Loading ...I don’t ferment my cacao beans outdoors in the open. I built a temperature-controlled incubator in a 48-Qt cooler. Before use I sterilize the interior with a peroxide wipe-down. Failure to keep the beans sanitary results in mold growing on them. Learn from experience. Also important to vent the humidity & condensation daily during the 5-7 day fermentation. And then drying them more in the dehydrator.
Only nit is grinding them finely enough. I use a high speed coffee grinder, but the powder can still be a little bit gritty. Mortar and pestle only serves to mash it into sticky clumps, as the beans still have all the cocoa butter with the whole bean.