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Post by sdcecil on Jul 10, 2015 14:24:34 GMT -5
I've been struggling with my chocolate appearing as though it has stripes due to fat bloom. (Pictured below) I've had this issue using the alchemists preferred method of tempering so this morning I tried the classic hot water bath method, raised the temp up to about 130 F then cooled it to about 84 F, added a minced store bought bar to seed the batch, then raised it to 92 F and molded it via syringe. The pictured squares are the result. I let the chocolate set up in the ope air, the current temp is 79 F, and humidity is 46%. I would be much obliged to anyone who could offer me some insight into what is going on and how it might be fixed. I suspect that the humidity and temp are too high to air cool, should I be setting the molds in the fridge to cool off?
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Post by Thomas on Jul 10, 2015 19:45:19 GMT -5
From my experience 79 F is way too hot to cool the bars. I only mold bars when the ambient temp is no more than 70 F but I like it around 68 F. Otherwise, I have trouble with the molded chocolate losing temper.
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Post by Ben on Jul 11, 2015 9:11:32 GMT -5
Agreed. 79 is pretty warm. My guess is that the bars didn't cool quickly enough. Also, streaks can indicate that the chocolate hasn't been stirred enough.
On a side note, if you're using seed chocolate, you don't need to go down to 84. I'd just cool it down to 94 or so, and add the seed. It'll probably drop to 90 or 91 once the seed has melted in. As long as it's well stirred, you should be good to go then. Also, you don't need to go up to 130. 110-115 is plenty hot to melt out all the crystals.
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Post by sdcecil on Jul 11, 2015 18:56:43 GMT -5
Thanks Ben and tsnuggs. The issue is definitely with the ambient heat while the chocolate cools. I re-tempered the batch last night. One mold I let cool on the counter while one mold went into the refrigerator for an hour before being taken out out to finish it's cooling. The results are pictured, the chocolates on the left, that went in the fridge, look darn near perfect while the ones on the right, left at room temp, are a swirl of fat bloom. I suppose the lesson I take away is that while tempering instructions generally discourage refrigerator cooling it is a significantly better alternative to room temperature cooling when the room temp is high. -Simon
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Post by vxaktor on Jul 12, 2015 12:10:43 GMT -5
If you have a refrigerator of any size and put in a Johnson thermostat (about USD 65) set it at 55 F. This will reduce the moisture concerns with using a refrigerator. Also, a small battery operated fan not pointed at the molds will help with circulating air. Cheers, Robert
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