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Post by jamescary on Feb 19, 2009 20:24:17 GMT -5
robert, I have a press. I'm hoping to set it up this weekend. I'll snap some pictures of the process and post them along with notes.
James
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Post by reelchemist on Feb 20, 2009 1:32:53 GMT -5
I am looking forward to it, I want one but how well it works will determine how badly. I need to justify the expense. Have you given any thought as to what to use the pressings for? Need some sort of hammer mill to generate cocoa powder.
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Post by jamescary on Feb 24, 2009 11:47:12 GMT -5
OK, I unpackaged the press and set it up. The directions are in English and are easy to follow. The first step is to clean out the press cage and expeller screw. There's essentially 4 pieces of the press: the press cage/main body, the expeller screw, the handle, and the expeller cap. The kit also comes with a mounting kit and a glass lamp/heat source. After the washed pieces were dry, I assembled the press. I mounted the press by clamping it to my table with a vice grips ( I may build something to mount it to later but for now the clamps work). The kit does not come with lamp oil for the glass lamp. I skipped the glass lamp and just used a tealight candle. The instructions say to heat the press cage for 10 minutes (the website says this should heat the cage to about 50-70 celsius). I measured out 40 g of nibs and put them into a funnel which I had set to feed into the press. The kit does not come with a funnel, but is designed to work so that you can use a 2 liter soda bottle as a funnel/hopper. I put a small glass under the oil drain and began cranking. The website (http://www.piteba.com/eng/seeds/cocoa%20beans.htm) shows what settings to use for cocoa beans. At first a few nibs came out of the expeller cap. Then mashed cocoa came out. A few drops of oil came out of the drain! I was pressing cocoa butter! Unfortunately, a few seconds later oil started coming out with the press cake. I went back and looked at the directions and saw that this happens when the cage is too hot. I checked the temp of the cage and it had reached 140 F. I blew out the candle and kept running the press. I also put the stopper on the expeller cap. The oil was flowing more steadily now. I ran through the nibs in around 5 minutes. Unfortunately I didn't immediately remove the expeller cap and the press cake turned into a rock making it impossible to pop out. I ended up throwing the whole thing in a cup of warm water and let it soak for an hour. So, a few problems, but it was the first time around. I'd say the process was pretty easy. The turning of the press crank was not terribly difficult. I'm going to have to give it a go again to try to push the efficiency. I'm also going to try it with liquor from the Champion. reelchemist, I want to use the press cake for something. Possibly hot cocoa or added cocoa to mixing in with liquor from other origins.
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Post by reelchemist on Feb 24, 2009 17:36:19 GMT -5
That is great news that it is working, was the oil coming out fairly clear? Looking forward to hearing how your fine tuning goes but looks like I will have to get one. Thanks for researching for the team!
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Post by Alchemist on Feb 25, 2009 8:13:24 GMT -5
So, with the small of an amount, did you happen to weigh out your cocoa butter and yield?
I don't know, but would suspect that the nib acts as a filter of sorts and that you are not going to be able to press the liqueur. It will just all flow out as cocoa butter with no filter effect.
Good luck and report back.
If there is a solid interest, I could bring in a number of these for distribution to save on shipping. Call out if there is interest.
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Post by Alchemist on Feb 26, 2009 13:41:36 GMT -5
I wonder how it might do with the beans straight out of the roaster and no oil lamp heat. Is the feed hole large enough to accept whole beans?
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Post by reelchemist on Mar 23, 2009 21:59:47 GMT -5
James, I was wondering how the expeller was going if you had ironed out the bugs.
As for using the press cake, how finely ground does it come out? I don't know how fluid it would become and whether you could further grind it in the Spectra but based on the small amounts I have pressed I don't know that this would work as the warm press cake (from pressing liquor) is very much like a really thick cornflour paste.
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Post by chocolatedr on Aug 4, 2009 12:59:43 GMT -5
Cheebs et al., how did the manual press work out?
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Post by FeralOne on Sept 15, 2009 13:20:18 GMT -5
Has anyone heard from James in a while?
Andrea
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Post by erickmeredith1958 on Apr 29, 2017 11:22:37 GMT -5
Hello,
I bought a Hydraulic Cocoa Butter Press from a Chinese Company. I received TWO (2) separate VIDEOS from the company & both Videos used (NIBBS) instead of the COCOA PASTE/CHOCOLATE LIQUOR that everything I have read says to use. Video.
#1) They use a WHITE CLOTH BAG & fill it with (NIBBS) & then place a Felt Pad on top of the White Tied close bag!! Then a metal plate on the very top. Then they start the Press. a Dirty Creamy White oil/ Cocoa Butter came out of the Press & into the collection bowl!! The oil/Cocoa Butter Still needed to be FILTERED!!
Video #2) They put the (NIBBS) straight into the Chamber of the PRESS without any BAG OR FELT PAD. Everything else was the same. The oil/Cocoa Butter from Video #2) was like watery CHOCOLATE!! DARK BROWN in Color. IT MUST BE FILTERED to use!! ESPECIALLY if you were going to make WHITE CHOCOLATE!!
It is one thing using the DRY (NIBBS), but if you put Cocoa Paste/Chocolate Liquor into the pag & Felt Pad on top. I feel you would have a Chocolate Mess as in Video #1) But if you used the Paste/ Liquor instead of the (NIBBS) as in VIDEO #2) WITHOUT any BAG & FELT PAD. JUST STRAIGHT LIQUOR into the Press Chamber. I would imagine a REAL BIG CHOCOLATE MESS!!!
Please can someone please explain to me how the process works??? If you use Cocoa Paste/Chocolate Liquor Instead of the (NIBBS) NO MATTER WHICH WAY, You will have a real big CHOCOLATE MES!!! Please, help me understand this PROCESS??
Respectfully,
Eric K. Meredith
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