Forum Activity for @Ben Rasmussen

DessertsHouse.com Chocolate Melter

Posted in: Opinion

I ordered one last night around 7:30 and it's already on the truck for delivery today.

This one can be operated wet or dry, so moisture shouldn't be a problem. Dry operation, like most of the 'true' chocolate melters, was one of the characteristics I was looking for. Most of the food warmers that I found required water.

I don't have any chocolate needing melting today, but I'll try to do some tests with water in the pan to see how well it works.

DessertsHouse.com Chocolate Melter

Posted in: Opinion

APW replied and said that the linked food warmer's temperature range is 70-180 F. So, it looks like it should work well for chocolate melting.

DessertsHouse.com Chocolate Melter

Posted in: Opinion

Thanks Clay. Definitely good points. I've got an email in to them. I'll post their reply when I get it. I'm mostly looking for something to pre-melt chocolate to load into my tempering machine--not really hold it at temp once melted.

DessertsHouse.com Chocolate Melter

Posted in: Opinion

I don't have any experience with that melter, but have been thinking about getting this food warmer to use as a chocolate melter:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/apw-wyott-w-3v-12-x-20-countertop-food-warmer-120v/135W3V%20%20%20%20%20%20120.html

Has anyone used one of these? How did it work?

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

I'll add it to my list of projects!

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

Definitely, but I think that should be controllable by raising or lowering the middle/turning part to increase or decrease the cracking gap. If the gap was set correctly, the beans should just crack and drop.

I'm interested in it because I think the shearing action would help to reduce one of my current headaches, which is nibs holding on to the shell that have to be screened out after winnowing.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

I tried googling around for more info on these and came across the universal nut sheller. It was originally designed to give people who subsist on peanuts a better way to crack them. Looks pretty easy to build (especially the 2nd revised version at the end of the 'redesigned' video) and could be motorized to really chew through some beans. What do you think?

Original designers:

http://www.thefullbellyproject.org/Products/UniversalNutSheller.aspx

Instructable:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Universal-Nut-Sheller/

Redesigned Universal Nut Sheller

Redesigned Universal Nut Sheller

CocoaT roaster?

Posted in: Opinion

Hello,

I'd love to get more information on these roasters. I'm currently using a convection oven, but have found that I get a fair amount of variance on in different parts of the oven. I've spoken with another small maker who recently switched to a drum roaster from a convection oven for this same reason.

I'm actually very interested in the digital controls and logging. One of my retail outlets is a small batch coffee shop who has modified their roaster to include several temperature probes that are hooked up to a laptop that graphs them real-time during the roast. He uses this to fine-tune throughout the roast.

Is this absolutely necessary? I guess that's up to the individual makers to determine for themselves. Sure, some/most makers aren't using this sort of technology, but that doesn't mean it is useless. For some, this level of detail and control may be exactly what they're looking for.

I've been thinking of building my own drum roaster using a large stock pot. It's basically like the image Clay has posted in this forum a few times with a few modifications. I'd wager that the roasters in question will be out of my price range, so I'll probably build it at some point.

Thanks,

Ben

Ball Mill refiners vs Roller Refiners

Posted in: Chocolate Education

And to the original topic, I agree with Clay on what most new makers use. I've been in contact with several new makers like myself and all started on santhas or ultras and some have then moved up to larger melangers.

Ball Mill refiners vs Roller Refiners

Posted in: Chocolate Education

Clay,

Any chance you'd give us more info about the bean cracker you're working on? After all, the biggest strength of open source is in the development process--"given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" and all that.

I'm particularly interested as this is something I've been thinking about lately, too. I've read of bean crackers that fling the beans against a metal plate and been thinking of a way to build something like this myself. I'd probably start with metal plates attached to a drill and dropping beans through them. Hopefully, they'd get hit a couple times on the way down.

-Ben

Santha Melangeurs

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

Hi Madeleine,

Are you sure it's the motor? Have you replaced the belt already? If not, I'd do that first as the stock belts are not great and wear out pretty quickly. Per Brad's suggestion a few years ago, I only use the fiberglass link belts on my melangers and they've been great. No stretching or breaking. I've had one on my Santha 40 now for over a year with no problems (the stock one broke on the third or fourth batch).

-Ben

Santha Melangeurs

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

You may want to look at CocoaTown's line of larger melangers that they call grindeurs. The come in 30, 40 and 65lb versions.

http://cocoatown.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&...

Interested in a device to make tempering in a Santha or Cocoatown grinder easier?

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

Hi Jessica. I believe that Madre is now using a commercial tempering machine, so I'd guess that they haven't done any further work on this idea.

I tempered for a while using a santha with one of the wheels removed, a thermometer, and a space heater/fan. I usually started with melted chocolate and would dump it into the room temperature santha. The process was basically to cool the chocolate down with the fan and seed chocolate. Once it was in temper, I'd just monitor the temperature and adjust as necessary using either the fan or the heater.

It worked pretty well, except that it added a lot of bubbles to the chocolate.

Caputo's Chocolate Program featured in Specialty Food Magazine

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Hi David,You can adjust what email notifications TCL sends you by clicking on settings at the top right hand of the page and then clicking email.Ben http://www.potomacchocolate.com

Caputo's Chocolate Program featured in Specialty Food Magazine

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Thanks Matt! That sounds great! We'd love any feedback and help we can get.-Ben

Caputo's Chocolate Program featured in Specialty Food Magazine

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Hi Matt,Definitely an interesting article. And I can speak to the efficacy of educating consumers as a way of building the market for fine chocolate, as I'm a beneficiary of one of your classes. My brother Brett and his wife Angela attended one of your classes last year and fell in love with chocolate. When they came home to Virginia for Christmas, they brought some chocolate and held a tasting (complete with history and tasting technique) for the family, converting almost all of us (my dad is still a holdout) to the joys of fine chocolate.I became particularly interested in it and started trying new bars and reading everything I could find on chocolate, it's history and production, and how to develop my palette. My wife and I also started holding tastings for some of our friends, one of whom suggested that we should try making it.That has spiraled into us launching a very small chocolate-making company. We're still very much in our infancy (embryonic may actually be a better description), but have a plan for developing our first bar and are hoping to get started soon.That one class has converted about 25 people that I know of, and helped spawn a new company. So, thanks--you're the top of my chocolate pyramid Thanks,Benp.s. if anyone wants to check out our new company, it's called Potomac Chocolate Co. and we've got a site and a facebook page. Like I said, we're very much in our infancy (haven't actually started making chocolate yet), but we launched the company and sites because we wanted to bring other people in to the chocolate fold and follow our progress: http://www.potomacchocolate.com http://www.facebook.com/PotomacChocolate

Small-scale (under 100kg) chocolate making equipment

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

Thanks! That's a great link.

Small-scale (under 100kg) chocolate making equipment

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

As someone who is looking to get into chocolate making soon, I'd love to see any pictures or plans for your various homemade winnowers, if you were willing to share.

Summer shipping tips & tricks?

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

I received some chocolate shipped in some of these and was very impressed with it. Can you give an idea of what the pricing is like?

updated by @Potomac Chocolate: 09/11/15 16:08:04

chocolate tempering machines

Posted in: Opinion

You still put the seed behind the baffle. It's a little harder and messier to remove any unmelted seed at the end, but it's not too bad.

chocolate tempering machines

Posted in: Opinion

You use it just like the normal baffle. It lets melted chocolate flow through to both sides, so it can hold almost double the chocolate.

chocolate tempering machines

Posted in: Opinion

I use the holey baffle with my X3210. It takes the capacity from about 10 lbs to 15 or 16 lbs. Due to comments I've read here and elsewhere about the possibility of broken baffles, I always melt most or all of the chocolate in a separate melter and then add it to the tempering machine. My understanding is that when the baffles break, it's due to the unmelted chocolate pressing against the back of the baffle.

chocolate tempering machines

Posted in: Opinion

Hi Krista,

I think the only options at $1500 or less are for mol d'art type tempering machines that don't stir the chocolate for you. I know that you're not interested in chocovision, but I think there's a big difference in quality between the smaller models and the larger, professional models. I've had no problems with my X3210 and would recommend it as probably the best option in the price range you're looking.

Ben