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Showing results for tags 'cocoa'.
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Quinnsville Cocoa Plantation QV3.5 by LM71Blackbird, on Flickr After safely arriving in Quinnsville via the Cocovia Wagon Way, Richard and Nathaniel Brickford set about going straight to work. While Richard went off to see about a place to stay until a proper house could be built, Nathaniel went off for a walk to stretch his legs after the sitting for so long. He ended up following his nose to a cocoa plantation on the outskirts of the settlement. He found the manager of the plantation and promptly asked for a tour of the area. He wrote down his findings in his notes and composed his first letter to Captain Cooke on Quinnsville. QV3.2 by LM71Blackbird, on Flickr Dear Captain Jno. Cooke, RN, The state of Quinnsville is better off then originally perceived. While it has not seen very much growth since the retirement and sudden disappearance of Sir Smaugton, the settlement is operating business as usual. Just today I had the chance to tour one of the many cocoa plantations spread throughout the settlement. While the techniques that they use are still rather primitive, they effectively harvest vast amounts of raw cocoa each day. On a whole, I believe the entire settlement will be similar in the lack of modern conveniences, but that should be a relatively easy fix, given time and some dedicated care. I will begin the inspection of the fortifications and the troops before the week is out. Hopefully the lack of proper leadership has not made them relax in their regular duties and drills. In service to her Majesty, Captain Nathaniel Brickford, Military Attaché to Quinnsville QV3.3 by LM71Blackbird, on Flickr Here is a close up of the tree for those interested. This whole build was inspired (and basically copied ) from @Ayrlego's cocoa plantation. I also reversed engineered the tree from his design. C&C are both welcome and apprecieated! Thanks for checking it out!
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ETTC Cocoa Factory Collaboration Stage One: Fermentation - Ayrlego Stage Two: Drying - Puvel (TBA) Stage Three: Roasting - SilentWolf Stage Four: Grinding and Pressing - Bregir Colonial Governor Jonathan Cooke and Ibn al'Sayeed, manager of the Montoya estate and local representative for the ETTC, return to the site of the ETTC Cocoa Processing plant. The plant is one step closer to opening, with a warehouse for the fermentation stage ready to begin operations. The warehouse is situated on one of King's Harbours distinctive canals. This allows for raw cocoa pods to be transported to the plant by both road and waterway. The pods are smashed open in the field next to the warehouse and the pulp which contains the beans is then transported inside in barrels. It is common for smaller plantations to complete the fermentation and drying processes before transporting the beans for processing - however most of the pods harvested on Cocovia still come from wild trees, and fermentation and drying facilities are required at the ETTC Cocoa Plant. The warehouse has been designed specifically for the process of cocoa fermentation. Large wooden boxes are suspended over pits. The boxes are slated to ensure that liquefied pulp can drain into the pit below and to allow maximum aeration. The pulp is spread into the wooden boxes in a shallow layer, again to ensure maximum aeration. The beans can be covered with banana leaves or sacking to conserve the heat generated during fermentation. Beans can be transferred from one box to another each day to ensure uniform fermentation and increase aeration. Fermentation time is usually around 6-7 days. The boxes can be removed from the pits and workers can enter to clean away the residue from the process. Channels under the building allow for the pit to be flooded with water from the canal to assist in this process. ----- Footprint: 3,072 Well, basically it's a building for rotting beans! It's nothing very fancy, and I tried to make it as interesting as I could, but it really comes down to a building for rotting cocoa beans! :) I've tried to work some of the styles in Silenwolf and Bregir's builds into the warehouse, and I have taken the liberty of including Bregir's characters for the tour.
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Stage One: Fermentation - Ayrlego Stage Two: Drying - Puvel Stage Three: Roasting - SilentWolf Stage Four: Grinding and Pressing - Bregir There is much going on in King's Harbour these days. First it opens its majestic new garden, then the department of time began ringing its perfect bells. Now a cocoa factory is starting up. Today, the Colonial Governor Jonathan Cooke is receiving a tour of the third phase of the factory where all the roasting of the cocoa beans takes place. He is just now meeting the foreman, a Mr. Edward Roberts. "Glad to meet you Captain Cooke! I was looking forward to your visit. This building's sole purpose is to roast the cocoa beans that have already been fermented and dried. I dare say this factory will propel our export of cocoa to great heights and make Cocovia the envy of all the brickworld." "Here you see a wagon that is just recently loaded with roasted beans. It is on its way over to the grinding and pressing plant that I heard you have already toured. This driver is one of the spryest old men you have ever seen. He gets his wagon loaded and unloaded faster than any of our other drivers." "When you came over the bridge, you may have noticed the barge that is delivering a supply of wood for the furnaces. We receive deliveries several times a week just so we can keep our ovens running. A family business is what I hear and they deliver anywhere there barge can reach. I believe in the future we will even ship our beans between factories using the canal." Cooke replied, "I did indeed see the barge. That is a large quantity of wood that is being delivered. Is it all for the factory?" Roberts answered, "Yes, that is indeed all for our operations. This week we should need only one more delivery toward the end of the week, but we are having a slower week with a couple of the ovens . Would you care to come inside and see the process? Our first batch of the day should be coming out of the oven soon." "The stone ovens have the fire in a separate compartment beneath the roasting area. The two compartments are accessed via different doors which allows us to add wood or remove the beans without affecting the heating process. We can thus maintain the proper temperatures between batches of roasted beans lowering the downtime. Cocoa roasting unlike coffee roasting is at a low temperature and maintaining the temperature is key." "The beans are taken out of the barrels that they arrived in from the drying division, and placed on trays preferably in a single layer. They are then placed in a properly heated oven until they are almost done." "They are then removed from the oven and set out to cool during which time they finish roasting as the trays cool. At this time, they have acquired there unique cocoa flavor and aroma that we have come to love. They are then placed in barrels and loaded on wagons like the one you saw to send to the grinding and pressing division" "You may notice that it is warm in here. In order to keep it tolerable for the employees, we built in special vents above the ovens that we can raise and lower with a bar. This enables some of the heat to escape without allowing a strong draft which would cool the ovens and ruin the roast." "You can see the barrels of dried beans waiting to be roasted. We shall complete all of those today which in reality is a slow day. We like to roast all the beans delivered yesterday which enables us to know exactly how much work is going to be needed tomorrow. We also have to keep a supply of empty crates and barrels so that we do not run out. Efficiency is key to a successful business such as this." "My office is up above the door which enables me to oversee the whole process even when I have paperwork to do. It also enables me to get a quick overview of our inventory at any time that I need it. The only downside is it can get hot up there, but that doesn't matter excessively as my work also involves being on the floor checking temperatures and end products." "We take pride in taking care of our employees. We have a nice area set aside for them to enjoy a cooler break or mealtime. Though they have to rotate when the breaks occur as the process must be kept moving. It is the most efficient way. I hope you enjoyed your tour, Captain Cooke, and I am sure you will find the other divisions equally as satisfying and efficient. Feel free to walk around the place before you leave." Edit: The footprint of this build is 58x58 with a little overhang from the shutters. Credit goes to Bregir for the idea of the brick pillars on the façade of the building.
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[COR - Mar FB1] Cocoa Plantation, King's Harbour
Ayrlego posted a topic in Brethren of the Brick Seas
Dirk's previous story can be found here After the placement and construction of North Head Battery, Captain Dirk Allcock has taken some well deserved leave in the environs of King's Harbour. Since arriving on Cocovia, Dirk has been fascinated by the commodity that gave the Island it's Corrish name of Cocovia - cocoa. Cocoa is prepared from the seeds of the Cacao tree (also known as the Cocoa Tree). So Dirk found a native guide, and together with another Cocoa enthusiast he meet in the settlement, one John Cadbury, he has set out into the hinterland to find this miraculous tree. They didn't need to go far! The island was named for the abundance of this very tree, and the name soon proved appropriate. Dirk was instantly fascinated by the examples they found, as was John, but both men for different reasons. Dirk's interest was scientific, John's commercial. The two came to an agreement were Dirk would fund the setting up of first a plantation, and later a processing factory. The enterprise would be managed by John. So while John set out to clear a small patch of land to begin a plantation, Dirk made a study of the tree. The following sketch and description is from his notebook: The Cacao or Cocoa Tree is a small understory tree that is abundant through the Crown colony of Cocovia. The tree thrives in the shaded understory of the Jungle and mature specimens seem to range from about 10-15m in height. The leaves are alternate, entire and unlobed and are between 10-40cm long and 5-20cm broad. Unusually the flowers and seed pods grow directly from the trunk and larger branches of the tree. The flowers are small and pink in colour, and appear to be pollinated by a species of small fly. The pods range in colour from red, yellow, green and brown. Mature pods contain around 20 to 60 seeds or 'beans' encased in a white pulp. After a week, Dirk met up with John on the site of the newly established cocoa plantation and John gave Dirk a tour of the operation. As only mature trees produced seed pods, John had found a plot that already contained a number of mature trees. The jungle was being thinned out but some larger trees were carefully left to provide filtered light for the cacao trees. Seedlings were being collected and grown in pots for later transplanting into the ground. Mature pods are first collected, then smashed open with a machete. The seeds and pulp are then placed in large barrels to ferment. After about seven days of fermentation the beans are removed and must be quickly dried. Drying is achieved by spreading the seeds out in the sun for five to seven days. The dried beans can then be packed and sent for further processing. ------------------------------------ Overview Hi All! Here is my attempt at a cocoa plantation, I believe the first here. I wanted to focus on the process here and my next planed build is a factory to complete the processing of the cocoa beans. As always comments and criticism welcome! Oh and here is a reference pic!
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