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I have temperated chocolate that is now in a liquid state. I have chocolate molds that I use and I fill up these molds with the chocolate. Now I need to set these chocolate-filled molds in a freezer so that the chocolate can solidify and after solidification, I should be able to remove chocolate without much effort by the process of de-molding so that they become consumable solid chocolate bars. So my questions are:

  1. What should be the temperature of the freezer so that the chocolate hardens in the molds?

  2. How long should I leave the molds in the freezer, before I remove them?

  3. After removing the molds from the freezer (with the solid chocolate in them), do I need to set it in another freezer at another temperature so that the chocolate can solidify even more i.e. at a temperature higher than the freezing temperature but lesser than room temperature?

  4. After de-molding the chocolates, when should I wrap them and for how long, before I can consume them?

I am hoping that the temperature and time suggested will help avoid problems such as fat bloom, sugar bloom and melting.

Thank you.

Devner
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Do not use a freezer, that's way too harsh on the chocolate and will almost certainly introduce terrible condensation, and possibly off tastes, if there is other food stored in the freezer.

If you have a way to create a temperature-controlled "box", you should cool it at 20 degrees Celsius. If not, keep it in a room which is as close to 20 C as you can get, and on the dry side - most normal rooms will do, unless you live in a tropical or equatorian climate without air conditioning, you just won't get the most perfect shine if you keep your room much colder or warmer than that.

"How long" cannot be answered, you just have to wait until it is solid through and through, which will depend on the thickness of your shapes. Just way overnight before trying the first one.

Also see a diagram with best temperatures, which is slightly more complicated because it considers chocolate poured over a solid core, in this old answer of mine.

rumtscho
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  • Thank you so much for your response. I do have a temperature controlled Stainless steel box with copper wiring that is responsible for cooling. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused. I can set any temperature that you want me to. As you recommend 20C, I will use that. Coming to the thickness of the bars, they are of the thickness: 7.5 mm OR 0.75 cm OR 0.29 inches. It would be great if you could please give me an idea of how long to leave it at 20C overnight. Will 8 hours suffice or should I go for more time? I tried temperatures like 10C, 0C and even -8C but failed :( – Devner Jan 15 '19 at 13:37
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    What do you mean, "failed"? The chocolate should get hard at these temperatures, especially +10, probably with an ugly surface. What symptoms did you have? I don't have an exact time suggestion, just make an example batch and start trying breaking up a piece after a measured time period to see when it is ready through and through. You probably don't even need it overnight if it is only 0.75 cm. – rumtscho Jan 15 '19 at 13:51
  • What I mean by "failed" is that, after the bars are de-molded, we can see white oval shapes at the middle of the bars that cover about 50% of the chocolate in both up and down directions. The bars are easily de-molded but these patches make the bars look like "old". I have tried experimenting with cooling for time period of 15 minutes, 30 min, 45 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, and at different temperatures such as -8C, 0C, 5C, 8C, 12C, but they all left some sort of patch in the middle of the chocolate bars. I don't have a clue as to how much time I should leave them inside for cooling :( – Devner Jan 15 '19 at 14:05
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    It doesn't matter how long you leave them, unless you take them out so early that they are still soft and droop in your hands. The white patches were caused either because you used too low a temperature for cooling, or because you heated the chocolate so much that it distempered, or both. Try using proper temperatures for both processes and you should get shiny chocolate. – rumtscho Jan 15 '19 at 14:09
  • Yes, I always used temperatures below 14C to cool the chocolates and at max, I put them in the freezer for somewhere from 30 min to 2 hours. And immediately after removing them from the freezer, I de-molded them and they were easy to de-mold. But those white patches appeared on them. So would you still advise me to go for 20C as the temperature, or would you like me to try something else? – Devner Jan 15 '19 at 14:11
  • I have posted an issue that I am facing with the chocolate, after de-molding. I am also adding few pics to it for review. If you know the answer and could please spare some time to answer my question, your help would be greatly appreciated. Here is the direct link: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/95864/air-gaps-in-molds-creating-white-patches-on-de-molded-chocolate Thank you. – Devner Jan 22 '19 at 14:32