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Post by cannonhartchocolate on Feb 2, 2021 18:33:07 GMT -5
This weekend I tempered, molded and wrapped a set of bars. They looked fine when I wrapped them, but the past few days I’ve opened a few and they have what I believe is a solid case of sugar bloom. Picture attached.
Process wise, tempered in one batch (melted at 120F, cooled in a water bath to 80-82F, held there for a minute or two raised back to 88-90F in a double boiler. Poured directly into molds around 72F, pretty quickly got into a fridge on racks to get airflow above and below the molds. Within an hour or two of being out of the molds, wrapped in a lined foil and stored at “New England winter room temp” (not super warm).
The one thing I did change was measuring device - I went from using a probe thermometer (Thermoworks Thermopop) to an IR thermometer (Klein Tools). I noted that with the probe thermometer, the chocolate while tempering had notable temp variation from top to bottom, so I tried to be especially conscious of only taking a reading with the IR thermometer after mixing things well.
If that’s at fault, should I be making an adjustment in temps using the IR? Just confused because they didn’t look like this when they were wrapped, so wondering if I’m missing some knowledge on storage and got lucky my first few prior batches.
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Post by cannonhartchocolate on Feb 2, 2021 18:36:41 GMT -5
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Post by mark on Feb 2, 2021 18:52:33 GMT -5
I've found the probe thermometer is way more accurate than the IR one so I always use the probe. If the bars are not well tempered bloom can appear a bit later. Also, you mention putting them in the fridge. Depending on your local conditions you could get moisture condensation on the bars and that may also be causing your issues.
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 4, 2021 16:11:09 GMT -5
That doesn't look like sugar bloom to me - but it's very difficult to tell for certain from a photo. If it IS sugar bloom, it's because you've got moisture present somewhere - such as condensation that is subsequently evaporating. Very hard to tell for certain from a photo however. To me it looks much more like fat bloom.
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Post by cannonhartchocolate on Feb 6, 2021 14:53:20 GMT -5
Thanks all - checked out a few other bars from this batch and it seems to be a spotty issue. Little bit of a mystery, but tempering this weekend and did catch a very slight temperature offset between the IR and probe (within 1.5F) at times. So far the first round of bars is releasing beautifully!
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