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Post by ripvanwinkle on Mar 20, 2008 7:51:59 GMT -5
Maybe this will interest someone: I wanted to try to heat the chocolate in my Santha. I did so with a halogen flood lamp that I bought at Lowe's for under $10: for an outdoor fixture and 150 watt bulb. I wired in a dimmer to control temperature but don't seem to need that - I run the lamp full bore so far.
The nice shiny Santha drum is too reflective - most of the heat from the lamp is reflected back and the chocolate would only heat to maybe 130F. I sprayed the drum with black (Rust-oleum) paint. Then I dried it in the oven for about 30 hours to bake on the finish. I did not rough up the chrome plate first but the paint seems to be sticking OK so far.
The temperature of the milk chocolate runs a shade under 160F with the black paint absorbing the heat from the lamp. That paint is gloss - later I will spray it with flat paint to get still less reflection.
If you think that 160F is too high please speak up. The chocolate seems OK but a bit tart, but after only two batches of milk chocolate I am hard pressed to know if it was the temperature or something else that put an edge on the taste. Again - your comments are welcome.
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Post by Brad on Mar 20, 2008 15:31:30 GMT -5
with regard to temperature, I know of chocolatiers who ensure to conche their chocolate for a period of time over 160 degrees to help ensure pathogens are appropriately killed.
If your chocolate is a bit tart, this could be two reasons: 1. You under roasted your beans and/or 2. You have too much shell in your nibs.
I don't know that I would maintain your refining at such a high temperature for very long. The refiner seems to reach equilibrium at about 120 degrees, which has worked for me in the past.
Brad
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Post by mistacandy on Apr 7, 2008 15:34:56 GMT -5
Use a hair dryer to Increase the temperature of the chocolate for a short period of time. Otherwise, you don't need to get your chocolate to that temperature. The santha's friction will keep the chocolate at the right temp.
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Post by Alchemist on Apr 9, 2008 11:32:18 GMT -5
rip,
First off, keep in mind that temperatures over 150 are going to weaken the center hub and epoxy on the bowl. They will end up breaking.
That said, I have started also playing with heat, and found the most benefit is for the first 5-6 hours while trace water is present and acids are still present. I am lead to believe you are getting various acid catylized reactions that give a depth of flavor to the chocolate. After that time I have not found great changes in flavor.
In regards to the blow drier, some R&D I did and someone else here (who can pipe up if he wishes) did has steered me away from this. The blow drier in the chocolate (as opposed to outside on the bowl) seems to drive off flavor instead of creating it. I would surmise that either water or volatile acids are being driven off before they can chemically react.
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Post by chocogeek on Apr 9, 2008 16:14:23 GMT -5
I have found a good method for heating the Santha but it may come with some other problems. I have run it for a few hours with a plastic bin over the entire unit, up on 2X4 blocks to allow some air circulation underneath. This traps the heat to warm the entire unit. Depending on how much of an air gap you leave between the plastic bin and the counter surface, you can get an ambient temp of anywhere from 110-150 F. However you may be shortening the life of the motor, and possibly creating a fire hazard, and I certainly would not run it like this without any air gap under the bin.
You may be surprised to find that the majority of the heat generated in the Santha comes from the motor and not come from the friction of the granite stones. In fact, if you remove the motor cover so that the heat from the motor does not get circulated inside the plastic housing, you can run the machine for several hours (with nut tightened down all the way) and the bowl and stones will not heat up. They stay cool to the touch and the temp in the bowl remains around 80 degrees F. If you run like this for a while and check the temp of the motor casing it is about 160 F. so it is putting out a lot of heat, which normally get circulated around inside the Santha casing and in turn heats up the bottom of the bowl.
I have looked for info on the unit as to how many watts it consumes, but no nomenclature to be found on the unit. I guess I will have to get out the multi-meter to check amperage draw. I suspect it is drawing 3-4 amps / 400-500 watts or more when running, so it's not an energy efficient appliance for sure.
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Post by jamescary on Apr 9, 2008 16:34:38 GMT -5
I agree the majority of the heat seems to be caused by the motor and friction of the driveshaft mechanism. I've clocked the temperature of the motor housing around 120 F with an infrared thermometer and have noticed the spindle on the underside of the bowl can get very hot.
I've plugged the Santha into a Kill-a-watt meter and it draws ~195 watts of power.
Also, I like to heat the bowl of the Santha with a hair dryer if the chocolate is cold. Otherwise, I've noticed the same thing as brad -- the chocolate tends to stay at around 120 F after running in the Santha for an hour or so.
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