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Post by daniel on Sept 15, 2008 13:34:48 GMT -5
It's currently 68F (20C) and 58% relative humidity outside according to my instruments, and I suspect that's why my chocolate doesn't have much of a 'snap'.
A/C barely manages to get humidity to below 50%, but I can get cooler. Should I wait for cooler and dryer days, or buy a dehumidifier? Can the chocolate handle slightly more relative humidity if the room is much cooler?
In the winter, temperatures are usually around 17-18C indoors and I don't really control it; with humidity often very low.
All I've managed to find indicates temperature should be between 20-22C and around 50% humidity, but other sources say less humidity is better. If anyone has more authoritative sources or has dealt with these conditions, would you comment?
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Post by cheebs on Sept 15, 2008 17:54:38 GMT -5
I've been tempering successfully at up to 65% RH. Anything above that and I get all sorts of bloom problems, but primarily streaks. Never had a problem with snap.
I'm in Guatemala City, altitude 5000 ft (1500m) and temperatures rarely, if ever, go above 24C. Humidity however, especially now in the rainy season, is always above 50%. On days when my hygrometer reads anything below 65% I break out the tempering machine and start molding like crazy. My kitchen's open so a dehumidifier wouldn't really help. I'm thinking about building a cooling cabinet with a large Peltier (Thermoelectric) cooler, which serves double duty as a dehumidifier.
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Post by chocogeek on Sept 15, 2008 21:48:38 GMT -5
I just head a talk given by Mott Green of Grenada Chocolate and he mentioned that they use an undersized AC unit as a dehumidifier. The humidity is a constant problem in Grenada and this is the solution that works for them. I assume that by choosing an A/C unit that is undersized it will run all the time and will not cool down the room too far. I guess with it constantly running it would squeeze most of the moisture out of the air eventually.
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Post by daniel on Sept 17, 2008 19:54:33 GMT -5
Thanks folks, this is very useful
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