount of cane sugar is processed using bone char? It isn't in the ingredient list on the sugar bag, but sure negates the whole "vegan" marketing schtick.
Here are some links:
http://www.lantic.ca/faq.php?lg=en#4
http://www.sucrose.com/bonechar.html
You seem like a guy who cares about what you market and sell. It's important to do your research into terms you wish to use, and the ingredients that could negate the ability to use those terms. I have found that vegans and raw foodies are often well read, and will call you on it. Be prepared.
Cheers
Brad
If I can offer my two bits...
For fun, and maybe something "exclusive" to offer your customers do what you're passionate about.
For business, don't bother asking people on this forum what you should do. They/we aren't your customers. ...And don't ask your customerseither. Theyalready like your product. Poll people in your area who don't buy from you what you should do. After all, they are the ones who should be paying your rent but aren't.
John, that was a tough one for me because I don't drink.
What I did was poll a series of local wine merchants who were willing to work with my company, and then sit down for a couple of hours with their sommeliers, various beverages, and my various chocolate bars and figure out what works and what doesn't.
The wine merchant who seemed most amenable to working with me got my business, and their referral information on our "official" Choklat wine pairing list that I posted on my website.
I hope that helps.
I started the events about 6 months after I opened my doors. I used an existing email list of clients for the first few, and also dedicated one event per month to a local charity whereby I would give the charity tickets to a single event. They would sell the tickets, keep the proceeds from the ticket sales, and I would host the event. Usually those events proved very fruitful, as the attendees were appreciative of my company's donation, and they would make signifiant purchases at the end of the evening.
The events are a huge win/win. The organization gets funds. The donor has an entertaining and unique evening, and Choklat gets new customers and great good will in the community.
Krista;
I have a fabulous marketing plan in place whereby people pay $50 per person to attend a tour and wine pairing at my shop. They are a captive audience for at least two hours, and the events themselves have become so popular, that my staff now host them 4 evenings a week, and they are sold out until the end of April. Each event hosts 10 people.
With this program in place I have had to spend ZERO on marketing in the past 5 years, and now have 2 corporate stores doing great, as well as a new dealership (like a franchise)in another city.
One word of advice: DO NOT SPEND A SINGLE DIME ON ANY TYPE OF ADVERTISING/MARKETING WHERE THE RESULTS CANNOT BE QUANTIFIABLY MEASURED!!!
Cheers
Brad
No slack. Link belt should be tight.
try either www.Nashvillewraps.com , or www.clearbags.com
They may have what you are looking for.
Cheers.
The best purees are the ones you make yourself out of fresh fruit. It's very easy - almost criminal to buy some if you have the fruit readily accessible.
Having said that, Qzina Specialty Foods has many types of great frozen purees. www.qzina.com
Cheers
Brad
Well stated. I certainly can't disagree with that.
In 20 years I'm hoping the conversation starts with "Hey Sebastian, am I flying you and your family out for Christmas again this year? I've got a great view of Lake Louise from my new Chalet. I've reserved the whole west wingand my personal chef for you!"
haha!
Sebastian;
You are valid up to a point. Yes, selection of the right tool for the job is important, and yes, sometimes the right tool is significantly more expensive up front. 5 times more expensive? Well.... I have a hard time rationalizing that one - especially when a businessisin that painful cash-crunching start up phase.
I remember 6 years ago asking you about the small MacIntyre conche/refiners, and then asking you about the ones I purchased. I told you what I was about to pay, and your answer was this: "The basic design of the machines is very simple, and given that you can buy 5 for the price of one MacIntyre, even if you have to buy 2 or three for the life of one MacIntyre you are still saving thousands of dollars."
Now, you have personally tasted my chocolate, and as someone who's very well respected in the chocolate community, aside from the criticism that I use too much cocoa butter in my 70% bars,you were very impressed with what I make using the inexpensive machines I purchased.
When it comes to posting online, there are some things I am happy to share, and some things I don't feel comfortable spoon feeding to people. I had to do a lot of homework to research equipment necessary start my business and I took significant risk with my own money. It is for this reason I'm reluctant to hand over the name of the company that I made my purchase from.
However, what I AM willing to tell you in the spirit of (partial) transparency is that in the past 5 years, I have hadFOUR 45 litre conche refiners working 24/7 making the chocolate my stores use. Aside fromthe replacement of some rear shaft seals (wear items) after two years of use, the $7,000 I paid for each machine has been repaid in spades - producing over $1.5 Million retailworth of chocolate.
So to all of you budding entrepreneurs wanting to start your own bean to bar chocolate company, I can tell you from PERSONAL experience that with a little online research you can save yourself approximately $20,000 PER MACHINE. In fact I am currently in discussion with a company to become the exclusive North American dealer of such equipment.
In conclusion, there is a time and place for almost everything except for being ripped off, and I'm sorry but $20,000 for a small, inefficient stone mill? To me that's a rip off.
Victor;
It's evident that you know what you are talking about technically.
However from a purely business perspective you are missing one focal point, which, if you ignore it will cause your product to be a major flop.
That focal point is your target market. You are trying to sell a product to a customer base that simply doesn't have $20,000 (don't forget shipping/duty/taxes costs) to spend on a machine that makes a VERY small amount of chocolate!
Think about this for a second: Who is your main competitor in this market? It's the Cocoatown machine. It's 1/4 of the price, and also uses stones for grinding.
With regard to whether or not chinese conche/refiners impart metal into the chocolate.... well... THAT my friend, depends on who is operating the machine. I can refine dark chocolate in my conche/refiners in 9 hours, and it will be fabulously smooth. However, this means having the blades put a lot of pressure on the sides of the machines. This causes wear very quickly and will obviously impart microscopic metal shavings into the chocolate.
There is also another very significant problem to this quick refining: oxidation. Simply put, it doesn't happen. Fabulous quality chocolate is NOT made in 12-18 hours. Period. Oxidation and flavour development takes time, and it doesn't matter if you're grinding with stones or steel.
The bottom line is this: You might very well have designed the Ferrari of conche refiners. However how many small business owners buy the Ferrari as their first vehicle, and how many of those will buy YOUR Ferrari after they outgrow the volume their old beat up Ford Pinto (and your Ferrari) creates?
As harsh as this sounds, I suspect that you haven't done your demographic homework and as a result have a very expensive boat anchoron your hands.
Further to Ben's reply below, the conche/refiners I use in my shop have been in operation 24/7 for 5 years, don't use granite wheels, are completely gear driven, make 45 litres of AMAZING smooth chocolate per batch, and are 1/4th the price - about $6,000 PER MACHINE.
I'd say yours are priced about $19,000 too high.
Clay and Sebastian;
Why re-invent the wheel here? I'm sure that there is some type of rating/award system in place for coffee, and seeing as there are so many parallels between coffee tastingand the direction that chocolate tasting is going why not just mirror those processes?
Sebastian brought up one of the significant concerns that I have always had with the ICA: some judges' palates aren't sufficiently discriminating.
Just like coffee already has, chocolate is evolvingto cater to"personal taste", and everybody's likes and dislikes are different. Add into the mix the concept of demographic preference (Europeans consumers typically like a darker, more intense chocolate than North American consumers), and you have a rating system that is not only as effective as herding cats, but is also skewed to a particular group of producers which is dependent on where the judges are from and how desensitized they have become to the intensity of the product throughout their careers.
Brad
I agree with Andrea.
$150,000 at least
How much are they asking per ton?
Can you get photos of the beans?
Is it possible to get a sample to evaluate?
You are not tempering your chocolate correctly.
It probably looks wickedly shiny and awesome on the outsideat first, and then a couple of days later the inside gets grainy. Simply put: It wasn't in temper when you molded it.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you can't afford the equipment for a small factory of your own, I'm guessing you can't afford to have a chocolate manufacturer make your custom chocolate for you. In most of the cases I've seen, you need to be talking in magnitudes of several hundred thousand lbs of chocolate per year before anyone will even talk to you.
...and heal bones, increase sex drive, promote fertility, paint your fence, wash your clothes, walk your dog, and even pick winning lottery numbers for you!
WOW WOW WOW
i GOTTA GET ME SOME!!!
1/4 inch in size eh? Hmmm.... Thermoformed mold probably won't work for you. Essentially what thermoformed mold is a sheet of heavy plastic laid over top of a "negative" of the mold, heated almost to melting point, and then sucked down on to the negative by vacuum pressure. The detail is nowhere near the clarity of polycarbonate, and is certainly not going to get you the 1/4 inch inclusion squares you want.
Polycarbonate molds are essentially little pellets of plastic that are melted and then forced into a metalmold shape under intense pressure and heat. The plastic cools and then the mold is popped open to let out the molded shape - which is usually very hard and clear (some are white). A machine that could handle a 2 foot sized mold would be huge. I'm sure they are out there, but holy cow your molds will be expensive. Prepare to sell off your first born for those bad boys!
My suggestion would be to create a negative out of wood, or molding clay, or something like that, and then use silicone. You can then make your own. There are lots of videos online to do that, and most cities have craft stores where silicone molding supplies are sold.
Hope that helps.
That's pretty big for polycarbonate - essentially the dimensions of a full sized sheet pan. You might want to consider a thermoformed mold and the use a sheetpan to help stabilize it.
I instruct my staff to take all of the chocolate they temper to 120, just to be safe, and make up for potential discrepencies in thermometer readings. 120 won't hurt any chocolate at all, in fact during processing, the temperature often gets MUCH higher -closer to the 130's.
My staff make a couple of hundred pounds of bark (chocolate with inclusions) per month, and the easiest they have found is to temper the chocolate, and pour everything into a stainless steel bowl mix it well with a spoon, then working quickly, pour it into trays to set.
I know of other chocolatiers who make bars in the manner in which Clay describes below. It's very time consuming, and you have to work quickly because once the chocolate goes into the molds it begins to set almost immediately.
Coppeneur does theirs in small plastic trays, and then sells the chocolate right in the tray. That's a pretty cool way of doing things. I was actually thinking of copying them.
Cheers.
Brad
