Forum Activity for @Francis Murchison

Marble Slab

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

3'x3' beautiful marble slab. Currently located in San Diego

$75

updated by @Francis Murchison: 06/29/23 16:49:02

DIY Winnower for sale

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

I made this machine on a budget and have tweaked and fine tuned it to the point of winnowing perfectly clean nibs every time.

$400

Transportation on this machine would be rather awkward, so sales within California would be preferred, we are in San Diego

updated by @Francis Murchison: 06/29/23 16:49:02

6K Mol-d'art melter

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

Still in great working condition. Purchased a few years ago. This unit has a temperature dial and heating light indicator.

$400

updated by @Francis Murchison: 06/29/23 16:49:02

Used Revolation Delta

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

This machine is still in great condition and fully functional. Included 2 bowls, new baffle, holey baffle $1,600

Skimmer, used 3 times $400

updated by @Francis Murchison: 06/29/23 16:49:02

Mexican cocoa beans for sale

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

Hi there! Where are you located?

We might be able to help you out, depending on quantities, as of January. francis.murchison@gmail.com

Mexican cocoa beans for sale

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

We have about 140lb left now at $5 a pound.

francis.murchison@gmail.com or 508 2746590

Mexican cocoa beans for sale

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

You can give me a call at 619-798-6030

Mexican cocoa beans for sale

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

We are downsizing in preparation to move onto our own cacao farm in Puerto Rico. This cacao was sourced directly from the indigenous farmers of San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec Oaxaca. Bitter and intense beans lend themselves to an amazing flavor profile, especially in dark milk chocolate.

Roughly 150lbs available for $800 plus shipping. The beans are currently in San Diego

updated by @Francis Murchison: 06/29/23 16:49:02

Effect of Cocoa Butter on tempering

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

Thanks for the pointers everyone!

I have had increased success, although it is definitely baby steps at this point. So many little details to remember! So far using the deodorized cocoa butter seems to bring about better results. I am on the market for an automatic tempering machine as well, which might help out.

Thanks again

Francis

Effect of Cocoa Butter on tempering

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

Okay, so I guess we can't discuss this without getting into all the details, here goes.

I temper with a thermometer. Recently I've been using an infrared one, but I had successfully used candy thermometers as well. After having all this trouble I ordered a thermometer that can be calibrated.

http://www.amazon.com/MeasuPro-TF5000-Waterproof-Thermocouple-Thermometer/dp/B00KB8K85S/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1409501987&sr=1-6&keywords=thermometer+thermocouple

Here is my process.

Start with chocolate cooled to 80 degrees

For dark warm to 123, for milk 105

Re-cool to 83 I have tabled the chocolate on a marble slab and mixed it back in for this stage, and also cooled it in a cold room.

Warm to 89 for dark and 86 for milk chocolates.

place in molds.

This is kind of simplified, but that's the regular gist.

The recipes that went wrong contained the following extra ingredients: Sichuan pepper topped with dried candied kumquat, dried bhut jolokia hot pepper, cardamom topped with espresso beans.

All batches were tempered twice to no avail. I will proceed with a different cocoa butter today and see how it turns out.

Thanks again,

Francis

Effect of Cocoa Butter on tempering

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

Hello chocolatiers!

I recently came into a streak of what seems to be serious bad luck with tempering. Six failed attempts on three batches of chocolate. And this after years of relatively successful hand tempering.

Here are the variables:

Southern california summer weather. Right now this means heat wave, often we have temperatures in the mid 90's

I have tried to mitigate this by tempering in the morning and tempering in an airconditioned lab. Both corrections have been unsuccessful.

Change in heat gun. I doubt this could be having an effect.

Change in cocoa butter. I recently purchased 50lbs of non-deodorized organic cocoa butter from J Edwards. Picture attached.

A white chocolate made with their deodorized organic butter came out fine. I am doing an experimental batch of dark with some of this added to check it out.

My question to all of you is as follows. Can a difference in cocoa butter grade effect my temperature curve, or be contaminated somehow and not temper at all, causing problems in the temper process?

Please help if you can.

Thanks

updated by @Francis Murchison: 04/09/15 13:07:14

Warped white chocolate bars

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hello,

I recently finished a batch of white chocolate which I finished and hand tempered, then molded in combination with cocoa nibs and a couple other flavors. Some of the bars came out warped lengthways. These are small 40g bars. Any thoughts on why this occurred and how to avoid it?

updated by @Francis Murchison: 04/20/15 16:01:14

Cocoatown ECGC 12 melanger roller stones no longer turn

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

Thanks Eric. I will do this test. I talked to Cocoatown and they can sell me new rollers for $200. I'm thinking of trying to redo the roller tubing and bushings instead. Also, if there is some other way for me to increase downward pressure, the extra shear might make up for the wear in the tubing. In my case refining time is very affected because as soon as the mix starts to get nice and liquified (maybe after 6 hours) the rollers stop moving. I think my next steps will be 1 - trying to hack an increase in pressure from the tension bar using spacers on the top of the central axle. 2- Removing the roller tubing and trying to make new tubes.

I will post the results.

Cocoatown ECGC 12 melanger roller stones no longer turn

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

Thank you for the feedback folks.

I made some rudimentary bushings following the recommendations of my engineering friend again (basically thin plastic angled washers with a small protruding plug). Fitting them was a bit hard because they had to be nice and thin in order to avoid having them pinched by the nut at the end of the axle which would prevent rolling. I got that done and did the install but the machine is basically doing the same thing. Is it possible that there is some sort of wear that has caused the rollers to experience less contact with the drum bottom? My next step was to check whether there were replacement bushings available. Any ideas how to adjust the shear on this machine?

Cocoatown ECGC 12 melanger roller stones no longer turn

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

by 'bushings" you mean the nylon fittings inside the roller stones? I was looking at everything with an engineer friend of mine yesterday and we did notice that they were pretty much toast, we ordered new nylon to replace.

Yes the stones are being disassembled and cleaned after each use. Isn't teflon toxic, especially when heated? I can order new bushings at cocoatown?

Cocoatown ECGC 12 melanger roller stones no longer turn

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

Hello,

I have the older model of the small cocoatown melanger and have been through one belt change over a year or so with one batch a week in the last nine months. Recently I've noticed that the roller weels have stopped turning, first one and now both. At first I could put some pressure on the end of the tension arm that goes accross the rotating bowl and the rollers started turning again, but now they just stay put and there's nothing doing.

This only starts after at least 24 hours running. Initial refining goes fine.

Is there some way to increase the tension on the stones?

Has anyone had similar problems and found ways to correct?

I look forward to your comments.

updated by @Francis Murchison: 04/09/15 07:15:10

Cocoatown Melanger Belt Change

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

Hi,

In all honesty I have had a very bad experience with customer service from Inno Concepts and tend to avoid using them as a resource if I have any problems. The belt I bought is a micro-v 31"x 3/8" belt. Not the powertwist, as it is not a v-belt. Here is the link to the specific product I bought on Amazon, you may find this in an autoparts store as well. These belts have universal part numbers regardless of the company that may produce them, in this case 310J4

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NUROHAY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

updated by @Francis Murchison: 06/10/15 14:15:37

Cocoatown Melanger Belt Change

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

Hi Ben,

Could you tell me an approximate length on that belt? I'm looking to order one of the Powertwist belts.