Forum Activity for @Panod

Iencountered with something very weird during conching (Is it?). I roast this set of beans, and it smells so nice, during the first 3 hours I was able to pull off all of the acids, and I added in refined sugar, at that time I really love the taste, but everything is coarse, so I let it conch over night, the next morning the chocolate was smooth but with astringent taste and smell. Where does it came from? But during my first 3 hours of conching there was no sign of acid or astringent taste or smell at all. How can I fix this problem?

Thank you for all of your replies

It does? But I have a feeling I might store it wrongly, I put it in this plastic tank, and put in some coal and those packets that absorb moisture and smell, and occasionally when it's sunny and dry outside I bring the beans out to dry (does this consider as aging?) Strangely every time when I open the lid to get the cocoa beans out, the temperature is noticeably cooler inside. Some beans have this white color covering it. After I roast the beans, some are loose, some are tight together, and some have this powdery texture (I always throw this beans with powder out) Is it usable?

Sorry that my question doesn't seem to end :S

Thank you for all of your advices. It came out great, no sour or astringent taste at all! I roast the beans long enough that I can sense the changing of brownie smell turns to acidic smell and then back to brownie again. I let it conche for 34 hours, open the lid, blow in a little bit of air and hair dryer. Also added the Baking Soda. Despite it smelling like someone's smelly foot throughout the conche, I put it in the fridge and the next morning it ended up tasting good, bitter sweet.

Thank you Sebastian, thank you Richard, thank you Rodney! :D

And also my beans I brought them since October last year, and I just decided to buy a melanger so 4-5 months, I aged it a little bit too much. I think that this over fermentation of beans won't happen anymore. Thank you for all of your advices.

Best

Panod

Thank you Sebastian for your insight, I'll keep the lid off and let it conche for ~36-48 hours. And will add baking soda after 36 hours(If it still smell bad). Like 1/2 teaspoon? I'm making a 400 g batch.

At the beginning of next month I'll be visiting the farm down south to see how they grow it. Will post pictures

Thank you Sebastian!

All of those haven't been tempered yet, and right now it smell acidic and unwelcoming. :S

Hi! I really need advice.

I keep on having problems of making chocolate that taste acidic. I've made 7 batches so far.

Each with different temperature, mostly either short high or long low.

Especially the long low roast a little more than half way I get this scent of acidness and at the end resulted in a little bit of a burned brownie smell.

Many roast I would get this nice smell of chocolate aroma.

But despite all these roasting which turns up to be smelling either nutty or chocolaty smell, every batch I pour into the melanger, I would get this instant rush of acidic smell, and when it turn liquid I add in sugar I tried 70%, 62% 60% 52%(with milk powder) first 2 batch I'm surprise to see that after 6 hours I would get this fine chocolate already, but I let it run until 12 hours. All the batch after that are 20-25 hours. After conching I would pour it into a container and let it settle a bit and store it into the fridge for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, still some acidic taste.

May I know what I did wrong. The ingredient are only beans and sugar, I have no access to lecithin or cocoa butter at all.

I mostly keep the lid on, because I let it run over night, and it make a lot of mess when open. I sometimes use the hair dryer like 5-10 minutes.

I also look at the farm that supply the beans and it is certified by the local research center for quality.

What could be wrong? The conching time is not enough? More hair dryer? Longer and hotter roast? Need to open the lid?

Thank you in advance for all of your advices.

May I know how long and how often should I blow in the warm air? I use a hair dryer, and I use it like 5-6 times for a period of 5-10 seconds during the start of the conch and didn't blow in any hot air again until finish. My finished product still have acid taste in them, may I know how long do you blow in warm air?

Seems like I have to invest in a cocoa butter press then, for in this country there are no cocoa butter available.

Thank you Richard for your advice!

Thank you Felipe and Sebastian for your advice, those tips and tricks solve all of my problems thank you!

Thank you Felipe! So if any ingredient I put into the melanger that have a higher water content, it could cause the chocolate to seize up more? So if I put honey in, the chocolate it would turn out to have a higher viscosity than brown sugar? Sadly I have no access to cocoa butter, can I put in more cocoa nibs instead? May I know how big is your first batch? And this question I always wonder, when you leave your chocolate do you leave it outside? Or you put it in a fridge for 2 weeks. I live in a hot humid country, so I put my crack cocoa beans and conched chocolate into the fridge, would it be alright? Thank you Felipe, I've learn loads of stuff today! :D

Hi,

I just got my CocoaT Melanger yesterday, so this is my very time making chocolate properly.

For my first trial I use 380g of cocoa beans, I added in 163g of cane sugar to make it 70% dark chocolate. Three hours later I taste it, it's bitter sweet, and I want it to be a little sweeter, but I ran out of cane sugar but I got brown sugar, added 90 g in to make it 60%, I went to sleep and woke up the next morning (12 hours) letting it process. The liquid is smooth, but not that chocolate smooth I would get in normal chocolate, and it also doesn't have the color of a processed chocolate.

Is it the brown sugar that's causing the problem? Or 12 hours of conching is not enough for this 633g chocolate batch I'm making.

It also have a sour taste to it, can this problem be solved by letting it rest for 2-3 weeks before tempering?

Thank you so much in advance for your advice!

Thanks Sebastian, so by just tempering and cooling andstoragethe chocolate properly, it will be just fine right?

Thank you so much Sebastian!

Hi,

Ive read somewhere in the internet, but now when I try to go back searching for it, I couldnt find the information.

Ive read that chocolate have 5 melting stages, and in order for the chocolate to still stay solid in your hand is when you reach the fourth stage.

How do we know what stage is our chocolate is in?

Or if we conche and temper it normally will it directly go to the fourth stage?

And if I want my chocolate to reach the fifth stage (to make chocolate chip) how do I do that? Longer and hotter conche?

Thank you for all of your advices and guidelines.

Thank you Tom and Maria! I roast a small batch today, and it came out wonderful, the smell is so nice, and right now I smell like chocolate, the best perfume smell ever!

Maria is your method for roasting your Dominican Republic Beans is it:

170C for 5 minutes

150C for 10 min

130C for 10 minute?

Do you soak your beans in the water or steam them before roasting?

Tom thank you for your advice, I tried roasting my beans today, and one of the bean smell so good, will have to make all of the beans smell like that.

Hi! Im Nod, and Im from Thailand!

Making Chocolate has always been my dream since I was in 3^rd Grade, and when the teacher asked me what I would like to do in the future, I answered making chocolate, now I want to make my childhood dream come true. I start learning how to make the chocolate Beans to Bar seriously about 6 months ago reading thick books, and browsing through this website, I have tired making the beans to bar 5 times now, and it keeps on failing. I follow the tips such as leaving the chocolate for a week or two before tempering, to get rid of those unpleasant sour tastes. Dont over heat it for it will make the chocolate bitter. Using milk powder to reduce the bitterness, but the taste is still unpleasant.

May I know what I did wrong?

My Cocoa Beans I ordered them from a farm in the southern Thailand, I think its Forastero, Im not sure the farm didnt tell me, and when I smell it for the first time, it smells very weird, I dont know how to describe it, it smells sour, not chocolate at all.

I soak them in the water to wash off the dirt and I put it in a steamer, for the book I read says that it would enhance the flavor, and then I put it in the oven for about 50C for 5 minutes, and then raise the temperature to 105C and then to 135C for 30 minutes, and then I take it out and let it cool, but the cracking is very difficult, so for all of my other trial I put the beans in the pan with low flame and roast them for about 15 minutes, until it crack.

Then I put it in a blender, and blend it until it turns to liquid, took me an hour to do that, and then I put it in a food processor for the whole afternoon and let it work through night, and when I taste it again the next morning, it taste horrible, very unpleasant, it have all of the elements of the word nasty, the sugar didnt melt, its sour and bitter, and the particle size so large, and it melt too fast. So I let those chocolate rest for 3 weeks and then I conch again for the whole night, the only thing better was the sour taste is gone. I didnt measure the temperature during the conch; I believe its about 35-45C.

I have a feeling that my beans are extremely acidic, how do I get the chocolate texture for the texture Im getting is very harsh, and it melt too fast. How can I fix it? Should I order a stone grinder like Santha Grinder from India?

Thank you so much!

Do you supply small batches of fermented cocoa beans? About 10lb?