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Post by domas on Sept 22, 2010 10:04:50 GMT -5
Hello dears, I would be really grateful if you could provide me with couple of details about doing chocolate with melanger. I am going to try and sell this bean-to-bar idea for one chocolate maker (they are buying their chocolate from Belcolade at the moment). They are very curious but not convinced yet. So we agreed to try and make the sample in order to check the quality and compare with their chocolate. I have some quality cocoa liqour and butter and willing to start doing sample chocolate asap. Could you tell me what is the minimum quantity of cocoa mass and butter to be put in melanger? Is there a product quantity minimum when working with 2l santha melanger? Another question, what are the pre-steps of making chocolate from cocoa liqour, not from bean. Do I need just to premelt the liqour and put it in to melanger and leave it for the couple of days to roll? And the last question. Do I need to tamper the chocolate before pouring in to molds? The main issue this time is tasting quality, so I guess I don't need to tamper the mass, but could this affect the final taste? Should I tamper the mass in order to get better tasting end product? Thank you very much in advance for the answers, your answers would greatly impact the negotiation process between me and the chocolate maker! Domas
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Post by ephramz on Sept 22, 2010 16:21:55 GMT -5
Domas, for the 2 liter santha I find that putting less than 1 lb (1/2 kg) of cocoa liquor will give you diminishing returns as most of the chocolate gets lost on the rollers or spindle.
Tempering doesn't really effect taste at one point in time, but it does affect how flavor develops over time in the mouth- untempered chocolate will not melt in the same way or it will melt much quicker, allowing the cocoa solids to contact your tongue faster as they are reveal from inside the fat.
You definitely will have to tackle tempering at some point and if you want to give this client a nicely presented bar that will really represent the final product, it's best to take the ~30 extra minutes to do the tempering and get it right.
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Post by domas on Oct 7, 2010 8:56:52 GMT -5
big thanks ephramz, i find it super helpful!
one extra question, how come you guys, who work with santha melanger, make it work for days? Is it loud? Where do you keep it rolling? What about safety and electricity stuff? i was going to put santha in my garage, but maybe it's too cold down there..
Can you switch off rolling santha at night time and proceed next day? Any advice for the newbie would be more than welcome
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Post by ephramz on Oct 9, 2010 9:41:25 GMT -5
one extra question, how come you guys, who work with santha melanger, make it work for days? Not sure I understand this question. Grinding chocolate in a melanger for 1-3 days is standard chocolate-making practice to refine the bean downs to 10-20 microns and develop the flavor. Is it loud? Yes, often quite loud, but it depends how well adjusted the machine is Where do you keep it rolling? as far from my ears as possible in a warmish (~80° F) and low humidity (<50%) room, free from and wildlife or chocolate thieves! What about safety and electricity stuff? again, not sure I understand. Safety of hands near the stone rollers? They're not that big in the basic Santhas. Can you switch off rolling santha at night time and proceed next day?
depends if it stays warm enough to remain liquid. If not you have to remelt it with a hairdryer and this may get parts of the machine like the plastic spatula and central bushing up to temps that probably aren't good for staying solid and not leaching chemicals into the chocolate. We had one spatula melt off 1-2 mm from the edge into the plastic after attempting just such a thing, lending a nice petroleum undertone to the chocolate. Had to throw out the entire 2 lbs!
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Post by domas on Oct 17, 2010 3:13:51 GMT -5
Thank you ephramz for wonderful answers!
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