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Post by chadmart1076 on Jan 27, 2014 13:18:53 GMT -5
Hello all,
I've read through several threads and the articles on the subject, but I haven't much seen what conching is vs. refining. I think I know, but I want to be sure, as it obviously affects the chocolate making process.
Refining is the process by which you reduce the particle size of the ingredients of the chocolate. This is done in the melanger (I have the CocoaTown ECGC 12SLTA - with the tension adjuster) on full tension... in other words the tension adjuster is as tight as I can get it.
Conching is the mixing process which no longer reduces the particle size of the chocolate, but does apply pressure and potentially heat in order to better bind the cocoa butter to the particles in the chocolate. This also introduces air which helps to oxidize the ingredients which reduces sharp flavors in the chocolate. In the Cocoatown melanger I can "set" it from refining to conching by completely releasing the tension.
Refining is done first and then conching is done second, but both processes are done for extended periods of time.
Finally in the refining process, some conching occurs, but to go into a pure conching process, the tension on the stone rollers needs to be released so that not more grinding occurs.
I just finished my first batch of chocolate. I used the instructions and recipe from the Alchemist's kit that I received and I was a little put off by the sharp flavor in the final chocolate. I refined for approximately 6 hours then conched for about 2-3 hours. The particle size was too big so I melted the chocolate and put it back in the melanger and refined for an additional 8 hours or so, but never released the tension to go back into a "conching" mode. The particle size was much improved but the strong sharp flavors are still present in the final chocolate. (Criollo beans from Peru as sold on this site). I also didn't use the Champion juicer this first batch because I didn't own it yet. I have since ordered it and will be receiving it shortly. So I followed the procedure in the Cocoatown instructions to add the cocoa butter first, then the nibs a little at a time. Once there was a nice liquor going I slowly added sugar which I pulsed in a food processor first.
I really want to get the process nailed down so that I can focus on my recipe, so I want to understand as much of this as possible.
Any advice or help in this is greatly appreciated!
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Post by Ben on Jan 27, 2014 15:32:56 GMT -5
Hello,
I think you've got this pretty much right. There's a lot going on when conching. As mentioned elsewhere in these forums, I wouldn't bother releasing the tension on the stones. I've ran chocolate in the melanger for days and have never had it over-refine. The additional pressure will generate more heat and shear, which will aid in the conching effect. When it comes down to it, melangers just aren't great conches. To compensate for their limitations, a lot of makers will run the chocolate in the melanger longer and/or add external heat.
The Peruvian cacao is some pretty intense stuff. You may want to adjust your roast or extend the time you're refining/conching, but most of the chocolate I've made with it could probably be described as strong and sharp.
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Post by chadmart1076 on Jan 27, 2014 19:44:13 GMT -5
So how does an actual conching machine differ from a melanger? Most of the ones I've seen were like a big paint roller moving back and forth in a big trough of chocolate. What about that does something other than what a melanger does? Is it the back and forth motion vs the constant motion? Or is it just the scale of it, such that the small size of the melanger is inadequate to do the same job.
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Post by Ben on Jan 27, 2014 22:52:54 GMT -5
The conche you're describing is a longitudinal conche--basically, the original conche. It's action is somewhat similar to that of a melanger, except that it can slosh the chocolate around, aerating it a bit. It's not very efficient either, so conching times are probably comparable to conching in a melanger. More modern conches work in a lot of different ways. Too many to really list here. Check out google image and video searches for 'chocolate conche', or 'rotary chocolate conche' (but ignore the pictures of melangers...). Also, FBM has started selling the Kleego, aimed at smaller chocolate makers: www.thechocolatelife.com/video/introducing-kleegoSome of them can do all three types/phases of conching (dry, pasty, wet), while others, including the longitudinal conche and the melanger-as-conche, can only do the wet phase. With all of them, though, the goals are more or less the same: subject the chocolate to shear stress, aerate the chocolate, and heat the chocolate. This can do a lot of things, among them driving off any remaining moisture, breaking up sugar agglomerates (not sure that's a word), driving off various chemicals, reduce viscosity, etc. As I mentioned in my earlier post, there's a lot going on when conching and a lot of it is not well understood.
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Post by Ben on Jan 28, 2014 13:28:19 GMT -5
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Post by Randy on Jan 28, 2014 14:25:18 GMT -5
Jumping in to say that I've been working with the Peruvian Criollo from this site, and yes, it's just strong and sharp in character. Could be you're doing everything right and that the bean just isn't to your liking. I personally love it for its unique taste -- people immediately go, "Oh, yeah, I've never tasted chocolate like THIS before" -- but nothing I've done has taken away its edge. Even in milk chocolate, that's still part of the profile I'm getting. I usually run it for 22-26 hours in a Santha-11, most of that time on full tension.
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Post by Adrian on Jan 29, 2014 11:44:13 GMT -5
Just thought I would chime in about the Peruvian from this site, the choc I made is well rounded...not too acidic, with the right amount of chocolate flavor, lots of berry flavor. It is 70% with no additional ingredients other than sugar. I let go for 10 hours in the wonder grinder, I don't make a distinction between grinding or conching with that thing, but it seems to do a good job for small experiments.
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Post by Freddo on Feb 2, 2014 6:33:23 GMT -5
Ben
Is it fair to say that most of the literature out there regarding chocolate manufacture is designed for the industrial makers? And does not completely translate to the way we make chocolate.
So far I have encountered extreme acidity only once, so I ran the melange for 5 days with the tension off to try get rid of it, but it never left. I think it was the nature of the bean, poor fermentation that caused it.
There is a little tartiness in some of my chocolate, the Dominican Republic for example. But if I try conch that out the chocolate just seems to go flat. I prefer to pull the chocolate out as soon as the mouth feel is right, and put up with a little tartiness, retaining the fruits as well. Is it this tartiness that people are so worried about? Or more extreme acidity.
To me, conching is part of industrial chocolate making and using the melangers like we do we need not worry ourselves too much about conching, because we can't really conch anyway.
Your thoughts?
rgds
Fred
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Post by Ben on Feb 2, 2014 11:43:16 GMT -5
Hi Fred, Yeah, I'd say it's fair to say that most of the literature out there is designed for industrial use and doesn't completely translate to what we're doing with regards to specific machinery or processes. That being said, I learn something new every time I read some of the industrial manufacture literature and feel it has greatly improved my chocolate. I've had to interpret what they're accomplishing (or trying to accomplish) and then figure out how (or if) it can (or should) be applied to my process. I think more information is almost always better. One of my favorite parts of chocolate making is that there's always more to learn and there's always a deeper understanding to be had. It is frequently also one of the most frustrating aspects of chocolate making. I think dismissing a major part of chocolate making, specifically conching, as being just for industrial makers is a mistake. I think conching is definitely part of what we do. Generally, we don't have nearly as much control over the process as a maker using an actual conche, but I don't think that means that we don't (or can't) conche. Some makers will make modifications to the process to have greater control or to achieve better conching--modifications like adding heat, airflow, aeration, etc. or modifying the speed of the melanger or length of time the chocolate is in the melanger. Even with our limited equipment, better understanding of conching--or any step of the process--can lead to better chocolate. I'm actually in the process of building a conche of (more or less) my own design. After seeing the video of the Kleego, something clicked that made me start researching conching more thoroughly and with better understanding. Eventually, I realized that building one could be possible, where previously I had thought it would be too difficult. My design is of the vertically stirred rotary type, so is not similar to the Kleego, which is a horizontally stirred rotary conche. I have most of the parts and am hoping to start building it this week. If it works, I'll post some photos or video. Regarding tartness, sometimes it's great, and sometimes it doesn't work. Some people like a more tart chocolate, myself included, while others prefer a more mild, balanced chocolate. Whether or not it's something we as chocolate makers can control is dependent on the specific bean. Some beans can be processed to reduce the tartness or acidity, allowing other desirable flavors to become apparent, while other beans just go flat. -Ben
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 3, 2014 9:45:52 GMT -5
There's actually an incredible amount that's very well understood in conching - the problem is that most of it is going to be trade secret knowledge, and there's only a handful of people in the world who understand it well. The main issue i see with the melanges isn't that they can't be good conches - they can do alright - it's that they're incredibly inconsistent pieces of equipment. The one i happen to have is very, very well made - great tolerances, super ps reduction, i get far more conching out of it than i'd have thought possible. However, and i've seen a lot of them - many of them simply aren't built to the same specs as the unit i lucked out with. There's significant process variability in the mfr of that equipment, which means this group will see that expressed in their process variability as well. Industrially, there are many different approaches to conching, so it'd be a lengthy process for me to compare/contrast all of them - so i won't try lets go back to the purposes of conching though - which include: 1) Particle size modification (this is more about geometry than size, to be honest) 2) Flavor modification - this is both the FORMATION as well as the VOLATILIZATION (getting rid of) flavors. High acid beans may be address partially in conching depending on WHY the beans are high acid (they're always high acid as a result of fermentation, but fermentation can form many, many types of acids - not all of which are volatile at conching temperatures - but some are). That's one of the reasons you see such a diversity of opinion as to if conching can help reduce acidity - for some it can, for others it can't - most to be honest don't understand or have the ability to control their raw materials enough to control it. If you've managed to get a batch of cocoa beans that are high in non volatile organic acids, there are other ways to mitigate that, but not all are easy, cheap, or fully effective. 3) Fat and emulsifier distribution - it's very important to get as homogeneous a distribution of fat and emulsifier as possible - despite how it looks, the fat in most of your chocolates is NOT evenly mixed,a nd you've got pockets of high fat and pockets of low fat - which means you see lots of process, texture, and emulsification variability. Conching if done correctly can really mitigate that. 4) moisture removal - yup, despite your best efforts, you're going to have water in your chocolate. it comes from your sugar, milk, cocoa, environment - and sometimes your process if it's broken. Conching will remove some of that. not a lot, but an important amount.
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Post by sbusslchocolate on Jul 22, 2014 11:11:39 GMT -5
I have done a lot of reading about conching both in books and online and the most relevant thing I have found was something Art Pollard said. He said conching is just banging the particles together after refining which helps to, release the volatile's and deeper flavor profiles. He suggested that conching is the most guarded part of a chocolate makers recipe.
I use a Santha grinder until the particle size is where I want it, then take the stones out to conch. I use a hair drier set on low heat, in a holder pointed at the at the outside of the drum with the lid off to keep the chocolate fluid. Just taste until you think you have what you like. You won't change the bean flavor profile but you can find more complex flavors. Of course chocolate as a flavor is subjective like art.
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Post by Sebastian on Jul 23, 2014 18:35:41 GMT -5
I'd say that's a very simplistic description of conching. it's significantly more complex than that.
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Post by sbusslchocolate on Jul 24, 2014 12:05:07 GMT -5
Yes, it is a more complicated process than that.
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CASE
Neophyte
Posts: 2
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Post by CASE on Oct 10, 2014 19:31:18 GMT -5
I just purchased a Premier Wonder Table Grinder for test batches. In regards to conching with the machine, has anyone removed the stones and used the kneader attachment? The machine seems to slow down with heavier sugar batches. It seems to work great in the higher cacao ranges. (side note not using any extra cocoa butter) Attachments:
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Post by Ben on Oct 10, 2014 21:57:54 GMT -5
Hi Case. I haven't tried it, but I can't imagine that it will do much, if anything. My guess is that the chocolate will just flow around it. Also, you'd need to use an external heat source, as the heat from grinding would be gone.
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