Greetings!
I am looking to buy a used Perfect Air 2.0 Wheel Tempering machine. I have scoured all of the listings online that I could think of and have come up empty handed. Does anyone happen to have one that they are no longer using/looking to part with? Thanks!
Weird, I just checked my link to the book preview and the recipe pages weren't available. When I found the preview, I'd done a specific google search on this subject, including his name and possibly invert sugar. I don't remember. It gave me a different preview. Blocked in different places. I got perhaps a dozen recipes from it. I don't know how Google preview works, but that link I gave is unlikely to be of use to others for finding recipes with aW. If you try my approach I just mentioned here, it might work.
Please note, I am in no way trying to help people get copyrighted material they shouldn't have. Previews are given to entice people to buy the book. I certainly hope Mr. Wybauw sells more books through this strategy. He'll probably end up selling book 2 to me because of it.
Sorry Clay, of course. I am involved in a fishing forum that prohibits linking to outside sites, and I guess it has become habit to avoid it. I'm also glad you asked because I made a mistake in the holding temperature I mentioned. It is around 70f not 72f.
I found it on Wikipedia. I then managed to track it elsewhere but can't remember the link. I think it was from a google books preview.
You will find the formula in section 1 right after the introduction. Abbreviated as MFSL =
I will also share that I found the Wybauw recipes here:
Wybauw Fine Chocolates Preview
Although many pages are left out, there were enough samples to be helpful.
There is no preview for his second book in the series that focuses on Ganache. We'd buy it if it were similar to this. We haven't bought book 3 on shelf life because it is so sorbitol dependent. We received book 4 as a gift, and while it is interesting, it is also heavily reliant on ingredients we don't think we want on our labels.
If anybody has a copy of Wybauw 2 Ganache and wants to share how helpful the recipes are likely to be for us (water activity given, limited use of sugar alcohols) we'd love to hear your feedback. We'd purchase it if it fit.
Thanks,
M
Thanks Ruth and Clay! The software looks interesting. My fiancee used similar software at a wholesale gelato place she worked, and it was very helpful in recipe development. Probably more than we need right now, but worth knowing about. We've been looking at invert sugar (she is very familiar with it from her work) and I found some Wybauw recipes online that use it without sorbitol. Those have aW values, and give us a starting point.
We'd snap up a Pawkit at $500 in a second. You got quite the deal Ruth! Other than one seller in Indonesia we've not seen anything in that range. A bit over $2k new and the few sales on the auction site have sold closer to $1000. The .02 accuracy is also a bit of an issue. I found the mold free shelf life estimator calculation online and a few percent in water activity can nearly double shelf life. Even if there is variation batch to batch in that range, it adds to the uncertainty.
I spoke with someone at Rotronic before posting this thread and was under the impression that the .008% meter is around $1500 for the sensor chamber (required) and then you need either the hand held reader (also around that price) or the software as you mention Clay. I didn't think to ask for the software price, but reading about it made it sound quite sophisticated (that's fine) but presumeably expensive. Sensible for a large operation but not for the two of us just starting out. If that meter is $1500 outright, plus the few additional expenses for cups and what have you, it seems like a great deal. At $3000 it seems very fair, but not an easy purchase for us.
Our understanding is that U Mass doesn't do the cheap testing, so we need a commercial lab. We'll need that anyhow with final recipes for the health dept. Perhaps we will just start with one of the Wybauw ganache recipes we found and also one of my fiancee's favorites, pay for the tests, and develop from there.
The biggest discovery in this process so far is the very short estimated shelf life of ganache right at that .85 threshold. Eleven days at 72 degrees. Not that we'd store that high. And I know sanitation, technique, packagaing and storage play huge roles in shelf life. When your business model is primarily wholesale, even if only local, a few points in aW really matter. The "three weeks" you usually hear for cream based ganaches seems optimistic, unless the enrobing greatly slows mold growth.
Anyhow, thanks for all the help.
M
We are starting a small molded and slabbed chocolates business from our home kitchen. Our state requires water activity levels below 0.85, as tested at a certified lab. Those tests run $75 each, and travel cost pushes it up substantially. We can't avoid the tests, and we don't want to, but we do want to avoid wasting ingredients and time on recipes that won't pass.
I've read everything I could find on the internet about this subject. From forums here and elsewhere, to obscure papers found on page nine of a google search. I know Wybauw covers the subject in detail in book 3, but from what I've read, he relies heavily on sorbitol, something we don't want to include in our products.
New meters start a bit over $2000, and for $3000 you get a lot better accuracy. We may well buy one, but it is a considerable expense. I've seen software that estimates water activity from recipes, but that isn't cheap either, and I have no idea if their databases are geared towards confections.
I am really surprised that nobody has compiled a list of water activity readings for classic recipes, say a Greweling piped ganache, or a Shotts caramel. I know technique will lead to varying results (cream heated longer, etc). Still, it would be handy to have a set of baseline recipes and aW numbers.
I suspect we'll end up purchasing one of these units. When we do, we'll share results. Meanwhile, if anybody has any advice for us, we are all ears!
Thanks
M
I want to begin this introduction by thanking everyone here for their contributions to this site over the years. My Fiancee and I are starting a small chocolates business (molded and slabbed), and over the past few months we've turned to Chocolate Life again and again for direction and information. It really is a wonderful resource. Clay, you've done something important here.
We'll share more information soon, but for now, we're going to be a bit vague about location, etc. That's for professional reasons. We live in the north east (of the U.S) with around 20k other year 'round residents in the community. That number swells to 125k or so during the summer months, and a million or so visitors pass through each year. Although there are a few small competitors, nobody is offering...I won't say artisanal, because it is so overused, and I won't say craft because we aren't hipster enough...nobody is offering really good chocolates made from really good ingredients using really good recipes. We plan to start from our home kitchen and sell primarily to wholesale accounts.
I'll be posting here most often. My fiancee is the chef. She's a CIA grad (top of her class), spent years in French kitchens and was executive pastry chef for a well known Michelin starred restaurant. She's also done volume, as exec pastry chef for a very large hotel. She's creative, realistic, and also a really nice person. And she wants her own business. I'm far less interesting...just a guy with some finance skills and a desire to help her shine.
So, thanks again. I'm off to post my first question on the site.
M
