I've read in another forum of somebody replacing the delrin insert in the roller stone with custom machined teflon bushings. I have this model melanger but have yet to fire it up. I'm going to be proactive and obtain a quote from a local machine shop.
Hi there,
I am looking into some small scale home roasting roaster options. I've narrowed it down to about 3: Behemor 1600, CocoaT Junior Roaster from Cocoa Town, or a stainless steeldrum (RKdrums) hooked up to a rotisserie on my BBQ.
From what I've read, the Behemor is decent and not without its quirks, and only roasts about a lb max. $299 Reasonable price for the beginner.
The CocoaT Junior Roaster seems like a great option. 4-6 lbs at a time, beans rotate slowly in a stainless steel drum under convection heat. $450 Reasonably priced as well.
BBQ drum (depending on size) holds the largest capacity of beans for a home roaster. Depending on where you purchase, it can be quite expensive...upwards of $1000 for asmall size drum, including motor and rotisserie rod. You also need to modify your BBQ somewhat to ensure even heat distribution.
Has anyone used any of these 3methods? Is there another option im not exploring? Any insight would be valuable. Im especially interested if anyone has used the CocoaTown roaster. Thank you.
Donny
Great info...I will try it out.
I used my chocoa chocolate melter for the first time to practice my tempering. Its a 6kg melter. I used 2kg of 54%semi-sweet dark chocolate couverture. The melter temp was set to45 C (113 F), and I left it alone foR about 2 hours. Once it was completely melted, I inserted my chocolate thermometer to get a read. It was only at about 90 F, so I turned up the melter. I basically had the melter at full blast at about 65 C and it took 30mins to reach 113 Fon the thermometer.
I then removed the tray from the melter, added a handful of seed, and stirred. The temperature dropped very slowly. 2 more handfuls of seed, and 25 mins later, the thermometer still read 90 F. At one point I noticed the 3rd handful of seed was not melting at all. I stuck a finger in the chocolate and it was barely lukewarm, yet the thermometer still read 90 F.
The thermometer is a basic glass thermometer. Arent these supposed to be accurate? Shoud I invest in a infrared digital thermometer, or is there something I am doing wrong?
I appreciate your comments.
Donny
Hello all,
hope everyone is having a great holiday!
I have a question regarding truffle making. To my understanding, once you have made your ganache/filling, you are supposed to refridgerate, then take out to form balls, then refridgerate or freeze. After the balls have been chilled, you are then supposed to dip into your tempered chocolate.
My question is will the chilled or frozen ganache throw off the temper? Ive read many posts advising against refridgerating tempered chocolate as it is more likely to bloom on account of the moisture. Would it be better to let the formed balls rise to room temp before dipping into chocolate?
Can anyone tell me what the minnimum amount of chocolate I should use in a 6kg melter?
Thanks Ryan! When adding seed do you use a % of the chocolate weight you are working with? I hear the double boiler method is very tricky, so am looking foward to practicing with my melter when it arrives.
Thank you for the replies. I actually heated my mold in a convection oven for 30 seconds before pouring the chocolate. Its funny, the other bars came out with no marks on them at all...they looked great, but did not have that "snap", so I know it wasnt a perfect temper. i will take all your tips into consideration!
CHOCOLATE: 1lb of dark bittersweet belgian wafer (melted whole)
METHOD: Double Boiler, seed, no seed
TOOLS: Polycarbonate mould, chocolate thermometer, heatproof bowl, plastic soup ladle
For my first attempt at tempering I used 1lb of chocolate and held 10% of that to the side for seeding. I added the wafers to the glass bowl in whole, without cutting them down. I set my stove to about 6, which was probably too high because by the time all the chocolate was melted my therm. read over 133 F, when my aim was 122 F max. I took the bowl off my pot and added the seed while stirring. The chocolate was obviously too hot, because it took over 25 mins for the temperature to decrease to 90 while stirring the entire time. At this point I was also interrupted by something, so decided to just leave the chocolate in the bowl and start over.
30 minutes later I began my second attempt. This time I held the heat at 1 and watched the temp climb slowly and steadily. Once it reached 110 F I took the bowl off the heat and placed it into my sink which had water and ice (I did not get any water into the mixture). I stirred and stirred until the temp cooled down to 84F (7 mins or so). I could not add any seed because I had none left. When it reached 84 F I placed it back on the pot to raise the temp up to 87 F (while stirring the entire time). My mistake was that I turned off the heat when I removed the bowl to cool down, so it took a bit longer to bring the heat up to 87 F and I believe the temp dropped down to 83 or 83 before I could bring it back up. When it reached 87 F i took the bowl off the pot and ladled the chocolate into my molds. I used a large knife to remove the excess off the mold, and began tapping it on my kitchen counter for a few mins, to remove air bubbles. I let it sit on the kitchen counter for a few hours before placing it into the refrigerator. This morning it was tough to get the chocolate out of the bars, but I managed to get one.
Here are a few pics of how it turned out. Obviously not that great, but I would like some critiques on my end product, my method, and the areas that I went wrong. I would also like some instructions on the correct way to remove the chocolate from the moulds, as they seem stuck and easily break when removed. Thank you!
Not sure on the quantity they can provide, but I know Giddy yoyo in Orangeville, ON sells organic fair trade and raw cacao butter, paste, powder, and nibs.
http://www.giddyyoyo.com/SuperFoods/?pid=13
Hope this helps!
Ok that makes more sense. I haveread many instructions on filling molds and pouring excess back into bowls, so its safe to assume that those individuals were making the outer shell and then filling in later. Thanks for the clarification!
Yes but isnt that only if you want to create a shell? what if you are making a solid bar?
I apologize for my amateur question, but if you are filling a mold, lets say a bar mold, why and how would you empty the excess chocolate into a bowl? Doesnt the chocolate have to settle into the mold? How do you pour excess chocolate without pouring everything out?
Hi Beth,
if you don't mind me asking the price you paid for the cocoatown melanger?
