|
Post by Ben on Aug 12, 2023 22:25:27 GMT -5
Hello! I haven't tried one myself, but I've heard from a couple chocolate makers who have tried some. If I remember right, they said it worked ok, but that it wasn't particularly efficient and resulted in a darker cocoa butter. The founder of SRSLY Chocolate in Austin, TX used one and made a 'dirty white chocolate' from the cocoa butter it produced.
It probably depends on your goals. If you just want to make a little cocoa butter from your cacao to add to a dark or milk chocolate, it should probably work fine at a very small scale. If you're hoping to get a pure, clean butter that could be used for a white chocolate, it may not work for you.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 11, 2023 13:41:20 GMT -5
Yep, I'll run it with a bit of hot water to help with cleaning. Some of the bigger grinders that don't have removable bowls recommend cleaning the machine that way.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 10, 2023 10:56:53 GMT -5
Also, while the bowl and stones are not dishwasher-safe, I believe the center piece that holds the wheels and scrapers is. Check your manual before quoting me on that, though.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 9, 2023 15:43:36 GMT -5
I'm not sure about that. I've never attempted making cookie butter from a moist cookie. Worst case, just dry them out in the oven before grinding.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 9, 2023 8:11:57 GMT -5
My cookie butter recipe is basically 1 part cookies, 0.8 part refined coconut oil, 0.15 part sunflower oil (although this could be any liquid oil). You can use biscoff cookies off the shelf for the traditional speculoos cookie butter, but I think any cookie should more or less work, although you'd want to get rid of any fillings if any. I bake my own cookies for mine.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 8, 2023 7:45:50 GMT -5
I'm glad I could help! The blue one is a great little grinder. It's capable of grinding chocolate, but just not intended for it and the warranty won't cover it. I've used one to grind various nut butters, coconut butter, and cookie butter.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 7, 2023 13:12:21 GMT -5
There are several Premier grinders available. Two that are intended for chocolate and two that aren't. The small blue one, which you have, is not intended for chocolate. That being said, many of us used those to make chocolate before the red one came out. The small red one looks the same as the one you have, but the plastic piece in the middle is red and has some upgraded parts to stand up to chocolate use--bearings, etc.--the most important of which is a temperature-controlled shutoff mechanism. There have been a couple fires caused by the blue one overheating when being used for chocolate. I would recommend returning this one and getting the red one direct from Diamond Custom Machines at www.melangers.com/There are also slightly larger, tilting versions of both the chocolate and non-chocolate grinders.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 3, 2023 7:48:26 GMT -5
Let us know how it goes! You may have better luck if you increase the amount of cocoa butter relative to the other ingredients.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Aug 2, 2023 11:48:00 GMT -5
Yep, agreed with Thomas. Not really chocolate but sounds tasty.
I also agree that it's probably impossible to temper. The low-ish percentage of cocoa butter, the moisture from the dates, and the fat from the cashews and coconut, are all going to cause problems.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Jul 26, 2023 8:10:04 GMT -5
Yep, the little one will be able to handle that amount with no problem--with the caveat about the moisture in the dates mentioned in my previous comment, but that's an issue inherent in chocolate making, not in the machine.
The larger one may be a bit more powerful to be able to handle larger batches, but the little ones will have plenty of power. Build quality is the same on both as they're from the same company. I've been running several of the little ones for years.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Jul 25, 2023 11:52:38 GMT -5
Oops, I should have mentioned that you really don't want to be grinding anything with any moisture with the chocolate. Water and chocolate are not friends and can cause the chocolate to seize. I'm not sure of the moisture level of dates, but they may be a problem. You could experiment with fully drying them first in a dehydrator.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Jul 25, 2023 10:48:18 GMT -5
Either of those should work well for you. There's not really a quality difference between the two--just a size difference. If you're only ever doing very small batches, I'd recommend getting the smaller one.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Jul 18, 2023 10:01:44 GMT -5
I guess it *can* work that way, but cooling removes a bunch of possible problems. For example, that higher quality mold is probably thicker, so it's insulating the chocolate more and not allowing it to cool as quickly. Cooling solves that issue. And yeah, at a certain point in the crystallization process, the process starts to generate heat. Without active cooling to remove that heat, it can cause the chocolate to go out of temper. Generally this is more of problem with thicker pieces of chocolate, but from your photos it looks like the fat rabbit bars are thinner than the ones below, so it could be that your problem is something else entirely. How long did it take to mold the full batch? How are you maintaining temperature throughout the molding process? Are you constantly monitoring the temperature and stirring?
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Jul 14, 2023 8:41:34 GMT -5
Yep, leaving it at room temp is probably the culprit. At a certain point while chocolate is crystallizing, the process turns exothermic which can definitely knock your chocolate out of temper. To avoid it, it's best to use some active cooling, but it can sometimes work to let it crystallize at room temp if you have some added airflow.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Jul 13, 2023 11:01:11 GMT -5
I wait until the nibs are somewhat flowing, but that's just to take it a little easier on my grinder. Like Alchemist John's tests show, my experience has been that the timing of the sugar doesn't have an effect on the final flavor of the chocolate. I've spoken to a few chocolate makers who wait a full 24 hours before adding the sugar, which I think makes the chocolate more viscous with a thicker mouthfeel.
|
|