All our centers are fondant, so I can't really speak to how it would do for ganache.
With the fondant, we just use the caramel cutter to score the fondant and caramel, then cut it with a long chef's knife.
A guitar cutter is on my short list of equipment to buy though. I dream of how much time could be save with a guitar.
You can just as easily use a pairing knife and a ruler. A little bit of practice and you,ll be able to get at least 100 square in 20 cuts. Total investment $ 5
Hi Larry
Do you use your caramel cutter for ganache slabs? I'm just starting up a little chocolate business myself and if possible would prefer to not shell out thousands on a guitar cutter if I can just use a caramel cutter.
Cheers
Lisa
Thanks, appreciate your honest reply.
Chocolate has been a family tradition for years and years, but we started selling last October.
I am kinda new in this industry, hence would like to start from couverture.
Do you want to start from couverture or from beans?
Hi Larry,
Thanks for the valuable info. I will buy the book and am sure it will be helpful. When did you start your chocolate business?
TheChocolateman
We are still a very young company, but have been able to get going with a usedHilliard Little Dipper tempering machine, a fist full of dipping forks, & cups/boxes I was able to secure. We make cream centers and are building up the ability to produce more volume.
Short list of equipment
- Book by P. GrewelingChocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner - It's fantastic and will really help. The latest edition has info on setting upa chocolate shop.
Tempering Machine (Many will say this is optional, but make your life easier & spring for it.)
Depending on if you'll do Ganache, Cream Fondant, Caramels... you'll need different pots, kettles. You'll be the best judge here.
Dipping Forks
Molds as you suggested.
We have used a Square& iPhoneto process credit/debit cards. It works fine.
Discovering that caramel will not stick to buttered parchment paper was a fantastic discovery for us.
a good thermometer or two
refrigerator
fire extinguisher
panning equipment is optional.
Display cases - Refrigeration may be needed
?? Humidity Controlled Display Cases??
a caramel cutter (rolling pin style) is useful, but you can get by with a knife & ruler.
assorted bowls, measuring spoons, cups, scale...
wax paper
Please forgive the disjointed list. Just to re-emphasis the book I listed above has been a great help to me and many others.
Thanks!
Larry
Hi to everyone in this forum,
Can someone tell me what kind of equipment, utensils, accessories etc, I would require to start a small chocolate making business ?. As far as i understand, I will need molds, tempering machine. Please suggest.
Krista, Glerup-Revere has a decent selection of cups available, they're located in Seattle but ship anywhere. glerup.com
Krista:
I have had great experience with Qualita Paper in California.
Here's the main catalog page . If you scroll down you can see that they offer the cups in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, materials (including foil), and patterns.
Here's the link to the page with the plain brown cups .
Thanks Clay. The information I received was FAR more than I might have hoped for. And much of the material that you gave me links to took me in other directions that have had me pondering.
The BIG one was "temper or not" and there was enough information to send me back to "untempered" and "experiment more".
Your illustration of the FBM install is graphic! Can't imagine doing one with no experience. Although the FBM people are fantastic supporting with videos and the like!
Thanks again
Colin 
Colin -
What you're experiencing is pretty common - the general guidelines only go so far. There's something about your process that's unique to your process and you need to tinker and tweak to get to the place that works for you, with your equipment, in your workshop, with your chocolate, with your ingredients.
I was doing an install of an FBM machine last week and it was taking longer than I had hoped. One of the people involved had experience installing production lines for industrial scale filling and boxing of tea bags. Even though the basic machine components were the same from installation to installation he said it took up to three weeks to get all the components installed and tweaked to the point they were working seamlessly together.
I didn't feel so bad that it took me six hours rather than four to get everything on the temperer/enrober running properly. With one exception: we weren't able to nail down the temperatures - quite. It was a custom chocolate blend and it required extra tweaking to get right.
What you do have is more information to work from and a better understanding of the process. You can use that to experiment from a place of knowledge rather than blindly. And that's a good thing.
Thank you sincerely Clay, Brad and Gap. I totally appreciate your thoughts.
Clay - the articles you have provided are extremely interesting and shed light on a lot more than I had asked for. Fantastic information! Thanks!
One thing I did not share is how I apply the chocolate. I do this by hand and can do up to 70Kg (154lb) per batch in my big pan (although I usually do 35Kg). The Minifie article suggests tempered chocolate for hand panning (I assume that he means chocolate application by pouring) and untempered when spraying. Everyone else is saying "untempered" for any panning.
Any thoughts please? I really can't see how it is practical to pan with tempered chocolate - or at least using a baine marie and seeding which is my only means of tempering at this stage.
I also note that they suggest application at 34-35C which is pretty cold and getting close to the solidification temperature - yet he says that that is where tempering will occur in the pan. This is really important I think as I think I may have forced "setting" of the chocolate resulting in big crystals (ie not type V or VI) and hence grittiness. BUT panning at low temperatures (I tried 36C) results in a greasy result (in milk chocolate) which I assume to be some function of the cocoa butter impacting. Panning at around 42-48C avoids this - but I think from this information I am working too hot.
Brad - your comment about the judges is a fair one. I enter chocolate competitions and frankly panning is the poor cousin against the high-end chocolatiers. And indeed some judges can be as you say. However I have been able to score some golds and even "Best Product from an Emerging Manufacturer" for one product and in an on-line environment where Customers are seeking clues as to quality these do help.
Take a peek at http://www.captainchocolate.com.au to see how I use them for marketing.
But if they are a true reflection is sometimes doubtful. They DO encourage me to lift my game and I get feedback. But sometimes they are downright discouraging and costly too!
Thanks again Guys!
Colin
Your experience is why I don't enter competitions where the judges aren't actual customers. Some judges have agendas of their own, while others have no clue what they are talking about.
I've only ever used untemperated chocolate, and then a finishing glaze.
Colin:
This is from the class notes for a class on panning given by the National Confectioners' Association:
COATING PREPARATION
A wide variety of coatings can be used in a chocolate panning operation but each has
their own special requirements. Milk and dark chocolate usually are used at
temperatures of 100 to 110 F. while compound and special coatings at 110 to 115 F. The
coating should be melted and held at the desired controlled temperature for panning
with a heat controlled recirculation to the pans. Untempered chocolate is used for
panning. A flavor and texture difference is observed between panned and enrobed
chocolate products. The lower the chocolate temperature, the faster the centers will
build up in the pans but may be uneven and non-uniform from piece to piece.
Additional time is required to smooth the surface for polishing and glazing. Higher
temperature chocolate will spread more evenly but requires additional time to set. The
blending of milk and dark chocolate can easily be done in a chocolate panning operation
to give the desired flavor and color variation.
Here's the link to the class notes in their entirety.
Also - from Minifie - untempered. (The link is to Google Books and I can't copy and paste from that document so the above is a paraphrase.)
Also from The Science of Chocolate (Beckett) - untempered. (Link is to Google Books.)
Also from Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use (Beckett)- untempered. (Link is to Google Books.)
I pan coffee beans and other centers. I have always used untempered chocolate which has been successful. It is my understanding that the vibration of panning makes type V crystals thus tempering the chocolate.
However in a recent competition my product was marked down as the judges said that the chocolate was gritty and took too long to melt on the tongue. Of course I was horrified! The suspect was the micron size of the solids and the cocoa butter content but on careful checking both are seemingly excellent.
I was VERY fortunate to be able to communicate with two of the judges and one, who is very respected (they both are) insists that I should have used tempered chocolate.
This baffled me but I took his advice and today did a batch with tempered chocolate. To put it mildly it was a mess. The chocolate became far too thick resulting in lots of "doubles" and was very hard work. And I can't really detect that it's any better.
I am looking at other possibilities but can anyone tell me whether I really should use tempered chocolate? One expert says "yes". Two others and an article I have to hand says "untempered". Common sense says that it's simply too hard to use tempered chocolate when panning.
Does anyone have advice please? DOES the panning process produce type V crystals? So can I use untempered chocolate?
My panning environment is usually around 45-50%RH and temperature 17C (62F) in the room with a bit lower in the pan (as best I can get). I use dark (70%), milk (36%) and white chocolate.
I really thought I had this nailed down but I MUST listen to what these guys say - but it just seems wrong.
Any thoughts please?
Thanks a million
Colin
Clay
Can you send me a list price for FBM by email. I am based in Ireland.
Louise O' Brien.
l
Vladislav -
I will send you catalog sheets.
The cold room should work fine, it's not as productive as working with a cooling tunnel because you have to start and stop the enrober belt.
The machines will be shipped from Legagno, which is just outside of MIlan, Italy.
thank you very much for the information. Yes, I will be grateful for the directories and information. Please send to 10477 at mail dot ru
The tunnel while I will not take. I have a big cold room. Confectioners will take the product off the line, laid on trays and transported in a refrigerated room. I think the performance will be less than 1,000 pieces per hour ... What do you think?
Thanks again for your thoughts. I thought.
From what city are delivery equipment?
Vladislav --
There are many videos about FBM equipment on their YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/fbmboscolo
As to the question of what is the maximum capacity of the belt ?
Don't think about kilos of chocolate per hour as the measure of capacity when buying an enrobing system. It's all about the average number of piece per hour you can put through the machine.
Your throughput will depend on the size of the pieces you are enrobing, what's being done after the pieces come off the belt (how they are decorated), how many people are working the line (1 or 2 or more), how well the work is organized, how much experience the operators have working together, the width of the belt, and whether or not you have a cooling tunnel.
An average of 1000 pieces/hr over an 8 hour shift at 5gr of chocolate/piece is 5kg/hr, or 40kg/day or about 1MT/month of chocolate per month producing roughly 18,000 pieces.
Think about the number of pieces you need to produce, not how much chocolate you're using and work from there. FBM's Compatta, with a 12kg working bowl and an 18cm belt can handle the 5kg/hr required to produce 18,000 pieces/month. If you want to produce more than that, I would recommend moving up to a wider belt and seriously consider a cooling tunnel.
LIST prices for FBM tempering machines with enrober belts run from about 11,000 (7kg working bowl, 18cm belt) to 33,000 (60kg working bowl, 40cm wide belt). Cooling tunnels range from about 22,000 to 37,000 depending on width (30 or 40cm) and length (4-10 meters).
I can send you catalog pages via email if you want more information.
thank you very much for your response and calculations. It is with great interest I read your posts in this forum. Could you send me a link to the video machines, you have written?
What is the maximum capacity of the belt? The fact that my season volumes may be 3-5 tons per month (range) and I need a reserve capacity. Also I will be grateful if you could inform the approximate level of prices.
Vladislav:
I represent FBM equipment to ChocolateLife members around the world. FBM introduced continuous tempering technology to the artisan chocolatier market back in 1977 and has been a technology leader since then. FBM was also the first company to introduce all-digital controls on their machines back in 1997.
One thing to consider about enrobing belts is that the actual amount of chocolate you need is relatively small. If you are running 500 pieces per hour through the machine and putting 5 grams of chocolate on each piece, you only need 2.5kg of chocolate per hour. Getting a machine with a working bowl of 24kg that can temper >90kg/hr of chocolate is much more capacity that you can use and it costs a lot more than you should have to pay.
FBM makes machines with 7kg and 12kg working bowl capacities that accept an enrober belt and that cost thousands of Euros less than Selmi machines. All FBM machines are made to order, so you can get yours customized if you want. A common customization is a longer take-off belt. You can also get a device that will sprinkle chopped nuts and the like over the top of your enrobed items.FBM will build and deliver the machine you need.
In order to increase the capacity of your enrobing line you need to increase the width of the belt, not the size of the tank. The FBM Unica (which has a 25kg working bowl) can be equipped with a 25cm-wide enrober belt instead of the standard 18cm belt. This increases the capacity of the system by about 30%. FBM also makes tempering/enrobing units with 30cm (45kg working bowl) and 40cm (60kg working bowl) belts.
I can also offer ChocolateLife members a 10% discount off the list prices on all machines (not including shipping, etc.).
Hello!
I have a small factory. We produce about 15 tons of chocolate per year (truffles, enrobed pralines, moulding pralines etc.). Premium segment. While we are working on wheeled machines Prefamac (30 kg each). Next season I want to upgrade production. I want to buy an automatic tempering machine 30 or 60 kg and enrobing belt. Choose between Selmi R-200 and Prefamac.
I want to purchase a reliable and convenient facilities. I do not want to overpay for the bells and whistles.
I ask you to share your experiences and advise which brand to choose? Thank you in advance.
HACCP isn't going to be a cut/paste. You'll need to develop it for your own facility. Main elements will be to identify control points for
1) Micro (usually roasting)
2) Foreign material - usually done via a combination of screening and metal detection
Fin:
There's no way we can even begin to start thinking about helping you unless you can tell us the brand and model of tempering machine you're talking about.
Great stuff...thank again for the valuable information.
With limited budget, i have some idea on equipment i need for initial setup. I will take a look at this an other sites for second hand gear. I tried to look for some on ebay, but its hard to find second goods for this industry on ebay. I guess people are quite happy with what they are using. Appreciate your feedback.
You don't make "chocolates" with panning. You are right - it's for coating centers such as coffee beans, nuts, freeze dried strawberries, razzcherries and the like. No, you can't make truffles, ganache etc.
BUT - to do the more "fancy" stuff you need expensive equipment if you are to do this in commercial quantiies. You can do some REALLY nice creations for a small outlay but if you want to make money you need to splash out.
I was not really in a place I could do that and I needed to be profitable quickly so I decided on panning.
Others can help you on equipment needed and prices. Clay has access to some great gear at more than fair prices. But it can still get costly. Union Standard in New York have good deals on second hand gear too although that proved too costly for me down here in Australia - but it should be far better for you. And this website has great deals on second hand gear quite often.
Not sure I can say much more except "good luck!"
Colin
Thanks a Coli, thats a great piece of information especially on the demand side of things.
Can you clarify a few points.
1. What kind of chocolate do you make using the panning method. I was under he impression, panning is used if you want to coat nuts with chocolate, sugar etc. Can you use the panning method to make Truffle, ganache and so on?
2. What advise can you give for someone who is on a limited budget, regarding the list if equipments that is required for chocolate based products?
I have received so much valuable advice in this forum that I feel a need to "give back" where I can. However I don't do the really clever stuff that so many in this group do so I held back. But I DO have a market stall and manage to pull in around $600-$1000 a day from that stall.
I could not afford the equipment required for so many chocolate products so decided on panning. Pans are relatively inexpensive and I now have two of them with which I can make up to 70Kg per day (packing is another story!)
Your stall will give you access to all sorts of people and their ideas and also allow you to test your ideas and products.
One REALLY critical thing is to consider who you will sell to and select a market in an area that will give you best returns. I abandonded one market that was giving me back less than $200 a day shifting to one that gave me $600-$1000 a day. The difference was the demographics of the area (the new one has a population with higher disposable income and lots of tourists) and also the time of opening hours. A common "objection" I encounter is "it's too early for chocolate". So I selected a market that opened at 10:00am and closed at 4:00pm as opposed to 7:00am closing at 2:00pm. Made a huge difference!
Hope this helps a bit and if you need more info I'll be pleased to comment.
Colin
Hi,
To start with I have to give all the writers in the forum a big Thank You for all the interesting and valuable information. I doubt I will ever find another site that is so informative.
My wife and I recently enrolled ourselves in an online chocolate making course and we are at the end stage of the course. This course has been quite helpful, where you learn about the cacao, chocolate history, tempering techniques, supply sourcing and on how to make your very own Truffle, Ganache, etc.
In time we intend to either start a chocolate stall in a mall or supply gourmet chocolate to retail shops who simply import chocolate. However in order to take this step, I would like to hear your valuable advice, especially on what types of equipment will be required. So far we have been tempering chocolate by hand on top of a marble, i would assume that we would require a tempering machine, melting machine. The chocolate will be made at home mainly at first and then supplied directly to shops etc.
Thanks in advance for your inputs.
Older discussion here: http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/quest-for-micrometer
Does anyone know of a good, easy-to-use micrometer for chocolate?
