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 Author | Topic: troubleshooting tempering---now with pics! (Read 653 times) |
itsallaroundyou
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« Reply #30 on Nov 4, 2009, 9:12pm » | |
glad to hear this is helping you too...i used to tutor my classmates in college so i could learn the material better by fielding their questions...tonight's batch was the best yet, though not perfect. i think i'm there, just need lots of practice at this point.
i kept to my same temps, and didn't preheat the molds and used a ladle. i got virtually no surface swirls or white swirls through the bars. the only thing i wasn't that happy with was the overall gloss.
is it wrong to assume that i should start making slight adjustments to my tempering temps to achieve a higher overall gloss? i might just stick my molds in the fridge next time too 
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brad
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« Reply #31 on Nov 4, 2009, 9:35pm » | |
There are lots of schools of thought regarding the gloss of your chocolate once it comes out of molds. I'm far from an expert on that, as we only use molds for bars in our shop. Having said that, the best (shiniest) finish we've had yet was today when the molds were cold.
What I can tell you however is that there are many differing qualities of molds, and not all will give you a nice shiny finish on your chocolate. The mold has to be super smooth, and usually only a professional injected polycarbonate mold will get you there. Vacuum formed molds, such as those sold by Tomric Systems aren't near the quality. I have a couple in my shop that I was evaluating prior to purchasing ours from Italy, and they look amateurish in comparison.
I'll be interested to read the results of your "cold mold" adventure!
Best Regards.
Brad.
www.SoChoklat.com
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itsallaroundyou
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« Reply #32 on Nov 8, 2009, 7:01pm » | |
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itsallaroundyou
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« Reply #33 on Nov 8, 2009, 7:01pm » | |
hmmmm.....no pics showed up.....
ok, now i have some photo evidence (don't pay attention to the bubbles and drips, i was just going for quick, not pretty)
here's the air side of some bars still in the mold. no hazy swirls, not terribly shiny, but not too ugly
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itsallaroundyou
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« Reply #34 on Nov 8, 2009, 7:03pm » | |
all of the bars had this untempered haze in the middle...is this casued by hot spots?
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itsallaroundyou
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« Reply #35 on Nov 8, 2009, 7:04pm » | |
from the right viewing angle, the backs were pretty shiny, as seen here:
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itsallaroundyou
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« Reply #36 on Nov 8, 2009, 7:07pm » | |
here's a pic of the quality i'm going for, of course this only happened where the chocolate spilled over the mold 
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brad
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« Reply #37 on Nov 8, 2009, 10:11pm » | |
Here is a shot of the bars we do in our shop.
To be quite candid, the only time I've ever been able to get our bars as shiny as your "ideal" photo is when they come out of the cooler and are untempered. They are that shiny for the first few minutes, and then soften into goo.
The photo I've attached is a typical example of our bars, and are about as shiny as any other bars I've ever opened from other manufacturers.
One observation: Your molds are thick polycarbonate, and you are putting them on trays which don't allow air flow to the bottom of the molds. All of our bar molds go into a cooler on perforated trays, so that heat can escape and air can flow around them. The bloom you are getting in the middle of your bars may be a result of heat not being able to escape, and the chocolate staying warm too long. Our molds are thick polycarbonate too, and when they don't cool quick enough we get bloom in the middle of the bars as well.
Hope this helps.
Brad.
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itsallaroundyou
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« Reply #38 on Nov 9, 2009, 1:37pm » | |
well, i've been guilty of setting my sights too high before, i should just be happy with no bloom for the time being....and i think you're right about the air flow around the bottom. all of the bars i made in that trial were ladled in in big globs, and smoothed over on the top, so its definitely not an artifact of the mold shocking the chocolate where it first hit the mold.
the only thing left to do now is try some more
-mike
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