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Post by sugaralchemy on Jun 24, 2006 22:04:33 GMT -5
Well, after a great deal of experimentation I have found that the tension on the Santha has an incredibly huge impact on the rate at which it breaks down the particles in the chocolate.
My experimentation has yielded a very impressive result: chocolate that is fully refined in less than three hours. Even the most challenging chocolates that used to take 5-7 days is done in not much more time. This is something like a 20-25x speed improvement which is incredible. I can't find anything that isn't more than fully refined after running all night.
The basic approach to increasing tension is to insert stuff into the top cap to give the spring more compression. After trying many things (various spacers, different springs, etc), I found that 1 inch key rings were perfect, several of them. Simply stack them inside the top cap. They can be found at any hardware store. So easy!
In order to make the spring easier to get onto the machine, I compressed it slightly. This allows me to have a greater level of tension but still have it workable to get the top cap component threaded. Once it is screwing in, the increased tension isn't hard to work with.
The result of greater tension is that the grinding wheels spin faster when the machine is filled with chocolate (fast enough to actually cause small bits of chocolate to become airborne, actually!) and there is much more pressure so fewer passes under the wheels are required. This is a synergistic combination and the results are very impressive.
Interestingly, the actual motor load isn't much higher. Manually turning it and measuring the chocolate temperature (only increased a little) both support this statement.
However, the long term impact on the grinding cylinder... I am not sure. If you wish to increase the tension on your Santha, please do it at your own risk and realize that the long term impact of this is unknown. An interesting side effect is that the Santha's cylinder makes a bit more "grinding" noise when running, but nothing out of control.
As for the usefulness... well, obviously this lets you make more chocolate in less time. Less time in the machine will let you maintain more bright, sharp, fruity and delicate aromatic notes. It also can have a substantial impact on the vanilla, depending a lot on the exact vanilla bean and cacao you are using.
I would certainly agree some cacao needs a lot of time to develop a good finished taste, but then again, others are actually damaged by excessive processing. So use your judgement. The advantage to this technique is you can control the tension by varying the number of key rings - the simply pop in and super-easily.
Disclaimer: I can't take any responsibility for modifications you make to your equipment based on reading these notes. This is just for your information. I believe it may be substantially useful to some people, but there are no guarantees. Your milage may vary.
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Post by Alchemist on Jul 31, 2006 16:50:03 GMT -5
I experimented over the weekend with increased tension via a stronger spring and extra washers. I found the same thing you did sugaralchemy. I went from sugar grit to nearly perfectly smooth in around 4-5 hours - much less than the previous time.
I did note one other thing that I have not seen you bring up. The extra resulting pressure causes higher friction and a correspondingly higher temperature. Where I am used to a tempture of 120 F, this batch equilibrated at 140 F. So, that has to be balanced against the shorter time, and will affect the flavor. Whether it is a positive or negative effect will most likely depend on the given bean and recipe.
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Post by sugaralchemy on Jul 31, 2006 17:16:43 GMT -5
My experiments indicate that the temperature does not increase that much normally - 10 to 20 degrees at most. I think I may have the tension even higher than you, considering the rate at which it refines, and interestingly, more tension reduces "fluid friction" (relative to total energy being put into the chocolate) which in turn causes more energy to go into crushing the particles and less into wasted heat - no laws of thermodynamics are being violated here Note that I have (since the first post) reinforced the caps using stainless steel and ultra high strength epoxy, which enables me to obtain stress levels that will (literally - I have done this) destroy the non-reinforced cap. The reinforced caps are also modified to make increasing the tension easier. The only notation is that if you are doing a very high solids chocolate (low fat content) the temperature will climb a bit more than I quoted, but I don't think that a chocolate with that sort of consistency is very desirable for most of the people on these forums. I have experimented with things a bit, and simply covering versus not covering the machine makes a big difference in heat. If you put a fan on the machine with the cover off, you can keep the temperature lower than it would be under "normal" conditions. I have also experimented with running the machine within a large refrigerator, and I found it was actually bordering on too cold, particularly if the cover is left off and/or the batch is very small, the chocolate kept wanting to get too cold. But it would be fairly trivial to leave the cover on and/or warm the fridge. In my experiments, I have found that a little more heat for a short period of times preserves the flavor better than a long time with a little less heat - but if you are really concerned, use the fan! Of course, volatile aromatic compounds being what they are, this is a gross generalization. For whatever it's worth, I've turned out dozens of batches of chocolate using my Santhas and I've not seen a single problem. One of them has enhanced ventilation - well beyond what the factory ships - but even the factory ventilation seems to be more than ample.
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Post by bob1520 on Nov 21, 2006 10:28:47 GMT -5
What you are both probably doing is decreasing the amount of setback that the wheels experience when they encounter a sugar or cocoa particle. The weight of the wheels and the downward tension from the spring should be (ideally) keeping the stone wheels and platen in contact - if the tension is too light and the wheel bumps into something very hard like a sugar particle, it would jump. The shear rate is inversely proportional to the distance between the grinding surfaces - if this varies when the wheels jump, then you are grinding very inefficiently. By keeping it constant, then your are getting efficient griding for every rotation, and the total grind time drops off dramatically, like you both saw. After a certain point, increasing spring compression yields no additional benefit at all. If the wheels and platen are in contstant contact (or at a constant finite distance), then the shear rate is being held constant, and all additional tension goes into energy dissipation somewhere else in the unit. At still higher compression, friction will increase, generated heat will increase, motor load (and your electric bill) will increase, and machine components will distort and fail. I've looked at my Santha, and there is enough vertical play in the axles into the hub to pretty much counter any minor adjustments in the spring. I just made a batch of white chocolate which ground for 19 hours (I fell asleep and forgot to turn the grinder off) - the mix looks and feels pretty good (my first use of the Santha). I had my spring finger tight, then backed off about a quarter turn. I'm going to look into modifying a torque wrench so I can start to put numbers around this very important process control. I agree with Alchemist about the effects of increased temperature - depending on what is in the mix, you run the risk of chemically changing the protein structure and of altering the flavor balance by driving off the volatiles. Don't forget that the temperature on the thermometer is an average bulk temperature - between the stone surfaces, the instantaneous temperature could be very much higher, especially at higher grinding frictions. Just my $0.02 - sorry about the length of this
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Post by foodofthegods on Jan 31, 2007 15:20:41 GMT -5
I want to try this. I would love to make chocolate faster. But I would like to know if this has resulted in damage to the machines. Has anyone who tried it noticed any problems. I love my santhas.
Also, what about the conching effect? I notice my dark chocolates, especially, seem to be much mellower after a couple days in the santha. Does pressure increase speed this effect as well?
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Post by mistacandy on Apr 30, 2008 15:56:43 GMT -5
If this works out it will be a god sent!! I usually put all the ingredients in the santha at 7 in the morning then take it out and temper it at about 9at night. That is a long time w/ that noise and i get tired after nine. Well, we will see how this works out in the end. I will try it this weekend.
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Post by eric101 on Jun 5, 2008 10:29:39 GMT -5
This may be an obvious question but I just had a problem with my Champion ( a stone got in the nibs - an issue in itself - and the plastic inside is almost stripped to the point of the axle spinning without turning the blades. Now instead of buying a replacement blade, can I just throw the nibs in my Santha - turn it on and come back a few hours later to add sugar and do a final refinement (for say 24 hours)?
IOW, can I skip the champion stage? I winnow by hand and have very very few pieces of chaff - I do not even bother with the screen in the Champion but just grind one time and put the liquor in the Santha.
Please tell me I can skip the Champion - that would be very cool.
Thanks,
Eric
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Post by Brad on Jun 5, 2008 13:57:25 GMT -5
Yes. I haven't used the Champion since my second batch of chocolate a couple of years ago.
here's what I do:
Melt the cocoa butter in the microwave until it's hot to touch - almost too hot to put your hand in. Add the sugar and cocoa beans, and then heat again until the whole mixture is hot to touch - about 120 degrees F. Then slowly pour everything into the Santha.
One step. Super easy. Takes a couple of minutes and only messes up one large measuring cup (a 2 litre/quart one).
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Post by eric101 on Jun 5, 2008 20:37:50 GMT -5
Thanks Brad. I don't add any cocoa butter yet. Do you think I can just put in the nibs and sugar microwave and put in the Santha?
TIA,
Eric
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Post by Brad on Jun 5, 2008 22:33:19 GMT -5
No! If you're not careful you'll burn the nibs in the microwave. The cocoa butter acts as a lubricant and a measuring stick to make sure things don't get too hot.
To be candid, there's no point grinding one before the other. They all end up getting crushed and mixed anyway. Use the heat from the cocoa butter to heat the nibs and sugar. THis will ensure neither of the latter two burn.
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Post by FeralOne on Jun 7, 2008 3:17:08 GMT -5
Eric~ You certainly can put the nibs in the Spectra (Santha). I am trying to keep this hobby of mine as cheap as possible, so I haven't bought the Champion. What I do is put the total amount of nibs in the bowl and place the rollers over them. I do not put the tension nut on yet. Turn it on, and run a blow dryer on low over the top. What I noticed when playing around with it the first time is that the blow dryer starts to heat the beans and also blows away the little bits of husks that have been left in the nibs, it does blow a very small amount of nib dust out though, but a very small amount, not enough that I worry about it at all. After about 1 1/2 to 2 hours the nibs have been ground to liqueur. So I add the tension nut and then add the cocoa butter, then I start the process of adding sugar and other ingredients. This way of doing it has been very easy, and I would think less mess since I don't have another machine to clean up.
Brad~I am a little confused why it seems that the nibs are supposed to be heated before adding to the Santha, the grinding process heats the mixture to around 120*F while it is refining/conching. Is it to make it liquefy quicker? I do melt the cocoa butter in a pan on the stove and soak my vanilla in it, but I only add it to the Santha when it is at 120*F.
As for adding the sugar at the beginning, I haven't done this, I just liquefy the nibs and then later, when it is at the 120*F mark, I slowly start to add the sugar, it has to be added slowly or the Spectra starts to strain.
Happy chocolate making!
Andrea
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Post by reelchemist on Jun 7, 2008 16:46:00 GMT -5
My non-champion method is a combo of both above. I heat the cocoa butter in the microwave chuck that in a preheated Santha then I take my nibs put them in my blender for only a few minutes (no liquification) just to get the size down. Then I add this powder slowly to the cocoa butter. Thought I do like Brad's idea of adding my blended nibs to cocoa butter and heating again in the microwave.
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Post by Brad on Jun 7, 2008 19:50:20 GMT -5
Andrea;
The reason I heat the nibs with the cocoa butter is because the nibs, when added to the mixture at room temperature, lower the overall temperature of the mix enough to make it thick and cause the machine to work harder.
Remember: If you're making a dark chocolate, the volume of nibs by weight is usually more than the cocoa butter, and ample volume to cool the mixture down enough to cause the machine to burn belts.
Also, if the machine isn't pre-heated (rollers and granite base are room temperature), they will have a tendency to cool the mixture down as they draw heat in the process of warming up.
If you start with all ingredients warm, the process of getting the batch started goes MUCH faster. On top of that it's easier on the machine.
Having said all of that, I too use a hair dryer to heat up the bin prior to making chocolate.
NOTE: IF ALL INGREDIENTS ARE AROUND 120 DEGREES TO START, AND THE BIN IS ALSO WARM, AND THE ROLLERS ARE WARM, I'M ABLE TO VERY QUICKLY DUMP ALL THE INGREDIENTS IN AND WALK AWAY. BY QUICKLY I MEAN LESS THAN 30 SECONDS.
The final benefit to this method is that if you use a microwave safe measuring cup or bowl, your entire batch of chocolate can be weighed and heated in it, thereby only messing up one bowl and one spatula - which incidentally goes right in the dishwasher after. No muss. no fuss.
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Post by FeralOne on Jun 8, 2008 3:44:44 GMT -5
Well, that makes sense. I am getting ready to start another batch this a.m. and will heat everything before I begin. It's funny how one gets stuck in a habit of doing something a certain way, even though it may not be the most efficient way. That is one of the things I love about this site. You hear about what someone else has tried and find it works so much better than what you have been doing. Thank you, Brad, for explaining it. It was sort of a slap your for-head 'DUH!' moment when I read it. Andrea
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Post by Brad on Jun 8, 2008 11:32:06 GMT -5
Andrea; Glad I could help. I'd like to invite you to check out my company's new website too. www.SoChoklat.comI just released it and am looking for feedback on it. Best Regards, Brad
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