Forum Activity for @Adam Kavalier

Thanks! Just sent you an email with more details

Thanks, just sent you an email with those details.

Finding the exact explanation of what is happening during conching is not very easy as we have very limited understanding of that process.

It needs to be pointed out that we only measure "average" temperature of the mass in the conche using a relatively basic temperature sensor. Mechanical action of conche tools may result in "local" temperatures much higher (I have been told as high as 2,000C at sugar crystal breaks)  than one indicated so the answer to your question of what is happening is probably: all of the above reactions and some more. 

Source of 75-78C is experience, less than this and we get very limited caramelisation, more and caramelisation is difficult to control. Changing the temperature of chocolate mass in the running conche is not a very fast process.

Hi Folks,

My wife and I closed our chocolate shop here in Michigan (Lindsay Truffler) a couple of years ago. we have a custom made humidity controlled chocolate cabinet that we kept all of our product in that we no longer, nor will ever use. It was $5000 new because of being custom but we will sell it for $500 plus the cost of freight wherever you need to get it shipped to.  The dimensions are 36"w x 67"h x30" d.  It's heavy and needs to stay upright during shipping.  If you are interested, I would be glad to call some places and get some estimates on the shipping costs to your location.  

Attached are some images - this is a great deal for a very nice piece of equipment.

If you'd like more pictures, or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Thanks much for your time,

Brian

 IMG_6680.JPG.jpg - 1.3MB

Hi, I'm interested. Please email me at moore.deanna@gmail.com. Thank you!

I think this may be along the same lines as your query  @jujucabra . I didn't add coconut oil (or cannabis) however I did add some peppermint oil. The chocolate I'm using is a dark 65%. I've used botanical oils before though not often. I'm at home today experimenting with marble, spatulas, and bain marie, and that's about it. I learned how to temper sans thermometer and I agitated the living hell out of my chocolate, so any ideas? My tests are not streaky, but not a brilliant shine either and of course a much smaller surface area.

My thoughts are it's just the essential oil. It still has snap, is clean on the other (mould) side, but the back... *photo attached. How many times is too many times to temper. I've redone them 3 times now. 

Thank you for ideas in advance. Maybe I'm out of temper practice... Try, try again.

 streaky chocolate.jpg - 30KB

The item was sold

How much you want to get? Please send me photo to umaxexpress@yahoo.com  Thank you

Hi,chocolate sticks to almost everything, except on fat.

it seems (from far away) that your problem is not the chocolate itself, but theycaramel. If the caramel has a overly shine look, it could be that some fat is surfacing/splitting, making it difficult for the chocolate to stick.

for test purpose, check first the caramel, then do a test by coating something else (nuts?) to understand what you are doing incorrect. 

Otherwise you can always "dust the caramel with something to roughen the surface.

cheers.

Christopher:

Welcome to TheChocolateLife! While I hope that ChocolateLife members will share with you directly, I also encourage you to ask you to ask questions as they arise. The greater the volume of postings the greater the likelihood that people will respond.

You might also consider a regular series of blog posts to document and share your progress. I know we'd all like to hear more ... there are many, many members of TheChocolateLife in India.

:: Clay

My name is Christopher, and I currently live in San Diego where I am creating some recipes for couverture chocolates and clusters, bean to finished product. Once I establish a small business in San Diego, the plan is to move to India and expand the business for humanitarian and social justice concerns. I have been looking at equipment from China, primarily on Alibaba. Have any of you purchased tempering and enrobing systems, conching machines, cocoa butter presses, roasters or winnowers from China? If so, could you let me know how these machines performed for you?

I welcome all suggestions from those who "have been there, done that."

For sale, FBM Continuous Tempering Machine built specially for bean to bar craft chocolate

Unica 25kg working bowl tempering machine

Single-phase with the craft chocolate upgrade, stronger auger and motor for ease with viscous chocolate

Pneumatic depositing head (heated) with 2 dosing plates

         1 plate for generic three cavity molds

         1 plate for generic four cavity molds

Here are some other options I've used for small batches. 

http://www.dhgate.com

http://www.clearbags.com

http://aluminumfoil.alufoil.com

Brian

Hi everyone.

I am enrobing soft caramels with dark chocolate but am finding that the chocolate does not stick to the caramel well, if at all. What this means is when I bite into the caramel (about an inch square and half inch thick) some chocolate will often chip/flake off the remaining portion, leaving a less than desirable eating experience. Does anyone know a way to make the chocolate bond to the caramel to stop it from doing that? I'm currently enrobing by dipping then using a hair-dryer (on cold) to blow off excess chocolate, leaving a layer about a millimeter thick. I have tried thinning out the chocolate coating with more blowing which seems to have a positive effect but it gets to a point where the chocolate is too thin for the desired taste.

TIA.

Hi i am looking to buy chocolate bar moulds with grammage between 15-20grams. If you have any used moulds and want to sell kindly send me the images with weight of the chocolate when prepared.

I'm also small times. For most of my packaging needs I use

http://www.shopmodpac.com/

They are mostly boxes and bags, but will do small order custom.

I tasted Charm School Vegan white chocolate while I was in Seattle recently at the NW chocolate festival. It was actually excellent! And they do wholesale. 

Hi, is the Rev Delta still available?

Posted in the last 24 hours on Facebook. It's a start. I can only hope that Georg will personally visit everyone else in TRS that he labeled "unconfirmed." In the case of Pacari, I believe he relied in part on "unconfirmed" gossip from unreliable sources and did actually do the necessary work to determine whether the gossip was true.

Hi, is the Chocovision X3210 still available?

Hi there. Javier from Chaqchao Organic Chocolates from Arequipa Peru.

We have been making Organic White and Milk vegans chocolates for over two years now. Our white chocolates are made with either organic coconut MYlk, brazil nut MYLK and Lucuma powder.

We also make 40% and 55% percent vegan milk bars with the same options.

We use organic Panela ad our form of sweetener which makes our white bars a brownish color.

All our bars ingredients come from Peru including our beans from Cusco, Peru.

We have had bis big success with our bars in the peruvian market. If you would ike us to send us some samples let us know as we would be happy to

Our email si chaqchao@gmail.com

I'm sorry, it sold yesterday.

Hi, I make a VEGAN MILK and VEGAN WHITE chocolate that you may be interested in.  I sell it in bars, bite sized pieces, and 5 lb blocks.

http://www.sacredchocolate.com/mylk-raw-chocolate-heart-bar/

http://www.sacredchocolate.com/white-passion-raw-chocolate-heart-bar/

Hello,

My name is Chaus Davids and I work for a company called Kocotek. As you can guess from our name, we specialize in supplying equipment to the cocoa/chocolate industry.  

Over the past several years, we've started representing a company called JAF Inox that makes high-quality, bean-to-bar chocolate machinery geared toward artisan/craft chocolatiers. Our smallest lines begin at a capacity of around 10 kg/h while our larger lines can produce over 200 kg/h.

If you're interested in learning more about what we have to offer, please feel free to contact me at the e-mail listed below. As well, I invite you to take a look at this video  which shows one of our 60 kg/h lines, currently in operation.

Thank you,

Chaus D. Davids

Email: cdavids@kocotek.com

Web: kocotek.com     

Is your Hilliard Little Dipper still for sale?

My pleasure The commercial product I found was vile....my Vegan customers seem very happy with this one and so do I! Tastes pretty good actually

To do what?  JML colloid mills are really inexpensive, and can work very, very well for making liquor out of nibs if that's the intent.   You'll need to clean the living daylights out of it before your first use, and will want to have a hot water loop jacketing it.  They can be found from many sources.

@clay Yes I am!

I am looking for a used or new colloidal mill! Contact me please

Just now sent an email to all three of you.

Interested in the Crankandstein also. Located in California. moore.deanna@gmail.com

Hi,

Im also interested in the Crankandstein if Pierre doesnt take it. Please email me phil@isaacs.net.nz

I have 8 of these -->  http://www.jbprince.com/chocolate-and-sugarwork/squares-magnetic-28-cavities.asp
and 8 of these -->  http://www.jbprince.com/chocolate-and-sugarwork/rounds-magnetic-28-cavities.asp

They're just too small for me.  $20 each plus shipping or take all 16 for $320 and I'll pay shipping.

I have some used equipment I am looking to sell and some new equipment I sell.  Please send me an email to erin at indi chocolate dot com (spelled out to avoid scam and spam, please no spam) and we can see what will be most interesting/helpful for you. Thanks

Suzanne -

Are you here in the US? Some sources from Europe might not be good for you.

I'm looking for a crackenstien mill if anyone has one for sale please contact me here.  Thanks everyone!!

My wife and I want to buy an established bean-to-bar company.  We are looking for a seller.  Please feel free to email me if you would prefer not to post a reply.   

Steven

taylor070105@comcast.net

Hello,

I am interested in your crankandstein bean mill.

Please contact me - busanapierre@gmail.com

Kr

Pierre

Martin - Thanks for sharing!

Hi all - I was going to make a new thread on this but decided to revive this one instead...seems to make more sense.

I am a relatively new chocolatier in the UK - I make my own chocolate (for bars and some of the molded chocs) and I've just started doing a vegan filled chocolate line. I have to say I'm apalled at the quality (or lack thereof) of vegan chocolates....just wow. I found an acceptable vegan milk chocolate made by Plamil foods in the UK; but the white chocolate was awful. They make it with rice powder and rice syrup in place of teh dairy. It is a nightmare to work with...it forms a crust in the bowl when melting (on the bottom of the bowl and no matter how careful I am with temperature) and sets up slightly sticky. Nice...not.

So I made my own using cocoa butter, sugar (from beets) and coconut milk powder. It does have a coconut flavour but it's not overpowering at all and the chocolate tempers beautifully...had great success moulding shells with it.

The key thing i've found is that most recipes for vegan chocolate do not include a proper grinder like the santha or (in my case) premier tabletop grinder. It is absolutely essential to grind it o get the proper consistency and avoid the graininess. I grind it for about 20 hours - works like a charm.

Anyway....figured I'd share in case anyone else read this and wanted to have a go