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Post by jhoff on Feb 2, 2013 19:40:01 GMT -5
My first time trying roasting. I bought 5 one lb bags different beans and decided to start with the Venezuelan Tricheras (http://shop.chocolatealchemy.com/products/venezuelan-tricheras-2012). I have a convection oven. I started w/ my oven pre-heated to 350. Put the beans in a glass bowl, about one inch deep. Roasted for 10 mins at 350 stopping at 5 mins to stir. Then dropped the temp to 325 and roasted for another 10 mins, again stirring at 5 mins. Then I turned the oven off and let them roast for another 10 mins again stirring at 5 mins. Never heard any cracking. Shells come off fairly easily and the nibs taste as I expect I guess - like nibs I've bought to eat before.
Am I done? Going to crack and winnow...
Do I need to let them cool before cracking and winnowing?
Should I go ahead and keep roasting more beans or go thru the rest of the process first to see if I had a good roast? How can I tell?
Other beans I bought:
Ecuador - Mindo - Organic 2011 (trinatario)
Ghana - 2011 (Forestero)
Venezuelan Mantuano 2012 (criollo)
Venezuelan Patanemo 2012 washed (criollo)
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Post by lilypa on Feb 2, 2013 22:15:29 GMT -5
Yes, let them cool before cracking and winnowing. Also, I'd suggest going through the whole process before roasting your other beans unless you plan to blend your beans into a larger batch of chocolate. Somewhere in this forum it's been mentioned that roasted beans go stale within a week. If you've got the time to make multiple batches quickly, then go for it. Note that the refining/coaching step alone will take several to many hours.
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Post by jhoff on Feb 3, 2013 0:20:22 GMT -5
I went ahead and cracked / winnowed (crankandstein + hair drier) then started the nibs (still warm at that point) in my premier wonder grinder (http://chocolatealchemy.com/2012/09/03/new-origin-organic-nicaragua-2012/) which seems to be working really well. I can see next time I want to do a larger batch - 1lb of beans isn't making much chocolate. Tastes pretty good! Not sure how long I should refine / conch? I started it around 5:00 PM then we went out for the evening around 6:00 and I left it running... should I leave it running over night?
Maybe for the next batch, I'll roast both of both of my Criollo 1 lb bags of beans... Any idea how many lbs of beans I can do in one batch in the Wonder Grinder?
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Feb 3, 2013 2:25:28 GMT -5
I think I remember John posting something in the post you link about how much he did in a batch - can't remember the exact number off the top of my head
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Post by jhoff on Feb 3, 2013 2:42:06 GMT -5
So it does - he says "And will refine 7-8 lbs of chocolate." I assume that means 7-8 lbs of nibs? And from 1lb of beans, you get about .8 lb of nibs? Suggesting I could start with 9-10 lbs of beans in one batch?
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Post by lilypa on Feb 3, 2013 11:02:31 GMT -5
I don't have a Wonder Grinder but I'd assume by 7-8 lbs of chocolate that John meant X lbs of nibs + Y lbs of other ingredients ( sugar, cocoa butter, whatever else). So, if you make a 70% dark chocolate to capacity you'll probably want to start your next batch with 7-8 lbs of raw beans. 9-10 lbs may overload your Wonder Grinder once you're ready to add your sugar, etc.
As for how long to refine your 1 lb batch, I'd taste some every couple of hours. When I started I made 2 lb batches and it seemed like 12 lbs provided smooth chocolate without driving off the good flavors. I'm slowly graduating myself up and now I'm making 5 lb batches and it seems like upwards of 20+ hours of refining/conching is required. More chocolate, longer refining times. You might wanna check around 8 hours. I refined one 2 lb batch for 16 hours once and it was bland and gummy, so I think I over-refined it.
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Post by lilypa on Feb 3, 2013 11:27:10 GMT -5
Of course, your refiner is different from mine so the times will vary. Ultimately, refining times will depend on RPMs, contact area of the wheels to the base, friction of grinding wheels and base, amount of ingredients, your palette, how roasted your nibs are, etc. So take my time suggestions lightly.
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Post by jhoff on Feb 3, 2013 11:55:35 GMT -5
I'm making 100% cacao bars - it's what I like to eat  It's still going and been 16 hours so far. How can I tell from the liquid chocolate that I've over-refined it? It's now less bitter than it was last night. |
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Post by jhoff on Feb 3, 2013 12:20:12 GMT -5
might the time also depend on the bean type? next I'm going to try some Criollo beans...
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gap
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Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Feb 3, 2013 15:22:58 GMT -5
Yes, refining will depend on type of bean and what you like the taste of. If it is smooth to the palate and you like the taste of it, it's ready to go.
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Post by jhoff on Feb 3, 2013 15:51:22 GMT -5
alright then - time to temper and pour bars. I can see getting the majority of the chocolate out of the Wonder Grinder is going to be difficult  |
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Post by lilypa on Feb 3, 2013 17:25:53 GMT -5
I agree with Gap. You know I certainly can't purport to be an expert. Most of the veterans to this forum aren't active much anymore as far as replies. So...I'm only sharing my limited experience. I "think" I over-refined one batch early on because it tasted flat/bland and was kind of gummy/plasticy in mouthfeel while earlier tastes during refining had more flavor.
Oh and yup...I made a large assumption earlier that you were using sugar and maybe other ingredients. I think your thought of 9-10 lbs of beans to make 100% bars using your Wonder Grinder will be a good test to confirm its capacity. Josh did say in one of his posts that he got it to hold about 7 or 7.5 lbs of chocolate.
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gap
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Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Feb 4, 2013 0:00:03 GMT -5
alright then - time to temper and pour bars. I can see getting the majority of the chocolate out of the Wonder Grinder is going to be difficult It gets easier the more often you do it. Just don't try to scrape down everything - some larger particle, unrefined, chocolate gets trapped in some spots, so you don't want to scrape that into your nicely refined chocolate. I tend to put the partially scraped rollers into a bowl and let my 3-year old son have a go at it. |
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Post by jhoff on Feb 4, 2013 0:44:14 GMT -5
Well, bars are made. Out of 1lb of beans, I got just over 8oz of bar. What a messy business! Yes, I also noticed some not so refined bits in the crevasses - I'll be a bit less thorough next time I didn't get the temper quite right. I tried the microwave method suggested here: chocolatetalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=finishing&action=display&thread=265 because it seemed fairly simple. Think my main problem was I was working on a counter top that was fairly cold (we keep our house around 68) and that transferred to the glass bowl? The bars are mostly tempered but there are swirls of untempered chocolate in it. I kept going back to the microwave to heat up the bowl then the syringe got clogged... I think it will take practice Next time: 1) start with a larger batch. 2) work on a somehow warmed work surface or at least one that's not cold and a good heat conductor. Oh and yes, there was a lot of "bowl licking" mostly by me Thanks for the help everyone. |
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Post by Ben on Feb 4, 2013 0:48:12 GMT -5
For my production batches, I filter the chocolate through a very fine screen to make sure that no unrefined chunks of nib get through. For my small test batches, I don't bother, but I do try to scrape thoroughly during the refining process to avoid unrefined nib as much as possible. I'll generally pull the wheels out a couple times during a batch to scrape under/around them.
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It's still going and been 16 hours so far. How can I tell from the liquid chocolate that I've over-refined it? It's now less bitter than it was last night.