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Post by nuage9 on Jan 1, 2024 4:18:34 GMT -5
I was making some chocolate and i’m reasonably careful making sure everything is dry. I melted some cacao butter in my dehydrator, cut up a vanilla bean and scraped the inside, added 1/4tsp lecithin and mixed then added to melanger. Then started slowly adding cacao nibs as i always do. But compared to all my other batches the colour looks off to me. Right now there’s about 370 grams cacao butter in there and 500 grams cacao nibs. My melanger looked super dry as well. I dried all the parts in my dehydrator overnight at 25C with the fan on, and then i left it on the counter for about another 12 hours before i used it. If it has indeed seized, is there any way to save this? I’m really not looking forward to washing this! 🥲 boom emoticons
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Post by nuage9 on Jan 1, 2024 5:53:29 GMT -5
Crisis averted (for now). I don’t know if it was just giving it a bit more time or adding 1/4tsp more sunflower lecithin, but the mixture started to flow smoothly and the colour turned into a proper chocolate colour
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Post by Chip on Jan 1, 2024 8:15:29 GMT -5
Congrats! A good way to start a new year. Sometimes a little tweak and a little time can save the day.
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Post by Ben on Jan 1, 2024 23:00:32 GMT -5
It looks like it got a little cold to me. My guess is that if you had used a heat gun on it for a couple minutes that it would have warmed up and flowed normally again.
On a side note, while I don't use lecithin myself so can't speak from experience, my understanding is that it is most beneficial to add it right at the end of the grinding process.
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Post by nuage9 on Jan 2, 2024 2:44:37 GMT -5
Thanks Ben for the tips! Had no idea especially about adding lecithin in the end. Will definitely try that next time
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Post by soseattle on Jan 4, 2024 0:49:59 GMT -5
I would agree with Ben. I run a hair dryer as I add the nibs. If I don't the chocolate starts looking like your first photo. Once the nibs are added and the machine runs for awhile I generally don't need the hair dryer any more since the machine friction keeps things warm enough.
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Post by Chip on Jan 4, 2024 8:10:49 GMT -5
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