pcm
Novice
Posts: 75
|
Post by pcm on Oct 15, 2010 9:02:23 GMT -5
Hi, I think my basement is too cold to conch without some heat assistance. My Santha froze up last night and now is a sculpture. Should I put the whole thing in the oven at 160 or so and melt the chocolate and start again? Do you think I hurt the machine? It was running this morning when I checked on it but the bowl wasn't turning. I am hoping that there is some sort of clutch that might have disengaged. When I take the bowl off and turn the machine on, it hums right along. I will proceed with the low heat oven melting plan. My oven only goes down to 170. Is that too hot for the epoxy in the Santha bowl?
thanks for any input.
|
|
|
Post by kellymon on Oct 15, 2010 12:58:47 GMT -5
I would be very careful with applying heat to your bowl....I use a heat lamp when I start refining, to soften leftover chocolate and as needed depending on room temperature. I usually try to run my santha with the chocolate at about 118f-120f. It would be nice to know what temp others use.....
|
|
|
Post by garth on Oct 17, 2010 10:19:15 GMT -5
I would probably not do that. The feedthrough might have seperated from the granite. That can be checked by inverting the bowl and trying to turn the 4 protuding things with your hand without moving the bowl. It's held in with epoxy. JB weld works good.
|
|
|
Post by oaxacalote on Oct 21, 2010 0:08:38 GMT -5
I believe the safe temp rating for the Santha is 160, so 170 is probably too hot if done for more than a few minutes. My old oven also had a min of 170. I would prop the door open with a towel to lower the temp.
As for freezing up the Santha...this is why it's not safe to run one of these machines unsupervised. If it's no longer under warranty, take it apart and check the belt on it, for one.
|
|
|
Post by daniel on Oct 23, 2010 17:38:34 GMT -5
I've taken to putting the bowl in the sink and adding hot water. I obviously put the lid on, since water in the chocolate is a no-no. It takes a few cycles of water (mine comes out around 55C / 130F), and about 1 hour to melt 1kg of chocolate.
Safer than the oven, since mine is also too hot. I used to adjust the oven by hand, with a thermocouple inside the oven, until one day I started burning the epoxy. The sink method takes about as long, but can't get too hot.
|
|
|
Post by itsallaroundyou on Oct 24, 2010 12:07:18 GMT -5
water on/in the santha bearings underneath the bowl will cause them to leak, seize up, or both. Its a poor design at best. The Ultra bowl is a better design in this respect.
My first santha bowl's bearing leaked, and I never submerged them or heated them over their limits, they just wear our quickly when making chocolate.
mike
|
|
|
Post by sharkman on Nov 12, 2010 1:31:36 GMT -5
Aloha chocolate gang! I am minus a 2liter Santha{burned up while I was sleeping] and my bearing is leaking on my spectra 10. I must admit ;I have worked these machines to death{literally]. Since I grow my own beans there is no shortage of cacao beans. People love it so I keep making it. The motors need better bearings and have no temp shut off when they get too hot. Until I can afford a bigger,commercial model I will just have to fix the old ones and buy new parts. On the question of how to get the chocolate out of the pot; just dig out most of it and heat the rest with a hair dryer until liquid and wheels roll. You can then chop up the chocolate you dug out and add back slowly. Isn't this chocolate making fun!!! Thanks everyone for all you report. Aloha Sharkman
|
|
pcm
Novice
Posts: 75
|
Post by pcm on Dec 16, 2010 16:12:14 GMT -5
I just had to replace the belt. No problem. Thanks.
|
|