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Post by kiernan on Feb 18, 2021 10:16:50 GMT -5
Hello,
I seem to have a repeat problem of getting air bubble craters on the underside of my bars. The temper seems fine and I get a good snap. I mold at the working temperatures. I wrap the molds to get the bubbles out. I even added a (very very) makeshift vibrating table. The bubbles do seem to come up and pop out, but then they leave these little craters instead of leaving a nice smooth bottom. I've gotten this on my dark chocolate and milk chocolate. I don't think it is a viscosity issue because the chocolate flowed well and bubbles were coming out.
Am I just not wrapping and vibrating long enough? I wrap a few times hard to spread the chocolate and get any big bubbles out and then vibrate for about a minute.
If I have to vibrate longer, will there be a point where it starts messing with the active cooling phase and my temper? Or does the vibration itself create enough air flow movement to be considered active cooling?
Is there anything else I need to consider to get rid of these air bubble craters?
Let me know if there is another thread I should read about this. I've seen a few about air bubbles, but not specifically about these craters (unless I am just not realizing that they are the same thing).
Thanks.
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Post by Ben on Feb 18, 2021 16:40:36 GMT -5
Are the craters actual indentations or are they just marks? If marks, I don't have any solutions for you. If actual indentations, there could be a couple ways to fix. Possibly vibrating longer or more intensely will do it. I wouldn't worry too much about interfering with the cooling phase, unless you're vibrating for several minutes or more. Even then, I will generally mold and vibrate six molds before loading them into the cooling cabinet with no problems. Vibration is definitely not active cooling. It's likely that the problem is due to the molded chocolate being too thick to settle back into the air bubbles. The first thing I'd look at is your tempering process. It could be that something as simple as molding at a higher temperature could make your chocolate fluid enough to fill in. It's also possible that you're over-tempering leading to thicker chocolate. Other possibilities are that your chocolate is thick due to your formulation, roast, or refining processes.
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Post by kiernan on Feb 19, 2021 9:45:04 GMT -5
Thanks Ben. That's helpful. I'll double-check and make sure I am at a higher temp, and vibrate more.
I'll look into the overtempering. I am still struggling a bit with this concept. My simplistic understanding of this is that it is overcrystalizing before even molding, perhaps by allowing it to form too much Form IV before bring the temp back up, or by seeding it too much. I know there are a lost of threads on tempering here and articles on the main site, so I'll check those again. But if you have any quick tips about avoiding overtempering, that would be appreciated.
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Post by Chip on Mar 2, 2021 17:05:09 GMT -5
Ben, what do you use for a cooling cabinet? I am finding that my refrigerator is kind of overkill.
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Post by Thomas on Mar 2, 2021 17:50:05 GMT -5
Chip,
A wine fridge works good. Even a small one worked well for me. That's where I store my finished bars. I have used it to cool the molds before I had a climate controlled shop.
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Post by Ben on Mar 2, 2021 17:56:27 GMT -5
I used to use a wooden box with a window air conditioner mounted to one side and a fan on the other side. Currently, I use a commercial soda fridge with a fan for airflow. I control the temperature with an external temperature controller.
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