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Post by mark on Dec 8, 2022 3:46:50 GMT -5
That's a very interesting point you make there Sebastian. But how can we as small producers accurately measure moisture content in beans?
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Post by Sebastian on Dec 8, 2022 20:20:03 GMT -5
The easiest way would be to use weight difference. There's going to be limitations to that, of course (for example - moisture can be managed at multiple steps of your process - it's not just roasting - but roasting has the largest impact and beans are easiest to to pre/post weights on). You would have to over roast a small portion of your beans (essentially fully dehydrate them - or as much as possible) to understand what their starting moisture is - and once you know that, it's easy to do difference calculations. Or find someone with a thermal balance who's willing to test them for you - but not everyone has a thermal balance just laying around  |
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Post by Ben on Dec 9, 2022 9:13:45 GMT -5
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Post by Fat Rabbit Coffee on Dec 9, 2022 15:03:04 GMT -5
I got a moisture meter similar to what you linked to when I started roasting coffee. That was to measure the moisture content of green beans prior to roasting. After gaining comfort from the importers I use that the moisture in the beans I was buying was totally fine, I stopped using it entirely.
I then measured the average weight loss of roasted beans to help me calculate how much per batch will fit into 10 oz bags. That was simply weighing the beans prior to roasting and after.
I've also done this with cacao just to get an idea how much loss there is during roasting but I'm not measuring molded chocolate yet so more of a curiosity for the moment.
But I'm lost on this concept of measuring moisture loss to determine quality.
I'm sure there are similarities between roasting cacao and roasting coffee but it's definitely not apples to apples. When I started with coffee I would roast the same beans a particular way, do the next batch a bit darker and the next batch a bit lighter. Those were my rough guides for homing in on what I considered an ideal roast for a particular bean. I'm starting to use a similar approach for cacao and based on my limited cacao roasting experience, my method is to use a general profile as recommended by John Nanci and change just one variable each time I roast. With the current chocolate I'm playing with, I dropped the beans after 17-ish minutes at 255F. My next batch I'll aim for the same time but drop at maybe 280F or so.
The nice thing about chocolate is it seems to be very forgiving. My first couple roasts I totally screwed up as measured by the suggested profile but it tasted great. Maybe this is along the lines of what Sebastain is suggesting?? In the very beginning I also roasted in a pot right on the stove and that turned out really tasty as well. That would NEVER happen with coffee.
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Post by Sebastian on Dec 10, 2022 20:21:57 GMT -5
I don't have a ton of experience with the agtronix - that said, I'd done some volunteer work through USAID down in the carribean and s. America for cocoa - and the folks I'd worked with there, in between my visits - asked if they could order an agtronix and have it sent to me so I could bring it down to them (tariff issues). While I had it, I took the opportunity to test it against some much more accurate equipment I have - and I'd posted the results on one of the Facebook groups (well tempered maybe? I can't recall).. essentially what I found with the agtronix is that it out of the box it was off by a meaningful amount (2%? I can't quite recall - but enough to be significant) - but that once I'd calibrated it against a known accurate device - it was reasonably accurate. My take away is that it's not a bad, inexpensive option if you've got the ability to have it standardized to an accurate device. Probably worth having it checked periodically if one does this to understand if it drifts or not - I simply didn't have it in my possession for long enough to look at drift. |
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Post by Sebastian on Dec 10, 2022 20:25:09 GMT -5
yeah, It was the well tempered Facebook group. if you belong, just search it for agtronix and you'll see a graph that shows the data along with some commentary on it's performance against a thermal balance and a calibrated dickey John minigac +
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Post by Ben on Dec 12, 2022 9:42:14 GMT -5
Thanks Sebastian! I'll check out the Well Tempered thread.
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Post by Fat Rabbit Coffee on Dec 12, 2022 13:07:13 GMT -5
Sebastian - do you see value in using a moisture meter for home chocolate makers? Or more of a tool for people actually harvesting and processing cacao?
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Post by Sebastian on Dec 18, 2022 15:05:41 GMT -5
A hobby is whatever you make it - as with most hobbies, you can get as far into the weeds as you'd like. Moisture plays a far, FAR larger role in all steps of the processes than most realize - there's not a single step where it doesn't impact the quality of the process/product.
If you're looking to really understand what's happening in your particular process and be able to consistently direct and control your end product - then yes, it's a critical tool. If you're happy with batch to batch variation and consider intermittent failures as part of the fun of exploring a new hobby - then, no, it's probably not of value to you. If you're considering commercial elements - i frankly don't see how any commercial enterprise can be viable for more than 5 years w/o controlling their moisture.
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Dec 17, 2018 10:33:41 GMT -5
Dec 17, 2018 10:33:41 GMT -5