FBM Compatta for sale
Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted
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Forum Activity for @Freddo
FBM Compatta for sale
Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted
240v 50Hz single phase. Two years old.
located in New Zealand.
$12,999 NZD
updated by @Freddo: 06/29/23 16:49:02
Looking for quality photos
Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted
Hi Sebastian
Thank you for your offer to trade chocolate for photos, I would be more than happy to send you some chocolate.
On the website we are making a section to educate about how cacao is made into cocoa beans. I would like to show the pretty cacao flowers, insects aiding the pollination, the formation of pods on the trunk, which turn into large pods -different colours of the trinitarios. Then move on to harvesting, extraction of the beans from the pods, box fermentation process, sun drying, turning and filling the sacks.
I would also like general shots of around the plantations showing the workers going abut their work, routine stuff and non routine (eg playing football on site, going to church), general interest stuff.
it would be fabulous if you could help us out.
Rgds
Freddo
Looking for quality photos
Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted
Hi All
updated by @Freddo: 06/29/23 16:49:02
Opinion on Continuous v Batch Tempering
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
Hi Aura.
11 origins. Wow. Do you mean the Prima?
I'm still searching for answers myself but I've learnt alot in the past few weeks.
It depends on what your chocolate is like, what your throughput is like (how fast you will use the chocolate in the machine), what you are making (bars?), how big your batch is. Its a minefield out there and not alot of solid information to go on.
I think the main thing to consider is in-country customer support - you dont want to be on the phone to Italy or France at 1am trying to sort out problems, not unless you can speak french and italian.
Ask to see the user manual of any machine you are considering. Some manuals are hopeless but others may help your decision.
Regarding the Prima. As Clay has said the small machines take alot of dialling in (I know because I currently have a small machine), they have a shorter screw pump (auger) which means less cooling power, not good for thick chocolate. And the temperature difference between working temperature and tempering temperature is small (0.5 degree) which means you will be working with you chocolate alot cooler then you probably have been. This is not configurable unfortunately. And again not good for thick chocolate. Its only when you get to bigger machines that you get longer screw pump and more temperature range in the tempering curve.
If youve been tempering on a slab you will be used to working with three temperatures. The continuous machines mostly only allow you adjust two temperatures (melting & working) and the machine will decide what the tempering (seeding) temperature is. I assume these machines are mainly made for working with coverture which can stay more fluid at cooler temperatures, but if you want to run your working temperature high, to keep fluidity in your bean-to-bar chocolate, you will sacrifice the seeding temperature because the seeding temperature is fixed (0.5C - 2C degrees less) to the working temperature. Hope you can follow me. There will be compromise somewhere. However with a batch tempering machine you can play with all three temperatures as much as you want.
My ideal machine would have, 25-40kg bowl, long powerful auger, user configurable three point tempering, removable/reversable/variable speed auger, pneumatic dosing head and be compatible with an automatic mould loader.
Now I'm no expert so I'm just passing on what I have learnt these past weeks. This sort of information just isnt out there. It would be nice if an expert could join this discussion to give better explanation of these machines.
Opinion on Continuous v Batch Tempering
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
Hi Sebastian.
Sorry no I dont have a way of measuring it. Its thick. No emulsifier.
Cheers
Opinion on Continuous v Batch Tempering
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
Whoops I forgot to mention an important thing.
I have 5 different origins all at different percentages ranging from 66 to 75.
And my weekly production is about 150kg (just starting up)
and I dont have a melter
cheers for your feedback
Opinion on Continuous v Batch Tempering
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
I want to mold 50kg of viscous bean to bar chocolate into 70g bars on a daily basis.
I'm happy to fill them by hand, dont need a mould loader but a three cavity dosing head would be handy.
What do you think would be the best solution for this?? A continuous type machine or a batch tempering machine? What is the pro's and cons of each approach?
updated by @Freddo: 05/12/15 05:48:44
I think you can get a good approximation this way, if you want to go to the trouble.Fill an accurate measuring container with exactly one litre of melted chocolate.Weigh it (subtract the weight of the container of course).The SG of water is 1.00 so 1 litre of fresh water weighs exacty 1 kilo, that is your reference.If your chocolate weighs 1200 grams your SG is 1.2If your chocolate weighs 1050 grams your SG is 1.05 etcAhhhhhh the metric system.Hope this helps
I am playing with designs for a winnower which pre classifies the mix and then passes into several gravity separation winnowers (classic down pipe with air draught type). I saw in one of Brooklyn Cacao's videos that they are using a gyratory (vibratory) sieve to classify, I imagine this is before putting the mix through the vortex winnower. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with these sieves? They look like they would be ideal for a winnower setup.
chopping up a block of chocolate
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques
how about a paper guillotine? Sharpen it to a finer point. Maybe weld some spikes onto the blade.