Post by nicholashannah on Sept 4, 2017 19:12:31 GMT -5
Hi everybody,
Thank you all so much for creating such an amazing resource. I've spent many hours now poring over the posts hear and learning everything I can. I'm slowly taking steps to get a small bean to bar operation happening here in Australia. Things have been going well and my first couple of batches came out perfectly tempered, but this most recent one has me scratching my head. I've been using Brad's single bowl method, and it definitely worked in the sense that the chocolate became tempered, but among the finished pieces, some are perfectly in temper and some have unusual crystal growth. You can see in the image that on the knife I used to test for temper the chocolate is shiny and hard, as is the underside of the bars that I poured, but on top and throughout the bars the chocolate is bloomed and crumbles in the mouth rather than snaps.
After pouring the bars, I stirred some caramelised almonds through the remaining chocolate and spooned them onto a tray, and they have all come out perfectly tempered, the chocolate surrounding them is hard, shiny and snappy. None of it melts in the hand, not even the bloomed pieces.
Ambient temperature was about 26 degrees c (79 fahrenheit), and low humidity, so I don't think the problem lies there. Is it something to do with stirring? Perhaps I needed to stir more while I poured the bars? I've looked through the forums for an answer but I can't see anything that directly speaks to something like this.
Thank you so much for all the help you've already unknowingly given me, and any helps that is yet to come. I hope that one day I can contribute and give something back to others who need it.
Nick
_
Thank you all so much for creating such an amazing resource. I've spent many hours now poring over the posts hear and learning everything I can. I'm slowly taking steps to get a small bean to bar operation happening here in Australia. Things have been going well and my first couple of batches came out perfectly tempered, but this most recent one has me scratching my head. I've been using Brad's single bowl method, and it definitely worked in the sense that the chocolate became tempered, but among the finished pieces, some are perfectly in temper and some have unusual crystal growth. You can see in the image that on the knife I used to test for temper the chocolate is shiny and hard, as is the underside of the bars that I poured, but on top and throughout the bars the chocolate is bloomed and crumbles in the mouth rather than snaps.
After pouring the bars, I stirred some caramelised almonds through the remaining chocolate and spooned them onto a tray, and they have all come out perfectly tempered, the chocolate surrounding them is hard, shiny and snappy. None of it melts in the hand, not even the bloomed pieces.
Ambient temperature was about 26 degrees c (79 fahrenheit), and low humidity, so I don't think the problem lies there. Is it something to do with stirring? Perhaps I needed to stir more while I poured the bars? I've looked through the forums for an answer but I can't see anything that directly speaks to something like this.
Thank you so much for all the help you've already unknowingly given me, and any helps that is yet to come. I hope that one day I can contribute and give something back to others who need it.
Nick
_