Forum Activity for @imaginecandy

Anchor Hocking 80142 Glass 2 Gallon Penny Candy Jar

• Chrome lid and stand/holder included
• $10 each / minimum 10 jars

• 90+ 2 gallon jars available
• 20+ 1 gallon jars available

Please include phone number with your email inquiry. We will respond immediately.
Thank you for your interest.

Our email: donna@imaginecandy.com

Also available: Jelly Bean & Candy Gravity Fixture, Chocolate Confectionery Climate Controlled Case, True Freezer, 2 Gallon Candy Jars, Metal Shelving, Tables, Folding Chairs, various Baskets and Packaging.

 2gallonjar.jpg - 62KB

@peter3

Thanks for the detailed response. 

1. Pouring tempered chocolate through the guillotine valve into a bowl. Mixing in inclusions. and pouring into 64g moulds with a portion scoop. 

This has worked well for us to date but its very inaccurate and is not possible with the amount of bars we need to make. 

Our product is Dark Chocolate bars/ Coconut Milk Chocolate bars, with inclusions like almonds, hazelnuts, jungle peanuts, coffee beans, etc

2. It will really depend on how well the stores do, but we feel that we need to have at the minimum of 2,500 bars produced per week in 3-4 8hr shifts. 

3. Already completed the audit earlier this year with UL Everclean

I will look into all of those depositors you mention. It seems that there is no small/mid size chocolate equipment that can handle large inclusions from my short bit of research. The volumetric depositors that we are looking at purchasing are made by Savage Bros. According to the company, it "may" handle very small inclusions, but have had so many issues with customers so they dont recommend it . 

Adding inclusions (temp of choc) to the kettle and pouring out of the valve seems pretty tricky. We have tried that technique with our products that dont have inclusions and things got very messy. I would also thing that it would be hard to have a even spread of inclusions in the bar. 

Cheers

@chocotoymaker thanks for the response. Will look into the Selmi with removable a screw. We started off in one of their stores in Downtown LA as a trial, and have averaged 250 bars a month for the last 6 months. This is with at least one demo per week, but, only 7 skus. We anticipate the new stores to average 200 bars per month, as there won't be as many demos but 3 additional products. 

41*200= 8200 bars per month 

1. What is the process you are using now? What is your product?

2. What is the production capacity you are looking for? As in pieces (what size) per hour or per shift?

3. Will you need to pass an audit of the grocery chain?

4. You can buy depositors that handle large inclusions. Answers to the above questions will help to make a decision on this.

5. You can buy volumetric depositors that will handle small batch production.

6. You can but a mould with raised dividers (which go almost to the surface), fill it in one go and easily break into smaller bars/tablets/pieces that can be individually packed.

We use the last method: Add 18kg of tempered chocolate to a kettle with temperature control on the water jacket (set to 31C), add inclusions,mix for 2 minutes, deposit (manual operation of the valve) out of the kettle into a mould sitting on a scale, vibrate and cool.

After cooling demould, break into 4 x 100g pieces, pack and box (all by hand).

Team of 5 can make over 250kg per shift. 

Two points:

1. Dosing accuracy is not great resulting in large give away (not important in our case)

2. You have to mix small batches so the chocolate does not loose the temper.

Get your self a Selmi with a removable screw. You will be able to use small inclusions and that should alleviate most of your scaling up concern.

  Also, before you start spending $$$, I would suggest toughing it out for 6 months or so to get an idea of how many bars your new accounts are going to move. The bar market is ultra crowded and insanely competitive. 41 or 500 accounts does not necessarily mean several thousand bars a month or several hundred a day.

    Best

As do the Belgians. The French would use bon bon (good good).

look at fineeuropeanchocolate.com there is a video about panning

enjoy

In Germany we use the name Praline for confections enrobed in Chocolate.

Hi Everyone, 

After almost 4 years in business, we finally got our big break. Our 10 Chocolate bar skus have been picked up by a grocery chain in Southern California (41 stores) . As exciting as it is, we are scrambling to figure out how to increase production while staying true to our product/process which has got us here in the first place. 

Our biggest shift is moving from pouring bars by hand to using depositors. The issue is that most of our bars contain larger inclusions ( almonds, hazelnuts, etc) which of course aren't depositor friendly. 

We believe there is only 2 options: 

1. Sprinkle inclusions on back

2. Deposit 1/3 of chocolate into mould and then sprinkle inclusions then top off with chocolate. 

Any Ideas/help would be greatly appreciated  :)

Equipment currently have:

- 120 lb Auto Savage Bros Tempering Machine

- 200 lb Auto Savage Bros Tempering Machine

- Savage Bros Vibrating Table

- 100lb Stonegrinder

- 60lb Stonegrinder

Dears,

We would like to sell Firemixer-14 that we used light at beginning of 2015, more information please find below:

This FireMixer-14 Table Top Cooker / Mixer is a very popular all-in-one electric mixer and cooker for producing confections. Perfect for Artisan confectioners and R & D labs, allowing one person operation from start to finish.

Ingredients are automatically mixed inside the all stainless steel FireMixer-14 Cooker Mixer, and the kettle can be tilted and locked into place for enhanced mixing action while cooking. It's built in agitator incorporates spring-loaded scrapers for fast heating without burning, and its touch control screen allows you to easily control all functions; batch and kettle skin temperature, agitator, temperature alarm, and water-flush cooling.

• Easy PLC operation touch screen
• Stainless steel construction
• Designed so that outside water source can cool product
• Kettle temperatures up to 450° F

The FireMixer-14's unique Water Flush feature prevents burning or temperature overshoot by immediately releasing heat from the kettle when desired. Flowing tap water flushes the heat from the cooker at the end of the cook cycle, allowing time to remove product without temperature overshoot. 

• Kettle locks into place, either upright or at an angle
• Tilt kettle to pour out batch, or add optional sanitary valve
• Optimum batch size is 20 lbs / 10 Kg (depending on recipe)

The FireMixer-14 is all stainless steel construction. It uses 1 phase electric power with a 16 Amp line, and requires a source of cold water with a drain.

• Made of stainless steel
• Requires 208/240 V, 50-60 Hz, 1 phase electric power

you can email me on kunoozbh@outlook.com

Hi Adir,

Molds have been discussed on this forum many times. I'd suggest doing a search for 'molds' here on TCL and reading the existing threads. There's a ton of great info here, including discussions on where to get them, materials, cleaning, and more.

I don't have any insight on which refiner to use. I use the original Premier Wonder grinders for test batches and they do very well. The Chocolate Refiner is an upgraded version of that, so I'm sure it'll be good, too. 

-Ben

Hello everyone,

I'm about to purchase some chocolate making equipment, before I start I'm looking for molds to buy, mostly interested in flat bar designed molds.

I've found a few websites but they aren't cheap, where do you guys buy your molds from? And what type of material is the best choice?

Next I'm about to buy a melanger, I'm considering between either the original Chocolate Refiner or the Tilting Chocolate refiner. Which one would be better? Is the tilting ability really that useful? Any other advantages over the non tilting version.

Thanks a lot, much appreciated

Glad to hear it helped.  :)

Tried it once and it seems to help, thanks.

3'x3' beautiful marble slab. Currently located in San Diego

$75

 marble_slab.jpg - 108KB

I made this machine on a budget and have tweaked and fine tuned it to the point of winnowing perfectly clean nibs every time.

$400

Transportation on this machine would be rather awkward, so sales within California would be preferred, we are in San Diego

 winnower.jpg - 416KB

If you don't do something like this already, try rubbing a little chocolate around the inside rim of the syringe before putting in the stopper/plunger part. This makes the stopper move easier.

I've had problems in the past with the rubber stopper coming off of the plunger, especially with older syringes, but this trick has solved the problem completely for me.

Hi,
Perhaps this is a stupid question but very important, how do you prevent from the rubber to fall off when you draw chocolate? my chocolate is not too thick.
I use 150 ml syringes that I order from ebay.

Thank's

An almost new Dedy Confectionery Guitar Cutter, 5mm spacing with 3 frames.

It was bought new six months ago from TCF Sales. I have since decided to only produce molded candies so the guitar cutter is surplus to my needs. It was used about 12 times. Below is the description from TCF Sales:

DEDY confectionery equipment presents the 5 mm single arm Confectionary Guitar Cutter that produces true 1" squares. Not to be compared with guitar cutters made with a nylon (plastic) base, Dedy guitar cutters cut uniformly and precisely, and perform precisely not only initially but over time. Cuts most any soft confectionery food products like ganache, pralines, fudge, jellies, soft caramel, almond pastes, etc. DEDY quality is exceptional and preferred by professionals worldwide.

• Base Surface: 350 mm x 350 mm. Made of high quality aluminum alloy for precision and durability, and to minimize weight.

• Guitar Cutter Frames: Made of stainless steel. Three (3) frames included: 15 mm, 25 mm, and 30 mm. o Other frame sizes can be ordered separately, but must be divisible by 5 to fit this base.

• Also Includes: Pick-Up Pan to move food product to and from the Guitar cutter, spare wire, and tools. Dedy Guitar Cutter are easy to use and easy to clean. Simply remove the frame and spray or submerse in hot water using a small amount of detergent as desired. Spray base with hot water and use a firm brush as necessary.

New it was $2,395. I am asking $2,000 plus shipping. It will ship from Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. Shipping to most of the USA should be around $50.

 chocolate-confectionery-guitar-cutter.jpg - 50KB

Hi,

I assume that your theory is correct sometimes and not always, when I mold 1 kg of chocolate to flat aluminium vessel (thickness of approximately 1 cm or a bit less) no releasing marks..

Still in great working condition. Purchased a few years ago. This unit has a temperature dial and heating light indicator.

$400

This machine is still in great condition and fully functional. Included 2 bowls, new baffle, holey baffle $1,600

Skimmer, used 3 times $400

Im looking for a selmi tempering machine. Please get in touch if you're interested in selling one.

you're going to be adding so little to be honest it doesn't matter. Essential oils are incredibly concentrated.

I can assure you this can happen on polycarbonate molds, I spent a few good years trying to get rid of them! My theory-It is basically the heat in the bars last stand, If you have long flat surfaces the chocolate cools, shrinks- releasing heat and this collects in the middle of the bar. I would not recommend any physical cleaning of molds as they do in fact scratch up, wash in dishwasher with a good non filming detergent. When we did photoshoots I used to make bars with undertempered chocolate  and then freeze them came out LOOKING beautiful.

Warming cabinets work fine, buy a used one  at a restaurant supply company and under worst case scenario you have to change the thermostat.I ran with two of these for 5 years. As an aside to anyone using a refrigerator to cool your chocolate. you may want to consider changing your thermostat to one that will run a bit warmer, we got a lot of cracking with a thermostat running very cold.

Curtis, I am interested in these molds! Can you email us lunechocolat AT hotmail.com

thanks! or feel free to call the shop

315 692 4173Thanks

Hey everyone,

Is it best to add essential oils before or after you temper chocolate?

Thanks!

Trudy

These are the questions I have put to Selmi and their response. Would be good if anyone had any practial experiance to back this up:

- what is the maximum sized inclusion?

Should be lesser bigger then 4 mm 

- what is the max % of chocolate to inclusion that is can run.

We advice maximum 18% of inclusions for each kg of chocolate you will have inside the machine 

- Can the machine be fully cleaned. We are interested in the removable screw pump option, but does this clean to a standard where to could still not contaminate other batches with previous allergens used, I am thinking nuts here.

The machine with the removable screw such as COLOR EX and PLUS EX allow you to remove the screw pump and wash the machine complete. 

- Is there any wastage when swapping form Dark to milk etc.

from Dark to Milk we usually advice to not wash the machine but empty it as much as you can then put the new chocolate inside, for the swap from Dark to White the waste of product is very small because you can empty the machine and then wash it.

Hi all,

We are looking at one of the Selmi machines, possibly the Top Ex. What attracts me is the removable screwpump for easy cleaning. Now I know that this isn't unique to Selmi but they are the only comoany I see saying that you can use nuts in the machine and then clean. This makes mean think that they must be very confident of ease of cleaning.

- Anyone have first hand experiance of this?

- Does anyone know max inclusion size.

thnaks

calum

Here is specs of the roaster

http://www.crzmakina.com/urun/150ro-elektrik.pdf

I second Clay's recommendation. Asking Ken about a proof box at Charyn Auctions in SF.

c:

We are interested in the depositing pump.

Can you please let me know whether this is the mini-pump (3.5 oz stroke) or the Savage 1324 with the 8.5 oz stroke?  What kind of depositing heads does it have with it?  Do you have port adapter (Savage #1300-09-151  TANK-PUMP 1"FPT-1.5 ILINE FEMALE  ADAPTER) to mount it onto the tank?

Also, do your tanks (especially the analogue controlled one) have a port for mounting the pump controller? Savage pump controllers mount on the port that is on the side opposite the melter controller box, towards the top.   Your photos show only the controller side; could you please email me the other view(s) to ilya@luvicecream.com along with the pricing info and all other answers?

 Thanks!

Hi, i try uploading pics, but for some reason its not letting me, give me your email, i will email you.

Hi Charley. This looks gorgeous. I'm in northern California and am interested. Can you share with me electrical requirements for the motor, overall dimensions and weight, and pricing info? Warmly, Jonas

jonas@fireflychocolate.com

707-861-8504

Hi i was thinking to make a chocolate drinking powder but would like to know which type of cocoa powder will be suitable

Low fat cocoa powder or High fat cocoa powder

Also kindly let me know should i use alkalised or dutch or any other processed cocoa powder.

I would also like to know what does Cocoa powder ALF and AHF means

Any help will be appreciated.

Any image or description?

Hi Guys

Would you please send us some information.

chaqchao@gmail.com

Thanks

Hi ,

    I am interested, where are you shipping from and how will you be shipping it ? Please contact me a victor@emvichocolate.com

    Thank you

    best

   Victor

Hi there! Where are you located?

We might be able to help you out, depending on quantities, as of January. francis.murchison@gmail.com

We have about 140lb left now at $5 a pound.

francis.murchison@gmail.com or 508 2746590

hello,

We are near PR.

I would like to buy from you once you are ready.

do you have contact information?

thank you