Thank you Clay,
Your advice has been a big help. We will look into the cacao production process in more depth and request a plate test. We'll also test drive potential tempering machines to see if they work effectively with our low temperatures.
Nikki.
Hello Clay,
Thank you for your detailed reply to our cry for help. Much appreciated.
We're working with 42C as the max working temperature as this is the guide we have been given by the raw chocolate experts we have learned the craft of raw chocolate making from. People like Amy Levin (ooosha.co.uk).
We have now grasped how a continuous-tempering machine works - thanks to a chat yesterday with the importer of Selmi in Australia. As we understand it, we would continue to work with a melting tank, adding 10kg of melted chocolate at 42C to the Selmi hopper to begin the tempering process, topping up as needed through the day.
The importer tells me there is an Australian raw chocolate maker working with the Selmi, but we don't know what max temperature they are working with. I will ask. Thank you for that advice.
On the inclusions front, after learning a little about the tempering devices,we have accepted that we will probably need to 'sprinkle' the bits like nuts and cacao nibs (they are under 3mm but the Selmi which can accommodate inclusions is the New Plus X which, at A$25,000, is beyond our budget). That's OK as the vibrating table will ensure the inclusions sink into the chocolate - whereas hand-banging the moulds (as we do at present) doesn't sink them in sufficiently.
If we find we need to stay under 42C to qualify as truly 'raw' chocolate by European and Australian standards, what would be your suggested method to automate or at least semi-automate the tempering process? We can only stone-temper so much by hand in a day! As we make the couverture from raw cacao butter and raw cacao powder a process that relies on the seeding method isn't really an option for us.
Thanks a million for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us.
Hello :)
We are a small handmade raw chocolate business ( www.liefje.com.au )in Melbourne Australia,looking to transition from tank melting and stone-top tempering by hand to fully automated or semi-automated tempering.
We make slim 55gram bars of couverture raw chocolate in polycarbonate moulds. On the tempering front the 'raw' part just means we need to remain under 42 degrees celsius at all times, which is probably just a matter of setting the temperature on any device (?).
Looking through past forums we found Clay's detailed advice to Stu Jordan which led us to the Selmi One as an option. The capacity is small at 10kg, but it appears we could temper 3 batches in one day, which would be ample and the built in volumetric dispenser and vibrating table would be ideal.
The challenge for us is that we're making bars with nut chips and cacao nibs mixed into the chocolate itself (think Toblerone-style but beautiful ingredients). Is there a tempering machine that can accommodate 'bits'?
We're baby artisans finding we need to increase capacity to meet demand. Any/all advice would be very welcome.
Thank you,
Nikki.
