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Post by bluesunshine on Feb 18, 2009 15:50:19 GMT -5
I am a pastry chef and have a fair bit of knowledge working with chocolate however I have never made my own chocolate and would really like to experiment with doing so. There seems to be some controversy on the web boards about what equipment is essential to the process and what is not. I would like to produce the best quality chocolate that I can and would like to be able to make it in large enough quantities to produce moulded chocolates, truffles, and desserts. So I was wondering if people can tell me what I should spend my money on and what kind of an output I can get with this equipment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm really excited about this new adventure.
Thanks
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Post by Brad on Feb 18, 2009 18:48:44 GMT -5
There's a big difference between producing some to commercially use and for your own home use. Along with the big difference comes a big pricetag.
I guess it's important to first establish how much chocolate you want to produce on a weekly basis, and of what types (milk, dark, etc).
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Post by bluesunshine on Feb 18, 2009 22:10:57 GMT -5
Well for now I just want to be able to make it at home for my personal use. Having the ability to make 5-10 kg of chocolate a week would probably suffice for my current needs. If I could make larger batches on a less frequent scale that might be worthwhile though as well. I am interested in making both milk and dark chocolate however I definitely go through more dark chocolate than milk so my primary focus would be on dark chocolate. Thanks for your help.
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Post by kellymon on Feb 19, 2009 20:12:11 GMT -5
Hi blue, I'm strictly an amateur in the chocolate making, but folks seem to like the results Here is what I do..... Roast 1 kg cacao beans on 2 cookie sheets in the oven. I usually do this twice per batch, for a total of 2 kg per batch. Cool, and crack in the crankenstien. You can crack the roasted beans other ways, wood mallet and bag etc....as I did for many batches, but the crankenstein is a true blessing and I wish I had bought one sooner. 2 hours work turns into 5-6 minutes. Winnow (separate the chaff from the nibs). I do this using a winnower I made from ABS pipe and a small DeWalt vacuum. Pre-Grind the nibs prior to adding to the Santha melanger. You need to be especially on top of this stage...... warm the nibs and melt your cocao butter and using a food processer carefully add a mix of cleaned nibs and cacao butter.... grind into a semi-smooth paste..... depending on the food processor you use, this may take 2 or 3 batches. I used to use an old Kithen Aid, but my new Bosche 7 works much better. Transfer the warm paste slowly into the Santha and process. After the chocolate is liquid, add sugar etc as needed. Process for 24-36 hours, make sure to keep the whole thing warm. I then pour into 2 cookie sheets as bulk chocolate, and temper and mold as needed. Although some is lost during roasting and winnowing, once sugar etc is added back I find that a 70-80% chocolate that starts with 1 kg ends up at about 1 kg finished product. If you are making a chocolate with a lot of sugar or ghee or dry milk powder or other adulterants, that yield will obviously change. namaste, robert
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Post by Brad on Feb 19, 2009 20:37:53 GMT -5
Hmmm..... 5-10 kg per week will have your little 'ol Santha running almost around the clock - at least that's what I've found in order to get the quality I prefer. As an FYI, I started with the Santha, considerably altered mine so it would run 24/7, and now using commercial refiners make about 300lbs a week. As you can see in Robert's post, he's making about 1kg every 36 hours. I made 3kg batches at a time, and was having to run my "FrankenSantha" for about 40 hours straight to get a smooth, good quality product. I don't want to shy you away from making it for business use, 'cause I've been having a blast trying different recipes. I'm just trying to give you a realistic timeframe for producing a good quality chocolate. Happy Chocolate Making! Brad www.SoChoklat.com
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Post by bluesunshine on Feb 20, 2009 23:25:52 GMT -5
Okay so essential equipment is an oven, the crankandstein mill, juicer/food processor and the santha? What size santha were you both using? Would it be possible for me to buy the spectra 20 or 40 and be able to process the amount of chocolate I want or is that unrealistic? Sorry if these questions are stupid. Thanks for your help.
Laura
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Post by cheebs on Feb 21, 2009 11:49:47 GMT -5
IMO (and others' too) the Champion is not a necessity. Many of us add the nibs directly to the Santha. It does put some added stress on the grinder, but it certainly saves time.
The oven/roaster is an essential for sure, and the size of the grinder again is optional. The 20 will output ~10kg every 2-3 days, the 40 double that. For now I'm using two of the smaller grinders (a Spectra 10 and Ultra) and they process ~3kg every 2-3 days. I will change over to 'proper' conche/refiners once my shop is open, but for now, that my business is purely home-based, I have enough chocolate from the two small grinders to tide me over nicely.
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Post by holycacao on Feb 21, 2009 12:47:28 GMT -5
I use a santha 40 and it easily goes through 20 kg every 2 days. I use a maytag gas dryer that I modified heavily - no plastic parts- roasts 10 kg in 20-30 minutes. No need for the champion if nibs ands stones are preheated. Definitely worthwhile to build sometype of winnower-there are several designs on this forum. As far as the santhas are concerned- I hate the design and have ripped it apart completely. I've looked at it run without the cover and now realize that the axle that the entire bowl spins on-wobbles. The stone is not cut level and the silicone sealing job is pretty amateur. Now after saying all this- the machine still does what it is supposed to do. However the wobbling causes the belt to shred all over the place. By replacing the belt with a thinner one, and adjusting the distance of the motor, the machine runs quietly with a miniscule amount of belt shavings being formed. What you need to look at is the cost. The Santha 40 was $900, I was quoted $20000 for a universal that made 45kg a batch. Granted the universal is faster- by modifying the santha with a heat source and a variable speed switch, it will do a good job of making excellent chocolate.
There is another company that makes an ultra type melanguer in a 35 kg size that is $3000. I would say that if money is the issue - which it definitely was for me, building my own modified equipment saves a lot. And like John said in another post (i think it was about building your own roaster) sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.
Then again there are many times that I have stripped a machine apart completely and cursed that I was busy fixing this or that, rather than making chocolate!
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Post by kellymon on Feb 22, 2009 18:56:14 GMT -5
Actually Brad, I agree with your longer time in the Santha. I just finished a batch in the Santha that ran for 42 hours and I think that if possible I will run no less than 40 hrs in the fiuture. And my batches lately have been 2kg, once every couple of weeks. I don't want to over load my S20 unless I do some mods similar to yours, especially better support for the shaft so it will quit shaving the belt. robert
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