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Post by daniel on Feb 3, 2014 13:09:10 GMT -5
This is the fudgiest chocolate I've made. See how it accumulates by the scraper? It's a small batch: 200g liquor 20g butter 110g white sugar, powdered in a blender before adding In the Santha for 18 hours, finishing at a temperature around 115F. Humidity here is below 20%, with temperature hovering between 20-26C /68-79F. I no longer have my micrometer, but I can't detect any grit. Beans were roasted 25 minutes in a gene cafe roaster, 290F for 10 then 240 for 15 minutes, one day before grinding. They're the peruvian beans sold by John; the flavour is similar to the roast I got in an oven at 350 then 300F as he recommended. chocolatealchemy.myshopify.com/products/peruvian-cocoa-ft-org-2012Any idea what exactly is causing this and how to fix it? Should I just add more butter?
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 4, 2014 11:52:06 GMT -5
A few things come to mind: 1) Your formula is about 38% fat, which is a touch on the low side for a non-emulsified product. More cocoa butter or some lecithin will help 2) your temperature is a bit low - if you can, elevate it to 130F or so in the santha. 3) you might have picked up some moisture. you roasted, then let them cool, then processed them - which is less than ideal. Your RH is low, so it's probably not a huge factor, but could be contributing. 4) sometimes very little batches are harder to control - you don't end up with enough mass to generate much frictional heat - a larger batch almost always behaves differently than a small batch
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Post by kevin on Feb 4, 2014 11:58:26 GMT -5
While all of Sebastian's points have some merit, from direct experience with similar setup and recipe, #4 is the primary one to pay attention to.
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Post by daniel on Feb 5, 2014 22:28:19 GMT -5
Very helpful, thank you. What percentage fat should I be aiming for?
Do you process the beans right away after roasting?
I'll try again with a bigger batch (tasters are loving it, so I am now less afraid of waste). As for temperature - it's as tight as can be so I'd have to add a heater next to it. Hmm...
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Post by kevin on Feb 6, 2014 11:37:44 GMT -5
Depending on the fat content of your beans, and most beans average about 52% to 56% fat content, most guys I know add maybe 5% to no more than 10% of additional cocoa butter. So you are in the ballpark with 20 grams or so in your recipe printed up above.
Sometimes I process soon after roasting. Other times I wait a day or two or even longer. I have not noticed much of a difference either way. I think it is whatever is your preference although I would like to know what other guys thinks about this.
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 6, 2014 20:17:34 GMT -5
Bear in mind there's no "right" answer. Also, factors such as particle size, environment, and how you temper can be very significant to rheology.
If i were you, based on the limited knowledge i have of what you're doing, i'd suggest adding 0.2% fluid lecithin in the last few hours of your conche cycle; alternatively i'd suggest adding more cocoa butter to bring your total fat to 42% or so if you don't want to use lecithin. That's based on the assumption that you've got a decently fermented cocoa bean - which, if you do, will have a fat content in the range that kevin mentions. If, however, you don't have a wellf ermented bean (or you have a mixture of well fermented beans and poorly fermented beans - which happens ALL the time - you may have a far lower fat in your liquor than you think you do..
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Post by daniel on Feb 9, 2014 13:04:02 GMT -5
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