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Post by rosenbauert on Jul 14, 2014 12:42:54 GMT -5
I live in Vermont, which is surprisingly hot and humid in summer this time of year. My chocolate-making room gets to 70-75 ambient temperature, and I have learned I have to immediately refrigerate until the chocolate sets up otherwise it will bloom quickly. 10 minutes in the fridge seems to do it, but then for the rest of the molding process I have a problem because I can't find a room under 70 in my house. Most people in VT don't have air conditioners and my house has casement windows which makes that a pain. My basement is cooler but humid. I can store wrapped chocolate in my basement OK but until the molds set up (about 4 hours) what do people recommend? Would a small wine cooler give me sub-70 temps without as much moisture as a small refrigerator?
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Post by lilypa on Jul 14, 2014 13:55:39 GMT -5
I can't answer your wine cooler question, but have you thought of buying a portable dehumidifier for your basement. I have to use one often to get the humidity below 50%. Note, that it will warm up your room unfortunately. Usually about 5F after an hour.
I also immediately put my molds in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to get them to set up. (I should try 10 mins sometime as they start to curve/bend in shape around 20 mins.) Anyway, after I pull them out of the refrigerator I usually let them sit in the molds on the kitchen counter for 24 hours. Typically, by then I don't worry about the humidity which can go up to 60%. Additionally, the room temp may get up to 80F with our central AC. I haven't had bloom problems after the molds have set in the fridge.
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Jul 14, 2014 16:41:36 GMT -5
All depends how much you want to spend. I can get a good set and shine on the chocolate by letting my bars of chocolate set completely in the fridge, turn them out and then store in an empty esky (cooler box that you would normally fill with ice and beers for a picnic) in the coolest part of the house.
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