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Post by Freddo on Apr 26, 2015 23:10:29 GMT -5
No I don't have a temper meter. I am just starting to use a continuous tempering machine which has two point tempering, I'm finding it really confusing. I used to table the chocolate no problem.
Added to the confusion is that I am changing the types of chocolate I am using in the machine regularly. And even in the same origin each batch is different. Just ironing out the problems to find the right formula i guess.
I find the tempering machine really struggles if the chocolate is thick, so I have gone back to my formula and process to see how I can make thin chocolate, and still keep the flavours I am happy with. One thing that has worked is to separate out the grinding of beans and sugar, and add the butter last. I used to throw the whole lot in together, slowly using a feeder i made, this results in quite thick chocolate i have found. And I'm taking more care to ensure I don't over grind.
So my option is to get the chocolate as thin as possible, usually by adding cocoa butter. Or buy a different tempering machine, one which can handle thicker, heavier chocolate. I have considered going to a batch tempering machine, maybe this will be more user friendly for me but I see many people using the continuous type machine so I'm wondering where I'm going wrong, or what I'm missing?
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Post by Sebastian on Apr 27, 2015 16:19:16 GMT -5
It could be so many things, it's hard to know without the specifics. Remember that not all cocoa butter is created equal (it has a whole range of crystallization properties) so your cocoa butter could be varying. Your tempering machine is only as good as it's thermocouple, and thermocouples go bad all the time - so it might not be as accurate as you think. You can also look at using emulsifiers to thin out your chocolate.
I still suspect it's tempering related however. Sounds to me like you're just not getting consistent degrees of temper, which is causing each batch to behave differently.
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