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Post by jack123 on Jul 30, 2020 4:38:19 GMT -5
Hi all this is my first thread. I have organic cacao beans which is of good quality. As the subject says I wanted to do raw chocolate. I removed the husk and crushed the nibs to considerable size. My chocolate proportion is 65 percent unroasted nibs, 8 percent cacao butter and remaining sugar. I added the butter in melanger it went well, then slowly added nibs. I would have added 100 gms of nibs then it started to thicken I immediately stopped the melanger fearing it would stop. Please let me know what could have gone wrong. . . Kindly help thank you.
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Post by Ben on Jul 31, 2020 8:51:13 GMT -5
Hi Jack. It looks to me like you just needed some heat. Did you melt the cocoa butter and pre-warm everything (bowl, stones, nibs)? You could also use a heat gun at the beginning to get things flowing.
Did the grinder actually start to slow down like it was going to stop? If not, you can just let it continue to run. Note, though, that grinding very small amounts of chocolate don't tend to generate enough heat to stay liquid, and have a tendency to build up on the sides of the stones and the scraper.
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Post by jack123 on Aug 1, 2020 3:13:03 GMT -5
Hi Ben,
Thank you for taking your time and replying. Below are the exact steps I undertook.
1. Removed the husk ( The total weight of the nibs was 650 gms) 2. 80 gms of Butter, I put the butter in a glass bowl and using heat gun I melted it. (I suspect this is the problem. So what is the maximum temperature cacao butter can withstand.) 3. Heat the stone using heat gun and also the nibs 4. First I added the entire butter and then slowly started adding the nibs.
The grinder didn't slow down, but the chocolate started to thicken, so in order to avoid damage I stopped it.
Kindly help on this. Thank you so much.
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Post by jack123 on Aug 1, 2020 6:43:01 GMT -5
One important note. A few days back our grinder was having issues so we sent to the manufacturer for repair, so during testing, they had used grain for 6 to 7 hrs and cleaned and given back to me. Once it was with me I also did clean using warm water and dried it for a day and then used it.
Thank you.
And I would like to thank you for this wonderful forum and all the moderators who in spite of their busy schedule take time to answer our queries. hats off to you.
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Post by Ben on Aug 1, 2020 10:12:57 GMT -5
I don't think melting the cocoa butter with a heat gun is your problem. Pure cocoa butter can get really hot without any issues. I don't know what temperature is too hot, but I've heated some up to around 300F once or twice and used it with no problem (after letting it cool down a bit). I actually don't think there's a problem at all. I think if you just keep running the grinder after adding some nibs, it will work itself out. If it starts to thicken again, add more heat with the heat gun. Side note: if the grinder doesn't slow down at all, it's fine to let it keep running. Even slowing down some is fine. When I was first starting out my grinder would sometimes stop completely if I loaded it too fast. I'd just manually turn the bowl to help it out a bit until it could spin on its own. I used that grinder for years with no real problems.
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Post by jack123 on Aug 1, 2020 22:21:54 GMT -5
Hi Ben,
You are such an amazing person, even though I have wasted two batches but I learnt something from the above. Like you said I applied heat to the thicken chocolate and it was smooth like silk. Thank you so much for your guidance. Love you all .....
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Post by Ben on Aug 3, 2020 6:23:23 GMT -5
Happy to help! Note that if you haven't thrown the two batches away, you can remelt them and regrind them.
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Post by jack123 on Aug 5, 2020 1:00:03 GMT -5
Hi Ben,
It was very difficult for me to throw the last two batches because the effort I had put in, raw material and cost. And I made a fresh batch. Due you think that issue is because of under roasting?
Thank you
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Post by Ben on Aug 5, 2020 10:09:37 GMT -5
You're making raw/unroasted chocolate, right? Without roasting, the beans will have higher moisture content in them which causes the chocolate to be thicker. But, as I mentioned above, I don't think there was really any problem with your previous two batches. They just needed a little more heat to get the cocoa butter in the nibs flowing. If you had kept them, you could probably have just re-warmed them and put them back in the grinder.
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Post by doug99 on Dec 31, 2021 6:29:32 GMT -5
New to making chocolate. Is it possible to make decent chocolate from unroasted nibs in a table top melanger if I heat the melanger in oven prior to use but do not use a hair dryer or heat gun with during use? Thanks!
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Post by Chip on Dec 31, 2021 9:14:21 GMT -5
doug99 You don't have to heat the melange, you need to heat the nibs and cocoa butter. You can heat them in your oven or microwave (using very SHORT durations). The cocoa butter can be melted in a pan. Then put in melange and add nibs and sugar.
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Post by Ben on Dec 31, 2021 11:56:54 GMT -5
You can definitely make a smooth chocolate using unroasted nibs in a stone grinder. You don't necessarily need to warm anything as it will eventually warm up through friction. But, warming up the grinder bowl/stones & the ingredients will make the initial loading process much easier.
Why do you want to avoid a hair dryer or heat gun?
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Post by Chip on Jan 1, 2022 9:40:21 GMT -5
You can definitely make a smooth chocolate using unroasted nibs in a stone grinder. You don't necessarily need to warm anything as it will eventually warm up through friction. But, warming up the grinder bowl/stones & the ingredients will make the initial loading process much easier. Why do you want to avoid a hair dryer or heat gun? With my totally bald head I "don't need no stinkin' hair dryer!" LOL, Happy New Year my friend.
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Post by Ben on Jan 1, 2022 15:00:44 GMT -5
Ha! Same.
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