Forum Activity for @Dom Ramsey

Bean to bar bitterness / astringency problem

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

Thanks for the help, I am aware of that, however it's really not the problem here. This is a very distinctive, very unique flavour characteristic that is running across multuple batches from multiple, entirely different sources - some of whiich have made made both award winning chocolate but are now producing inedible chocolate from the same small bag.

My question isn't about the beans. It's about wheter anyone has experience of an issue with grinders (or other kit) affecting the flavour.

Bean to bar bitterness / astringency problem

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

Not enough, clearly.

The bigger issue for me is that the astringency is occuring now in batches of beans that I know to be good and have made great chocolate from in the past.

Bean to bar bitterness / astringency problem

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

Hey guys

I'm having an issue with my last few batches of bean-to-bar, made in a small 1.5kg Premier grinder. I had an issue with one batch of beans that produced a very intense bitter/astringent taste in the chocolate. I'm fairly sure this came from a bad batch of beans, although I didn't notice anything after roasting, so maybe just some of the beans in the batch were affected.

My issue now is that subsequent batches made from entirely different bean sources also have this bitterness, although to a lesser extent. Has anyone ever encoutnered an issue like this before, where a strong flavour can carry over to a different batch, even after thoroughly cleaning the grinder?

Alternatively, could it be an issue with the grinder itself? Perhaps grinding stone into the chocolate? I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment as the grinder does seem to be the only common factor between batches and I am (as far as I can tell) cleaning it thoroughly between each use.

Small/Medium Sized Grinders

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

I'm starting up a little small batch chocolate company and the grinder I've been using for test batches (Premier Wonder Grinder) has just died. It's a little 1.5kg capacity thing, and I can probably get it replaced as it's less than 6 months old, but in the mean time I was wondering if it's worth upgrading to something a little bigger.

Does anyone have any recommendations for grinders in the 5 - 10kg range that are reasonably affordable? I realise that these things are inherently quite unreliable and difficult to get parts for, so that may be a long shot. 

updated by @Dom Ramsey: 04/09/15 05:17:37

Bean To Bar At Home

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

I've been experimenting with making my own bean-to-bar chocolate at home over the last few weeks and I've been lucky enough to have some pretty good results. Today I wrote an in-depth post on my blog explaining my process:

http://www.chocablog.com/features/making-bean-to-bar-chocolate/

I'd love to hear feedback on this - both to hear if it helps inspire anyone, but also to help improve my own technique. At this point I have a budget of basically zero, and everything I've done so far has cost less than 300 / $500.

I'm ready to be told I'm doing it all wrong, so feel free to criticise. My goal though is simply to open normal people up to the idea that they can make chocolate themselves. My readers are chocolate & confectionery consumers who know little about the industry, and if I can make home chocolate makers out of a few of them, I think I will have done a good job.

updated by @Dom Ramsey: 04/10/15 14:42:07