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Post by eirik on May 24, 2012 7:20:33 GMT -5
I've received my Spectra 11 and eagerly prepared my first batch of chocolate yesterday. Two of my kids are lactose intolerant and I could give them lactose-free milk chocolate this morning. They were very happy (to put it mildly). It seems I managed to temper correctly and I'm positively surprised with the taste, texture and looks of the chocolate. It's probably the best milk chocolate I have ever tasted! There is only one snag, however. Even though I cannot feel particles with my tongue, if I grind the chocolate between my teeth I can feel small particles of sand. There is sand in my chocolate! After cleaning the machine I ran it "dry" for a little bit and fine stone dust developed on the rolls, as you can see in the picture. Sure enough, if I put the stuff in my mouth it is an ultra fine stone powder that gives the same sand feeling between the teeth. Is this normal? Is my machine faulty? When I set up the machine I first wiped it off, then tried to run it with a pound of sugar. There was no way to make it work with sugar. The motor just couldn't pull the grinding stones over the sugar, even if I only added a little at a time. I then added about a cup of sunflower oil and everything went much better. I let it run with sugar and oil for about 75 minutes and then wiped it clean before doing the chocolate. Getting stone dust into my otherwise perfect chocolate is no fun. Any ideas what I can do about this would be greatly appreciated! Eirik ----- Attachments:
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Post by cheebs on May 24, 2012 17:44:12 GMT -5
I doubt it's dust. The grit you're feeling is most likely unrefined sugar particles. If you only processed for ~24 hours you need to go at least another 24. The dust if forming precisely because you're running the grinder "dry."
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Post by eirik on May 29, 2012 6:43:35 GMT -5
Hi,
Thanks for the quick feedback. Sorry for not commenting earlier, I have been traveling.
It is definitely not sugar, since it does not dissolve in my mouth. I've let the chocolate melt completely in my mouth and then some, but the sand is still there.
There is no doubt that running the Santha dry creates very fine sand, if this is normal I hope that is my problem. I did run the grinder empty for some time before putting in the ingredients.
I have now cleaned and dried it completely and started a new batch this morning. I made sure to put in the melted cocoa butter first and soaked the stones in it before turning the machine on. I'll let it run for 24 hours and see if there is any sand this time around.
Eirik -----
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gap
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Post by gap on Oct 3, 2012 5:42:09 GMT -5
Hi - did you have any update on this? I've just received my first wet grinder and also noticed some thin dust on the stonework. I'm sure it's just from putting it together but am wondering what the best way to get rid of it is? Maybe just run some fat through the machine for a while . . .
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gap
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Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Oct 4, 2012 16:20:35 GMT -5
As an update, I ran some neutral vegetable oil (canola oil) through the machine last night for 20 minutes. It came out grey. I washed the machine and rollers with hot water and left to dry overnight. This morning all the stone seems a lot smoother and dust free. I'm thinking I might try some more canola oil tonight just to check it comes out a normal colour.
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gap
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Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Oct 5, 2012 5:24:13 GMT -5
I did a second run of the canola oil this evening and it came out a lot cleaner - I think I'm ready to go!!
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gap
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Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Oct 30, 2012 23:22:09 GMT -5
Just to tidy up this discussion - I've made several batches of chocolate now and haven't had a problem with stone dust. The two runs with canola oil (20 mins and 30 mins the next day) and cleaning it out after each with hot water did the trick.
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Post by eirik on Nov 3, 2012 6:58:10 GMT -5
Hi,
Yes, it seems necessary to run a batch or two of oil to get the production dust out.
My first grinding stones were in fact in addition producing sand dust of their own, probably because of a production fault. One of the stones had a slight bump on it, and I think this was the cause.
I contacted Santha and they were very responsive and service minded. They immediately shipped new grinding stones to me, express delivery and completely free of charge. I ran the new stones in oil and then switched to chocolate. This time it was perfectly free of any stone dust.
Eirik -----
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