Forum Activity for @Gap

I don't know if this is too generic for you: http://www.candyusa.com/files/ChocolateSafetyHACCP.pdf

If I'm organised, I turn the tanks on the night before at 45C, let the chocolate melt and the next morning I take it out the tanks, hand temper on tabletop, turn the temp to 31C and put the tempered chocolate back in the tank. From there you can keep it in the tank all day, stirring it and occasionally adding heat to stop it "over tempering".

If I'm not organised, I just melt my chocolate in the microwave to 45C, table temper it and then add into the melting tank at 31C.

I usually have two tanks going at a time - one for dark and one for milk.

You can also melt your chocolate to 45C (either overnight or in microwave), then turn the tank temp to 31C and add seed chocolate to temper. I find this takes a LOT longer though. Much quicker just to table the chocolate.

Hi James - that sounds like the one. I use an earlier model of this:

http://www.moldart.be/en/shop/chocolate-machinery/dry-heat-chocolat...

I use two tanks and often set them up in the morning with 5kg in each and mould during the day (moulded chocolates rather than bars). I've used them for my bean-to-bar as well just to hold chocolate tempered until I mould as well.

Yes there are heated holding tanks. Mol d'Art are the most common (and what I use) but there are others. You temper all your chocolate by hand (they have a smaller units, a 6kg and a 12kg unit) and then put it in the tank which is set to working temp (sat 31C). You can then leave it and it will hold temper. The biggest issue is that you need to "keep" it in temper with a little work during the day. This mainly involves stirring every now and then and, as the chocolate can over-crystallise, hitting it with a heat gun when it starts to thicken too much (but not letting the temperature get so high that it goes out of temper). Its pretty easy when you get the hang of it and I often work with chocolate all day kept in a couple of these tanks and managing the temper of the chocolate just becomes second nature while you're doing other things.

Answered my own question. The photo on the Toak website at the bottom of this page says 50g

http://toakchocolate.com/tasting/the-wine-analogy/

The (second) article you link to says a 50 ounce bar but it looks a little small for that in the photos. Undeniably expensive either way, but I was wondering if you had tracked down something else which indicated to you the bar was 50g?

No worries Keti and good luck

It's hard to know from your description - many things could be at play. Your cocoa butter should be approx 32-34C when going into the sprayer. Try not to have too much colour on the moulds at once (it shouldn't be "running" into pools and leaving streaks) - do two coats if you want extra colour.

Hold your moulds about 20-30cm away when spraying. Ensure your work enviroment is in normal chocolate working conditions (approx 18-22C). Let your moulds dry after spraying, then put a thin coat of chocolate on the moulds (you can use your finger), let that dry and then mould the cavaties as you would normally. The chocolate should be correctly tempered so that it doesn't affect the coloured ccb.

Are you making your own colours (ie., ~10g fat soluble colouring to 100g ccb) or using a commercial product?

I've never used additional ccb for "extra" shine on my moulds and I can practically see my reflection in my chocolates. If you're spraying colour, it already has a lot of ccb in it. That said, I have heard of it done and I'm pretty sure its just standard cocoa butter they use.

Along the lines of Peter's response: what candy are you coating? Is it something you make in a "slab" before cutting up and then dipping? If it is, then you can pre-coat the bottom of the slab with over-tempered chocolate, cut up the slab into bite-size bits and then coat them in chocolate putting the pre-coated side as the bottom (essentially giving the bottom two layers).

I would add butter for the additional fat.

Here's a good place to start: http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/thread/391

I ran a neutral vegetable oil and white sugar 50/50 when I first got the machine. I think total weight was about 600g. Then discarded the sugar/oil and washed down the grinder. I don't think there's a perfect way of doing it but that's what I did. If you've already run chocolate through it, you've probably done enough "cleaning" and the stone dust should be out by now.

Did you "wash" your machine by running oil and sugar through it for a few hours before making chocolate (discard the resulting oil & sugar mixture)? That helps clean off the stone dust/grit that comes with delivery.

Also, between each batch, are you removing the wheels and cleaning the insides of them (say with a cotton bud)?

I'm only guessing here, I don't have any scientific basis for saying this, but:

- milk is stored in a fridge at 4C - I assume this is to help prevent bacterial growth

- chocolate has an incredibly long shelf life (relative to milk) if it remains unmixed with anything

I would have thought it best to (1) keep the milk in the fridge as long as possible for bacterial reasons and (2) not mix the chocolate with anything else, so that if you don't use it all, you can let it set and reuse it later.

Thanks Michael - I guess it's always possible to catch staff on a bad day (everyone's human). I tried a lot of their bean to bar about a year ago and am keen to see how it has come along (and have been asked to pick up some pralines as well). It is a bit out of the way, but I have a very understanding wife

Anything in particular you didn't enjoy about Ducasse's? I'm heading over for a couple of weeks soon and its one of the places I plan on stopping at.

On that side of town is Jaques Genin (chocolate and pastries),L'eclair de Genie (eclairs by Christophe Adam previously of Fauchon),Pain de Sucre (pastries). I have tried the first and plan on trying the other two later this year.

In terms of candies, Fouquet is supposed to be interesting, but I haven't been before.
lEtoile dOr is on the other side of town and stocks a number of different chocolates and candies from around France which you can't get elsewhere is Paris.

Other chocolatiers I have enjoyed are Patrick Roger, La Maison du Chocolat, Jean-Charles Rochoux and Michel Cluizel. There are plenty of others as well worth trying.

Great result Mark

Before roasting

Here's a starting point for looking at the cut test Sebastian refers to for your beans

http://ccib.gov.tt/node/116

And another discussion here

http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/aging-chocolate

There's a good discussion on aging chocolate here

http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/thread/911/aging-chocolate-temper

which Sebastian had a lot of input to as well

My room temp changes a lot depending on weather (not ideal). Once the chocs are out of the fridge, the room can be anywhere between 15-24C. If it gets warmer than that, I turn on the AC. If the AC can't bring the temp down below 24C, it is officially to hot to make chocolates (which happens a bit during summer).

I don't know the scientific benefits of one method over another, but I have used both methods (well, a room at 18-22C rather than a fridge) and both worked fine.

Hopefully you're not trying to do your tempering/moulding in a room that is 4C though - that could be interesting

I often set my chocolate in a conventional fridge (I'm in Australia too). The trick is to take it out once set and not leave it in there too long. So I don't reckon a room temp of 4C would be any problem.

That's a good point - I always chop mine before melting or use Mycryo which is in powdered form.

Yep, I put mine in a saucepan and melt over a gas cooker/flame.

I have used that machine for a 500g batch of chocolate (ie., combination of sugar and nibs). It is tricky and you need to keep on top of it - basically you need to make sure enough heat is kept on the nibs and rollers to keep everything moving. I use a heat gun (paint stripper) or hairdryer.

I have the same machine and have left it running for 50 hours straight without any fans/modifications. No problems what-so-ever. My machine would have done over 800 hours now without needing new belts or any new parts.

OK - Anvers got some back in stock in the past month or so (having sold out previously) and I received my bars today. First up, reasonably priced for an Australian fine chocolate - I paid $10.50 for a 100g bar which compares very well against the like of Valrhona (~$13 for 70g) or Cluizel in my local area.

I enjoyed the chocolate. It was fairly one-dimensional in flavour (that's not a bad thing) - it tasted like a dark, luscious chocolate without any other strong notes of berries or fruits etc. Beautifully made in terms of texture and melt - mine was quite soft for a dark chocolate and melted away pleasantly.

Thanks Brian

Clay - like most people I've heard the back story and know of the chocolate, but have never seen it for sale at a retail level. Is it for sale under the Felchlin brand? I was under the impression that is was been sold in wholesale lots (or at least bulk) from Chef Rubber at one stage, so do people simply re-melt and sell it under their own brand?

I would be interested in trying it if I could get hold of it in Australia

Thanks for any leads

I have only seen them on the Net, but you could ty these guys

http://spencercocoa.com.au/bulk-beans/

This book gives a good introduction to a complex topic

http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Chocolates-Great-Experience-Extending/dp/9020990209/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380443919&sr=1-1&keywords=fine+chocolates+3

That's a pretty involved question and depends on a lot of variables. This book gives the best explanations I know of about extending shelf life for artisanal chocolates

http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Chocolates-Great-Experience-Extending/dp...

It can help firm up/set a ganache but will still give a good mouthfeel for the ganache because cocoa butter melts near body temperature

eGullet Pastry & Baking section has a fair bit on ice cream

http://forums.egullet.org/forum/72-pastry-baking/

This thread is a recent one

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/144208-home-made-ice-cream-2013/

Hi - the heat gun I use goes well over 120 F (it is a professional paint stripper - although a very cheap one). The sous vide unit switches the heat gun on and off in very short intervals (sometimes only on for a second) to make sure it maintains the correct heat and doesn't over heat.