I'm trying to come up with a system that would just be efficient enough to separate the dust and the husk

from the nibs, but it's just...

Hey guys, Salut, this is Alex.

Welcome back to the chocolate series.

This is episode number 6.

I literally just came back from the hardware store where I got myself some nice

plumbery supplies, which I intend to use to build my own cocoa beans winnowing machine.

I'm gonna try it anyway.

So this would be my main design.

The undefined things just go down there.

They get separated by an upcoming stream of air which blows this way.

I'm gonna drill a hole on this side.

The light husks should then fly away right there, fall into a bowl right here,

and then the heavier bits of nibs should fall straight down this one into a separate bowl.

And that's when things go according to plans.

Studio update:

So, in the studio there used to be clothing everywhere,

sweatshirt, t-shirt, coats, bags, you name them.

Now with this, it's under control. Have a look.

Coats, bags, things.

And there even more clothing, also kitchen towels, t-shirts, sweatshirts, stripes,

things, aprons, tablecloths, and special occasions.

That's the end of the studio update.

beep, beep, beep, mmm, sissh, whirr, clink clink clink.

So at the moment my vacuum is sucking, but if you do this, and you reverse it, now...

OK, test number one.

So basically it's not working at the moment. Let me show you.

This is supposed to be the bowl with nothing but nibs.

It's not that bad to be honest.

I thought it would be worse.

Now, this is the bowl where there should be only husk.

As you can probably tell there are nibs - and very few nibs - inside this one.

All the husk is on the floor, basically.

The vacuum cleaner is way too powerful for this, so I need to come up with an idea to reduce

the airflow to like a gentle breeze. That's what I need exactly.

Reducing the air flow. What if...

we could lower the pressure by covering or uncovering holes.

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Back to it.

Right, so long story short. I gave it a thorough think, and basically solved most of my problem.

This is what I came up with.

The machine version 2 - Let me run you through the way it works.

Here we got the vacuum cleaner/power unit, which transmits the air flow to this tube.

Now, I've got a few air vents right there that I can open and close to reduce or to increase the air flow.

On top of the contraption I've got this, which is to prevent the reflux of husks this way.

Instead of having bowls that basically just retains nothing, I'm using bags.

But let me say what happens when I turn it on.

Air comes in, the over-power just comes out,

mixed nibs and husks going down this way.

Gravity will then be pushing down the nibs and the rest, AKA the husks,

will just go this way and get stuck in this one. That's the plan at least.

Wish me Luck.

3, 2, 1...

It's very exciting.

I reckon we need to have a quick check before, obviously,

passing the whole bag through this contraption and committing the unfixable.

Come closer. It's a very important moment.

So, in this bag, there should be mainly husk,

where in this bag there should be mainly nibs. This one is heavy for sure.

This one is a bit heavy, too. So I'm worried about this.

That's what I got at the end. This is the husk bowl.

it's basically very husky.

And this is the nib bowl and, as you can tell it's very nibby.

I think there are times in life when you need to be modest.

This is not one of them.

To me, it's working brilliantly. So I'm gonna go through the whole bag now.

Yes!

It's working so well, ahh

I wouldn't call it perfect but I would say it's probably 80-85 percent there at the moment.

If I wanted to improve it further

I would definitely look into having a variable speed when it comes to the vacuum cleaner.

I think that would allow for a bit of tuning of

catching the tiny bits of nibs versus the big flakes of husk.

it's just a chocolate-y thing, whatever.

I guess in this episode we learned how to roast and how to separate the husk from the nibs.

The next step would be to learn how to ferment beans.

I got no idea on how to do this. I don't even know where I could be finding cocoa pods.

Because I think I need pods to start, but that's the whole beauty of this channel. You learn as I do.

If you like this video, then please give it a big thumbs up, like it, and shout out everywhere.

Spread it like cocoa butter.

Also, don't forget to subscribe to this channel just not to miss the next episode.

Always about the food, always about the food,

but about thinking outside the box. That's my thing.

Okay. Bye bye.

Salut.