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Post by LLY on Jan 31, 2016 1:22:41 GMT -5
Hello, I'm interseted of making chocolate at home. I also want to make the process without gaining much heat in the container. As I understand, there are two brands that using stone melanger: Santha and CacoaTown. I will probably For the Santha. There are other brands that recommended? The most important part(and also the scariest) regarding machine repears: I afraid that in a case of fault I will need to send the machine to US and because of the weight of the machine it will cost hundreds of dollars.. The melangers in the market today are reliable? for example: The Vitamix 5200 which I have at home is undergo almost zero failers.
So, I need the advice of the forum members. Appriciate your help..
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Post by Thomas on Jan 31, 2016 22:20:17 GMT -5
Depending on how large a batch you want to make, you could also look at the 1.5L Premier Grinder. They are $200 USD and have a capacity of a little over 3 KG. I tend to stay at 3Kg. At this amount, it will generate about 140F/60C heat. Smaller batches don't generate as much heat. If you are a DIY person, it is not that difficult to replace parts. I've replaced the gears in mine after about a year of use. But I've made lots of chocolate and I put nibs directly into the melanger which does make it work a little harder.
I thought I would give you an alternative melanger to think about.
Good luck,
Thomas
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Post by LLY on Feb 3, 2016 10:45:11 GMT -5
Thank you, The thing is that the stone melangers (e.g CocoaTown and Spectra) are generate less heat compare to the others melangers. My aim is to get as close as I can to raw chocolate. If you have more recommendations in this field I will love to hear.. I guess that any malenger is quite heavy, means problems with maintenance. In essence I'm interested in small capacity.
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Post by Thomas on Feb 3, 2016 22:26:20 GMT -5
The Premier grinder is a stone grinder. It's just has a smaller capacity the Cocoa Town and Spectra. How much heat do you think these grinders will generate? I'm curious.
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eg
Neophyte
Posts: 47
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Post by eg on Feb 3, 2016 22:54:19 GMT -5
The Premier grinder is a stone grinder. It's just has a smaller capacity the Cocoa Town and Spectra. How much heat do you think these grinders will generate? I'm curious. My tilting grinder stays at around 122-125 F.
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Post by Thomas on Feb 3, 2016 23:40:56 GMT -5
For clarity, I am referring to the temperature of the chocolate in the bowl. The larger and more viscous the batch, the higher the temperature.
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Feb 4, 2016 0:04:38 GMT -5
I use the 1.5L Premier and it runs at ~43-47C (that's the temperature of the chocolate) with a 1kg batch.
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eg
Neophyte
Posts: 47
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Post by eg on Feb 4, 2016 12:52:57 GMT -5
For clarity, I am referring to the temperature of the chocolate in the bowl. The larger and more viscous the batch, the higher the temperature. Yup, the chocolate in the premier tilting grinder (1.5 L) is around 122F during grinding.
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Post by LLY on Feb 5, 2016 10:46:38 GMT -5
If I base on this post: ooosha.co.uk/melanger-a-k-a-stone-grinder/you can make raw chocolate. According to Spectra in full speed it produce 45-50C By the way, it's possible to make the chocolate not in a constant process but to stop the machine every two hours for example for halp an hour. Is it make sense or absolutely no?
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Post by LLY on Feb 5, 2016 13:12:12 GMT -5
The Premier grinder is a stone grinder. It's just has a smaller capacity the Cocoa Town and Spectra. How much heat do you think these grinders will generate? I'm curious. The differences between the melangers is only the capacity? What about refining ability? speed control? etc..
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Post by Thomas on Feb 5, 2016 23:38:27 GMT -5
In my opinion, all the melangers have the same refining abilities and the main difference is capacity. More capacity usually means a larger bowl, bigger stone wheels, and a stronger motor. Speed control is an option for some and other options may also be available. The Premier 1.5L does not have speed control. So if you need this, then the Premier is not for you.
Once you start the machine to refine and conch, you don't want to stop it until you are done. Otherwise, the chocolate will start to set and become hard.
As far as the Spectra having the ability to make raw chocolate, I don't know what that means. There is no industry definition for raw chocolate. At least that I can find.
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Post by LLY on Feb 6, 2016 5:28:11 GMT -5
Thank you, I will probably will but the Premier grinder 1.5L, I thought maybe to buy the Santha, but his his 2 major disadvantages: 1. The price: 1100$ compared to 220$ (shipping included) 2. As far as I know, the Premier grinder is undergo minimum of failurs, furthermore, in a case of failure in the Santha, shipping for reparing will cost a lot cause of the size and weight of the grinder. I think it's a good product to start with, take some time to learn the field and learn my needs and then I will be smarter, because now it's all speculations: temperature, mooth fill and so on.
Thank you all for this theard. I hope I made the right move.
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Post by timwilde on Feb 19, 2016 7:25:46 GMT -5
You'll want to keep in mind that the heat generated is 100% friction. It can be managed and lowered to reasonable temperatures by adding ingredients more slowly. That being said, this was immediately after my sugar was added to the batch 12 hours into refining. It hit 146.2F on the thermometer. That's 63.4C if you needed a translation. However, these little machines are more efficient somehow and they're little workhorses, so I at this point I was just about dumping the whole amount in as it was needed. Add slowly and the heat wont rise too much. imgur.com/vBJtAOU
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Post by LLY on Feb 25, 2016 3:09:31 GMT -5
Report: after first batch (white chocolate) of approximately 2lb, the maximum temperature was 38C and most of the time it's fluctuate around 35-37C. total refining time around 10 hours.
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