Post by darian on Feb 27, 2022 14:07:00 GMT -5
Hi,
I've been learning to make chocolate over the past few months and decided to join the Chocolate of the Month Club in order to practice and learn about the process. I thought it'd be useful to have a sample of what the chocolate could be like in order to get a sense of whether I'm doing it right and I've been striving to get it as close to the sample as I can. The problem I'm running into is that my chocolate is coming out consistently sharper and seemingly more acidic than the sample I'm sent. I am looking for advice on why this may be happening and what I can do to get past this.
For some background, I am using the orange / red Premier Refiner. I'm trying to follow the instructions laid out on the Chocolate Alchemist's website, where the lid is left off for a few hours at the beginning of the refining process to help release those volatile, acidic compounds. I'm also warming the ingredients up before putting them into the refiner, putting the butter in first, then the nibs, etc. The last batch I refined was Dominican Republic Zorzal from December, and after running the Refiner for four straight days, my chocolate still tastes almost nothing like the sample that came with the kit. It's still quite sharp and acidic and doesn't seem to have the same nuance as the sample, which I'd describe as having a very raisiny flavor that hits you immediately and I wouldn't describe it as particularly acidic either.
I'm wondering how important temperature is during the refining and conching process and whether that could be a factor that may be influencing my outcome. I live in the northeast so it was quite cold when I was refining the chocolate, but I made sure to keep a space heater near the refiner in order to keep the internal temperature up and the chocolate fluid. Even with the heater, I do struggle to get the temperature over 110 degrees so I'm curious if that might have something to do with it?
Could there be anything else I'm missing here? I'm also wondering if I should just try putting it back into the refiner and letting it run for a few more days. What's the longest I should let it go for?
Thanks for reading and for any advice anyone may have for me.
I've been learning to make chocolate over the past few months and decided to join the Chocolate of the Month Club in order to practice and learn about the process. I thought it'd be useful to have a sample of what the chocolate could be like in order to get a sense of whether I'm doing it right and I've been striving to get it as close to the sample as I can. The problem I'm running into is that my chocolate is coming out consistently sharper and seemingly more acidic than the sample I'm sent. I am looking for advice on why this may be happening and what I can do to get past this.
For some background, I am using the orange / red Premier Refiner. I'm trying to follow the instructions laid out on the Chocolate Alchemist's website, where the lid is left off for a few hours at the beginning of the refining process to help release those volatile, acidic compounds. I'm also warming the ingredients up before putting them into the refiner, putting the butter in first, then the nibs, etc. The last batch I refined was Dominican Republic Zorzal from December, and after running the Refiner for four straight days, my chocolate still tastes almost nothing like the sample that came with the kit. It's still quite sharp and acidic and doesn't seem to have the same nuance as the sample, which I'd describe as having a very raisiny flavor that hits you immediately and I wouldn't describe it as particularly acidic either.
I'm wondering how important temperature is during the refining and conching process and whether that could be a factor that may be influencing my outcome. I live in the northeast so it was quite cold when I was refining the chocolate, but I made sure to keep a space heater near the refiner in order to keep the internal temperature up and the chocolate fluid. Even with the heater, I do struggle to get the temperature over 110 degrees so I'm curious if that might have something to do with it?
Could there be anything else I'm missing here? I'm also wondering if I should just try putting it back into the refiner and letting it run for a few more days. What's the longest I should let it go for?
Thanks for reading and for any advice anyone may have for me.