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Post by Chip on Feb 25, 2018 16:14:48 GMT -5
Hi all, I have tried making silk for the first time following John's instructions to the letter. I had my Souvia sous vide set at 92.4 (it "settled" on 92.6) and left it for 24 hours. The chopped cocoa butter in the middle still held it's granular shape, but when I took it out is mixed in pretty well. I put it in a container to get hard, and when it did solidify it seemed a bit "lumpy." I could see some very small but distinct white spots of cocoa butter that did not seemed mixed in. This is the jar I am using, and it is filled top to bottom with chopped cocoa butter. It was chopped in a food processor. The jar is held in the sous vide bath with a brick on the top, so the entire jar is immersed. So, my question is: should all of the chopped cocoa butter in the container in the sous vide become that pasty consistency or will you have some lumping occur? Can I leave it in the sous vide for 36 or even 48 hours so it all becomes that pasty consistency? Should I turn up the sous vide to 92.8 or so? Or even 93? Should I break up the amount of cocoa butter and use smaller containers? Thank you all very much.
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Post by cacaosublime on Feb 27, 2018 11:35:07 GMT -5
Hi Chip,
Not sure whether it will make a difference for you, but it did for me: Make sure the jar is fully surrounded with the water that is heated by the sous vide machine. When I did this the first time, it didn't work because I also had a large object on top, and the jar sitting at the bottom. However, this formed a cold bridge to both sides, so the silk didn't form. When I used a steel roster to separate the jar from the bottom and had something else in between my weight and the jar that allowed water to flow around the jar on both the top and bottom, I got the silk I wanted. But again, this might not have been the reason for why you didn't get the silk you wanted.
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Post by Chip on Feb 27, 2018 15:05:58 GMT -5
Hi Chip, Not sure whether it will make a difference for you, but it did for me: Make sure the jar is fully surrounded with the water that is heated by the sous vide machine. When I did this the first time, it didn't work because I also had a large object on top, and the jar sitting at the bottom. However, this formed a cold bridge to both sides, so the silk didn't form. When I used a steel roster to separate the jar from the bottom and had something else in between my weight and the jar that allowed water to flow around the jar on both the top and bottom, I got the silk I wanted. But again, this might not have been the reason for why you didn't get the silk you wanted. Thank you for this! I have a brick sitting on top of my jar, which holds it firmly to the bottom. Therefore it is as you say, no water is able to get to the top or the bottom of the jar! Brilliant! Thank you so much, I think this will make a big difference. I will put a cookie cooling rack on the bottom of the sous vide container and some form of washer or other 'thing' between the brick and top. I'll keep you posted!
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Post by mark on Feb 28, 2018 17:36:15 GMT -5
Yeah I had a similar issue and putting some clothes pegs between the brick and the jar did the job for me.
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Post by Chip on Feb 28, 2018 19:14:52 GMT -5
Yeah I had a similar issue and putting some clothes pegs between the brick and the jar did the job for me. I left it in for 72 hours, the last 24 with the clothes pins separating the brick from the top and the bottle resting on a cookie cooking grid. When I took the bottle out the cocoa butter still looked like some of it was still in the 'chopped' state, but as soon as I started stirring it turned as smooth as silk. . Thank you all for your help.
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