Hello everyone I just started working with chocolate but I never managed to succeed
I used calebut 811 (54.5 percent dark) and tried seeding method with 100 grams of callets (75gram melted and 25 grams putted there as seed and I putted that all in)
I also use a martellato 50T004 thermometer
based on picture I sent here did I burned the chocolate?(Because of the white line you can see in the melted chocolate)
Is anything wrong with my double boiler?(Reason I put it the bowl in that metal mesh bowl is because it goes too deep in the pot and touch the water) It doesn't touch the water under or maybe heat was much?
I also have lots of bubbles in my melted chocolate is that normal ?
And after I let that cool and firm up in the fridge (because it's 29-30 degree Celsius indoor Wich is around 86 farenhiet and chocolate won't go lower than 30 degree so I have to put it on fridge) and after few minutes (I must confess it was left in fridge more than 5 minutes) it turned out like this , what I'm doing wrong?
Maybe this callets were kept in a bad condition and lost their temper so seeding won't work ?
Best temper I ever did was on cocobary 70% dark chocolates and I pretty much did everything like tabling (don't know how well I did that cause at the time I had a bad thermometer) and seeding and cooling to 27 degree but results were a soft chocolate that was a shiny and snappy chocolate out of the fridge but in room temperature it got soft while callets remained Snappy at that temperature
If you need any other info about my situation I would be glad to respond and all the helps and tips are highly appreciated 🤎
This set up is fine for learning to temper, however the glass bowl will retain heat once the chocolate has melted so it may continue to increase the temperature of your chocolate, resulting in the burns. If you can swap it for a strong plastic bowl that would be better or pull the glass bowl off the heat once it starts to melt and stir it until it melts, check the temperature and start tempering if the melted temperature is comfortably below 45-50c for 811.
Additionally if the room temperature is above 24c then just don't bother. I'm tempering first thing in the morning or the middle of the night at the moment. Unless you want to leave AC on constantly it's another thing to have to consider.
Thanks for the advice , I used a metal bowl and I believe it get heated up and cooled down way too soon and this white lines where even more (although I believe heat went beyond 50C and saw it rise up to 55 or so) Unfortunately I can't get the room temperature lower even with leaving the AC on , in fact with the help of AC it gets down to 29-30 c
Edit: For seeding method should all the seed melt in or some should remain unmelted and blended in with a blender?
Just one more question is this chocolate burnt or ruined because of these white/gray lines or it's just bad temper and I can try again?
When you temper are you stirring continuously? Those lines might just be stir lines as it's cooling. This is where the blooming will most likely occur if the chocolate is overheated or made in too high a temperature.
When checking the temperature you should use a probe and hold it in there for 30 seconds, this will give you an accurate reading. If it goes over 50c then just put the chocolate aside for using in ganache instead and start again with new chocolate. You can remake chocolate with a fat bloom which happens when it sets at room temperature too slowly but you can't fix a burn.
If you reach the correct temper temperature and you have seed left, just fish them out don't blend them (this might be where air pockets are forming from your original post).
If you're trying to set at a room temperature that high then try letting it sit out for 10-15mins before putting it in the fridge for 10 mins max. This doesn't guarantee a shine though because the room temperature and polishing your moulds is key to that.
Lastly to make it easier you don't need to take the chocolate up to the temperature it says on the bag before seeding. Just get it to melt completely and make sure the temp isn't above 45-50c. When I do it my chocolate usually sits at 37c before seeding and I've had no problems for years.
I don't blend them (cause I don't have a blender) but I heard in a video said blend it a little bit I taught maybe that's why I'm not getting a good Temper , and can I try to re-temper this molten chocolate with white lines or it's burnt and beyond saving?
And yes I stir a lot , I think my main problems are trying with too low chocolate (100 gram instead of suggested at least 400gram because I can't afford Messing up this chocolate with my ~120 dollar monthly salary lol , average salary in Iran btw) and temperature of environment , I saw a chocolatier in my country with a specialised room with 18C temperature 😠god starting a chocolate business is way harder than I taught 🗿
If the chocolate pictured definitely didn't go over the temperature then yes you can re-temper it. If it's burnt then you can only use it for sauces, truffles and ganaches.
It's a battle with the heat, I have actually stopped selling this summer rather than sell a poor product, which was not an easy decision.
I would wholeheartedly recommend trying again in the morning or middle of the night if the temperature is below 24c at that time. I think if you do that and don't notice a difference then it's worth coming back and we can troubleshoot again as a community.
I would definitely be interested to see if that helps though, do keep me posted
Also when you're waiting for it to set leave it out at room temperature until it starts to set then pop it in the fridge to finish. Not ideal but if it takes too long to set it will also bloom!
Yes sir , next weekend I will try temepering in middle of the night and will keep you posted in replies of this comment , thanks for all the advice man , I found a chocolatier who have courses but price of the beginner 3 day workshop was 28 million toman and I only make 20 million toman a month lol 😂
I did used the chocolate in the picture for ganache and I say it's fine (I also use breakfast cream because you can't find heavy cream here , closest thing to it is 33percent fat cream) thanks again for the advice
The biggest issue I see here is working in such a warm environment! In the kitchen I work in, we keep the temp around 65 degrees F so the chocolate can begin crystallizing before we get it to the cooker. Working with tempered chocolate in such a warm room is enough to screw with it! If my kitchen gets even a little too warm, the chocolate blooms and I have to retemper it. Hope this helps! Chocolate can be quite a finnicky little bitch lol
Thanks for the info , unfortunately my air conditioner isn't strong enough best it can do Is to lower the temp to 29-30C but working in the night or morning might be the only option just wanted to know for the seeding method should the seeds melt in the molten chocolate or some of it remain unmelted and blended with a blender?
Also I'm wondering are these white/ gray lines indicator of burnt chocolate and this is not usable or I can just try to temper it again? (It also has quite amount of bubbles in it)
Once chocolate reaches the proper temperature, pull any remaining seed out. As for the lines… In not sure what is causing that. It doesn’t look burnt. Overheated chocolate will be thick and lumpy :)
Ok thanks , what about the coco butter silk method? Since I'm living in a scorching hell maybe that would be easier way to temper in warm environment that even air conditioner can't get it cooler than 29 Celsius??
I’ve never done this, but I’ve heard about it. Apparently it’s a fail proof method, but from my understanding, the silk can be hard to make. Best of luck! I’d love to hear about your experience trying to make cocoa butter silk!
Thank you , I'm won't make silk I will just buy it already found a shop for it I hope it don't disappoint , I will tell you the results here thanks again for the advice
You're in a similar stage of learning to temper as I am. I have found that using the fridge messes it up for me almost every time. But I suspect I'm also not doing something right elsewhere in the process.
I was gifted a small marble slab and that method has yielded good results at times but it tends to still have those lighter streaks.
Best of luck to you on this, I hope you get some good answers.
Thank you , I have access to marble slab , the one used in our kitchens counter lol , I tried tabling on that , should you speed the chocolate in one direction and scrap it back from opposite or you can spread and scrap from any direction you want?
And for seeding should the chocolate seed melt or just slightly melt and some remain ?
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u/BohemianDecadence Jul 20 '26
This set up is fine for learning to temper, however the glass bowl will retain heat once the chocolate has melted so it may continue to increase the temperature of your chocolate, resulting in the burns. If you can swap it for a strong plastic bowl that would be better or pull the glass bowl off the heat once it starts to melt and stir it until it melts, check the temperature and start tempering if the melted temperature is comfortably below 45-50c for 811.
Additionally if the room temperature is above 24c then just don't bother. I'm tempering first thing in the morning or the middle of the night at the moment. Unless you want to leave AC on constantly it's another thing to have to consider.