|
Post by dmason on Aug 16, 2006 14:30:45 GMT -5
To make a long story short, here Is where I am in my quest. I have the crankandstein, santha, roasted beans. I just ran the beans through the crankandstein and winnowed with hair dryer as suggested. I do not however have the champion to filter out the remaining husk. Any suggestions? Also should I use a sieve to filter out the dust?
Thank you, David
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Aug 16, 2006 14:34:49 GMT -5
If you spend some time winnowing with the hair drier and sift out the dust, you should be fine. The key is not to rush or you'll end up not removing most of the shell. This is the method I used to use.
|
|
|
Post by dmason on Aug 16, 2006 14:56:43 GMT -5
Thank you for the prompt reply!
OK, so I spent more time with hair dryer, I was worried I was losing alot of the nibs at first. I also sifted out the dust and they seem pretty clean but probably not 100%. Is there a tolerance or will a little husk make a big problem?
Also, while I am at it, is there a minimum amount that I should put in the santha? I plan to mix sugar, almonds, and cinnamon per the recipe I found in the forum.
Thanks again!
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Aug 16, 2006 15:32:16 GMT -5
Thank you for the prompt reply! OK, so I spent more time with hair dryer, I was worried I was losing alot of the nibs at first. I also sifted out the dust and they seem pretty clean but probably not 100%. Is there a tolerance or will a little husk make a big problem? Also, while I am at it, is there a minimum amount that I should put in the santha? I plan to mix sugar, almonds, and cinnamon per the recipe I found in the forum. Thanks again! You want to try and remove all of the shell...but...you won't be able to by using a blow drier unless you spend a lot of time and then hand-pick quite a bit of it out. So, I'd say shoot for removing the vast majority...95-99% of it. Of course, the more you remove, the better. It is just a trade-off of time versus purity of nib when using the blow-drier method. I got down to spending about 15-20 minutes on small 3 lb. batches once I had the hang of it. Slow, but not a huge deal. If you don't remove all the shell, your chocolate isn't going to be ruined, it will just wear the machinery out a bit more quickly, and effect the texture's smoothness. For home chocolate making, I wouldn't loose sleep over a little bit of shell. In terms of minimums in the Santha, I often run 1000 gram batches, and you could run less than that, but I don't think I'd run too much less personally. It probably won't hurt to go a bit lower though. Also, you want to grind the nibs to a liquid in the Santha before adding the other ingredients or the mixture will be very dry and will cake up, and the spinning will drive it up the side of the drum and out the top, even with the lid on. Once the nibs are liquid, though, there shouldn't be any problem. Also, remember to keep the cap and spring off until everything is ground down a bit and flowing freely to keep the majority of the stress off of the motor. Good luck
|
|
|
Post by dmason on Aug 16, 2006 16:23:18 GMT -5
So if I am going to do this more often, I might want to invest in the Champion? Just seems like a mess that I don't want to deal with. Plus, I want the nibs for other uses so I need to come up with a way to get them clean.
I did discover however that the static in a plastic bag aids in removing a lot of the smaller husk. I just put small amounts in and moved it around, then poured out the nibs and the husk remained stuck to the sides. This is however very time consuming. Maybe some physicist can help with that.
Anyhow, thanks again for the advice, I am enjoying the process and the nibs smell fantastic!
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Aug 16, 2006 16:42:41 GMT -5
So if I am going to do this more often, I might want to invest in the Champion? Or you can try another method like dumping the nibs in front of a fan outside and letting the air blow the shell away. This is much faster that the blow drier method, and there is very good separation. Another option is to build a small winnower. A number of people have had luck doing so, so that is another option. Check out this thread: chocolatetalk.proboards56.com/index.cgi?board=equipment&action=display&thread=1144715395
|
|