In article .com, SC wrote:
Thanks for the great idea Blake!

Glad you like it. I did put a box of baking soda in the fridge when I
got it, and it's still there. I don't know if the baking soda helped
with the odor, or if it was just having an overwhelming amount of
chocolate in there that made the difference.

For what it's worth, here are the details of what I have:

- An Avanti 249SYW fridge, 2.5 cu. ft. capacity with no freezer.
Mine stores three 3kg boxes of Valrhona fèves, plus a few slabs of
couverture and random other bars on top, and is nearly full.
There are lots of places online that sell these - mine was around
$160 delivered when I ordered it in August.

- An analog temperature controller, part# FE600 from morebeer.com
(a homebrew supply site). This ended up being some part from
Johnson Controls. It cost $50 through morebeer.com.

I considered getting a small wine fridge instead. Even the low-end wine
fridges seem to have some sort of temperature control, though I don't
know how accurate they are or what their ranges are. Wine fridges would
have also given more efficient storage, since they don't have a hump in
the back where the compressor is and they don't have molded plastic crap
on the door. But they're notably pricier, and if you found yourself
wanting to get a larger one (as I do now), the upgrade path would be
extra-pricy.

Hope this is helpful!

Blake

--
The listed "From:" address is valid for one week past the message date.

"Blake Jones" wrote in message
...
In article .com, SC
wrote:
Thanks for the great idea Blake!

Glad you like it. I did put a box of baking soda in the fridge when I
got it, and it's still there. I don't know if the baking soda helped
with the odor, or if it was just having an overwhelming amount of
chocolate in there that made the difference.

For what it's worth, here are the details of what I have:

- An Avanti 249SYW fridge, 2.5 cu. ft. capacity with no freezer.
Mine stores three 3kg boxes of Valrhona fèves, plus a few slabs of
couverture and random other bars on top, and is nearly full.
There are lots of places online that sell these - mine was around
$160 delivered when I ordered it in August.

- An analog temperature controller, part# FE600 from morebeer.com
(a homebrew supply site). This ended up being some part from
Johnson Controls. It cost $50 through morebeer.com.

I considered getting a small wine fridge instead. Even the low-end wine
fridges seem to have some sort of temperature control, though I don't
know how accurate they are or what their ranges are. Wine fridges would
have also given more efficient storage, since they don't have a hump in
the back where the compressor is and they don't have molded plastic crap
on the door. But they're notably pricier, and if you found yourself
wanting to get a larger one (as I do now), the upgrade path would be
extra-pricy.

Hope this is helpful!

Blake

--
The listed "From:" address is valid for one week past the message date.

This sounds very ingenious, but the capacity is going to be WAY too small if
you plan to produce chocolates for sale even in a small way, Steph.

As far as storing untempered chocolate, etc. I am sure I can find
another place to put them (I do have cool, dark food closets) or I
could simply use what Alex does (insulated boxes).

I would probably limit the "fridge" space for completed chocolates.
When I start really making my chocolates, if I find that I have way
more than would fit into a fridge, I can always use more cold storage
boxes.

That's all down the road.

Stef

Thanks for the details on the fridge system, Blake.

S

"Alex Rast" wrote in message
...
at Wed, 29 Dec 2004 14:48:47 GMT in 1104331727.557122.227650
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, (SC) wrote :

Thanks Alex. Storing may be hard in Texas. We use the air
conditioning, but we normally have the room temp at about 74F. What do
you think about a special cool storage (like the ones they have for
wines)?

I haven't seen one yet where the interior didn't smell *strongly* of some
ghastly plastic. The idea is sound, but the available implementations seem
to be poorly conceived. What's needed is a unit made of stainless steel,
inside and out. Unfortunately, most such equipment tends to be commercial
stuff, which means the capacity will usually be far, far more than what
you
need. A less expensive and awkward method may be to get a separate small
air conditioner for one room and run it at a cooler temperature.

On the odors...not a prob. No one smokes, or wears perfumes in my
house. We do somtimes have smelly types of food in the fridge though
(like turkey from Boxing Day).

The fridge is usually a bad place to keep chocolate anyway. It's too cold,
and it's rare that there won't be at least one item smelling up the
inside.
And the interior is usually of the same kind of stinky plastic you find in
wine coolers.

Where do you put your chocolates?

In the wintertime I keep them in a sealed, double-insulated box in my
bedroom. During the summer, they're in the same boxes, but now in an air-
conditioned basement.


I move my chocolate as above, but I keep them in half-gallon Ball jars with
lids (plastic or otherwise).
Dee

"Alex Rast" wrote in message
...
at Wed, 29 Dec 2004 14:48:47 GMT in 1104331727.557122.227650
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, (SC) wrote :

Thanks Alex. Storing may be hard in Texas. We use the air
conditioning, but we normally have the room temp at about 74F. What do
you think about a special cool storage (like the ones they have for
wines)?

I haven't seen one yet where the interior didn't smell *strongly* of some
ghastly plastic. The idea is sound, but the available implementations seem
to be poorly conceived. What's needed is a unit made of stainless steel,
inside and out. Unfortunately, most such equipment tends to be commercial
stuff, which means the capacity will usually be far, far more than what
you
need. A less expensive and awkward method may be to get a separate small
air conditioner for one room and run it at a cooler temperature.

On the odors...not a prob. No one smokes, or wears perfumes in my
house. We do somtimes have smelly types of food in the fridge though
(like turkey from Boxing Day).

The fridge is usually a bad place to keep chocolate anyway. It's too cold,
and it's rare that there won't be at least one item smelling up the
inside.
And the interior is usually of the same kind of stinky plastic you find in
wine coolers.

Where do you put your chocolates?

In the wintertime I keep them in a sealed, double-insulated box in my
bedroom. During the summer, they're in the same boxes, but now in an air-
conditioned basement.


I move my chocolate as above, but I keep them in half-gallon Ball jars with
lids (plastic or otherwise).
Dee

"SC" wrote in message
oups.com...
As far as storing untempered chocolate, etc. I am sure I can find
another place to put them (I do have cool, dark food closets) or I
could simply use what Alex does (insulated boxes).

I would probably limit the "fridge" space for completed chocolates.
When I start really making my chocolates, if I find that I have way
more than would fit into a fridge, I can always use more cold storage
boxes.

That's all down the road.

Stef

Also, I didn't mention that refrigerators are WAY too humid. And if you do
use one for storage, and take things out of it in hot, humid weather, you
will find that they sweat and ruin the finish. If you are serious about
making chocolates to sell, plan on setting aside one room to air condition.
And of course, it must be a room that will pass your state licensing
process.

And we haven't even gotten into the fact that the upper 70s is touch and go
for tempering... it's a complicated undertaking, I'm afraid.

"SC" wrote in message
oups.com...
As far as storing untempered chocolate, etc. I am sure I can find
another place to put them (I do have cool, dark food closets) or I
could simply use what Alex does (insulated boxes).

I would probably limit the "fridge" space for completed chocolates.
When I start really making my chocolates, if I find that I have way
more than would fit into a fridge, I can always use more cold storage
boxes.

That's all down the road.

Stef

Also, I didn't mention that refrigerators are WAY too humid. And if you do
use one for storage, and take things out of it in hot, humid weather, you
will find that they sweat and ruin the finish. If you are serious about
making chocolates to sell, plan on setting aside one room to air condition.
And of course, it must be a room that will pass your state licensing
process.

And we haven't even gotten into the fact that the upper 70s is touch and go
for tempering... it's a complicated undertaking, I'm afraid.

I don't plan on worrying about it that much. I just plan to make some
and sell what I can for fun. If it all ends up being really popular,
etc. then I'll worry about all of the other stuff.

Quite frankly this is part hobby, part frustration at having no good
chocolate store for miles around, and part "possibly" extra money. I
just noticed that people really took interested when I said I was going
to start making my own, so why not try to get something extra out of
it.

S

I don't plan on worrying about it that much. I just plan to make some
and sell what I can for fun. If it all ends up being really popular,
etc. then I'll worry about all of the other stuff.

Quite frankly this is part hobby, part frustration at having no good
chocolate store for miles around, and part "possibly" extra money. I
just noticed that people really took interested when I said I was going
to start making my own, so why not try to get something extra out of
it.

S