Forum Activity for @Ash Maki

Try a hair dryer and microfiber cloth...

Hi there, Nashville wraps and the rever group both sell wrapping stuff if that is what you are looking for!

That would be great, We always like to try new things around here. You could send a sample to our shop here. 

Starchild Chocolate

101 N Main St Willits, Ca 95490 USA

 We would be willing to try your beans provided they are certified organic. I have yet to try an Indian bean.

Thanks for the response, makes sence. Looking forward to learning more about the process for sure!

 Hi there, I had a question for you Sabastian along the lines of something you were saying earlier. If your chocolate does smell like vinegar and as you said above it was acidified during fermentaition what tips would you tell the farmers to improve there process to ferment without acidifying? A lot of diffrent factors im sure but is there a basic mistake that gets made that imparts the taste and smell of vingar into your chocolate that could be easily corrected? 

Hey there clay. That sounds like exactly what we are looking for! would love to get the contact info for that one. It would be great to get our hands on any other drinks you might know of too such as the black inca beer I noticed pictures of as well.

Hi there,

Anybody out there heard of, or know of, any wine or beer drinks that are made from or with cacao that are available in the US?

I tend to get the same problem with the delta but only after being in temper for too long. Four or five hours. Raising the temp to 89-90 f takes care of it pretty well. We have very low humidity here.

Thanks for the reply! That puts it into perspective a bit. As someone who has made a few of them journeys, unrelated to cacao, I could understand completely how difficult it might be to get anything out of there at all... I have yet to try them as a finished product but do look forward to seeing what comes of them.

Yea thats pretty much what I was thinking and fortunately didn't get the larger order I was going to place. Thanks

I just acquired a order of wild beans from Bolivia and was wondering, as I have never used wild beans before, if they tend to have more bugs or if its just a bad batch as there is at least 25% insect damage. Definitely smaller and not the best job of fermenting but a decent enough looking bean aside from the insect damage. Thanks

Hi there, Seems to be a great idea doing the through the wall roaster. Just out of curiosity as I am drawing up a floor plan as well, on a bit of a larger scale,

Would there be any benefit to trying to harness the heat of the roaster to add to the clean room to keep the oils in the grinders and conch a bit warmer? Rather than what some people do by adding a heat gun. Provided the grinders had there own room and where not in your cooler tempering area.

Then provided you didn't put a door between the dirty and clean room and instead whent through another room first would it be easy enough to test your roast without having to walk all the way around each time. A very roaster specific question I suppose.

The Revere Group is pretty good too. glerup.com

Any recommendations for cost efficient Cleaning, Breaking, Winnowing Equipment? For the processing of around 500 kilos a week...

Thanks for the reply that is pretty much what I was starting to put together from talking with them and one of the people that uses one for nuts down in texas. It does seem to be a very cost effective way of roasting large volumes but like you have said there seems to be quite a few variables that contribute to how good it might work for cacao. I certainly don't think I have enough experience myself to pioneer the roasting of cacao in this machine though the price to production ratio makes for a tempting option...

That certainly brings a better understanding to the situation... All that being said it seems something like theMoffatt E32D5 might be a good way to start getting to know the use of steam...

from what I am hearing/reading roasting with super heated steam in something like the roastech r100e can achieve similar results as a medium roast in an oven but maintains a much higher level of polyphenols and supposedly up to 40% less loss of flavanols... I would look at the fat not being degraded as a good thing... I guess just wondering how a 40% less loss would effect the flavor... One might assume that that would be better and there would be more room to pull out the flavor you are looking for... Really don't know just trying to learn more...

On the bit of a larger scale... anybody have any experience with something like roastecksR100E?

[ Editor's Note: That's the Roastech R100E. ]

Pretty well micro scale but...

What about something like the little steam ovens from sharp sharp ax-1200?

I suppose my next question would be then using steam can you achieve a better flavor and maintain more of the nutrition as it says in a few of the reports I have been recently reading? as you have said on the light and medium profile anyways? Almost all of the roasted chocolate I try pretty much taste burnt to me... I would hope to get a medium roast without the burnt chocolate flavor coming through while maintaining as much nutritional value as possible... I notice a big difference in the way raw cacao makes me feel but do understand the need for heat in the chocolate making process... There for I would hope to compromise with a method that maintains the highest values of nutrition and flavor...

Hi there, anybody have experience with the new method of superheated steam roasting? Or the roasters them selves and wether or not it would be practical to acquire a roaster for small scale production... I have read that it is a way to maintain maximum nutrition and health benefit...

Hi i am looking for anyone with experience with either or both machines and if some one could point me in the direction of which one might be a better buy... Thanks I do understand that the selmi is continues feed option but any feedback would be helpful...

http://www.selmi-chocolate.it/en/prodotti.asp?id_categoria=1&id=6#specifiche

http://www.savagebros.com/p.47/chocolate-molding-workstations.aspx

At what point would you speed up or slow down the pan?

Thank you, that is the most informative post on panning I have been able to find anywhere...

cole chocolat runs a bean to bar course for around $450 Its entirely online and runs over the course of a few months. I think the next one starts in september. For the money it provides a wealth of information and very good introduction to the world of making chocolate. Not equipment training per say or recommendations in any one direction, with the exception of tutor feedback, but very neutral information in all aspects of the industry and a good broad outline with lots of resources. A good start I would say, which does cover everything you mentioned above.