josh
Novice
Posts: 56
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Post by josh on Apr 18, 2007 14:12:40 GMT -5
Forumonians,
I ran into the oddest thing the other day at the local dairy supply store. The owner told me that he had sold a milk homogenizer to another, rather large high quality, chocolate maker/producer in the area. He claims that the company used it to reduce particle size down to 3 microns. My immed. reply was two fold; 3 micron chocolate is gum or they must be using vegetable oil and have had trouble with bonding and particle size, evenness and texture etc. I don't know if the company really uses it or was just experimenting.
Anyway, the Santha goes down to about 20-30 microns if I remember correctly and the pros shoot for around 13-15 with the type of artisan darks that most Alchemists make. So, is it applicable? Anyone ever heard of or experimented with a milk homo?
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josh
Novice
Posts: 56
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Post by josh on Apr 20, 2007 12:09:41 GMT -5
DAMMN! No replies??? Ahhh the science, frankinstein lives!!!!
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Post by Sebastian on Apr 20, 2007 20:08:57 GMT -5
Homogenizers are most often used to create emulsions. what he was likely referring to was the fact that the homogenizer was creating an emulsion of milk fat in the liquid milk to prevent separation, and that the fat globules were 3 um...
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Post by Alchemist on Apr 21, 2007 10:01:25 GMT -5
The other item to keep in mind is that particle size is actually WAY more complicated that one number or range of numbers. I don't have time to get into it now, but I have some particle size distribution graphs of commercial vs Santha chocolate. Slightly different, but effectively equivalent IMO. I will see about getting those up on a page in the next week or so if I can find the pdf files again.
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josh
Novice
Posts: 56
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Post by josh on Apr 21, 2007 12:29:54 GMT -5
First, I agree with Sebastian's assessment that this process was probably used as an emulsion of milk fat, but why 3um. Is that possible? Also, if you look at the particle distribution of the Santha vs. the industrial process(es) which homogenize all the different ingredients in separately and wholely in different phases, what effect would running chocolate through a homogenizer have? Would it create a more even particle distribution? Would that be a benefit as to consistency of product color, taste and formula, i.e. can we skip even more of the industrial process buy homogenizing at the end? Or do you guys feel that this was just a limited case of homogenizing milk fat as part of an industrial milk chocolate process?
Thanks for your responses,
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josh
Novice
Posts: 56
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Post by josh on Apr 26, 2007 8:21:29 GMT -5
Industrial magic revealed-the curtain once again drops on my adversary! So, forum collective, I figured out this milk homo-thing. Chocolate labs use a small homogenizer hooked to an open, recirculating and steam-heated reservoir! Ha! The reservoir has an aeration attachment that controls the flow of the chocolate on the side! Simple industrial madness! They control, heat, pressure, reduce acidity through aeration and create even particle coating i.e. a conch! You can even add water to the chocolate with this thing-appalling! Anyway, the setup is about half the price of a conch but rest assured, I’ll post a much cheaper and alchemist solution soon-please don’t go to the dark side. I only post this because you need to know your enemy in order to defeat his tasteless and corn injected ways. File under F, for finished thread.
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Post by claygordon on Feb 5, 2013 11:31:50 GMT -5
Forumonians, I ran into the oddest thing the other day at the local dairy supply store. The owner told me that he had sold a milk homogenizer to another, rather large high quality, chocolate maker/producer in the area. Barry Callebaut was recently (December, 2012) granted a patent on using a homogenizer to manufacture chocolate. The original filing - coincidentally - occurred about the time the original posting on this topic was made. In doing some research, you can change the dimensions of the rotor/stator to deliver whatever particle size distribution you want, though many applications are in the 2-5 micron range. www.google.com/patents/US8329242
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Feb 5, 2013 16:15:01 GMT -5
Interesting link Clay - I'm having fun looking at the other patents Callebaut has . . . not practical for me, but interesting
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 7, 2013 15:33:59 GMT -5
It'll be contested due to prior art it's the practice of using a high pressure homogenizer for what is, effectively, liquor grinding. it's about all i'll say at this moment on the topic i'm afraid..
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