Forum Activity for @Clay

There is no simple answer because I don't know what kind of molds you are using (thermoform has different heat transfer characteristics than polycarbonate), the dimensions of the mold cavity (the thicker the bar the longer it takes), the temperature of the chocolate (it will take longer if the temper point is 32C compared with 30C), and the amount of airflow in the cabinet (how efficiently are you removing the latent heat of crystallization - which can be affected by what the molds are resting on). 

I don't know about the temperature the bar has to reach (outside? how do you measure the internal temperature?) but there are some important clues: what does the surface look like and what is the snap? A soft snap is an important clue that the bar is not yet fully crystallized.

All that said, in a 55F cabinet with chocolate at a 30-32C temper point (86-90F) in a polycarbonate mold with good airflow top and bottom - you are looking at 12-15 minutes minimum.

F/S Airmaster Kopykake compressor and airbrush never out of the box $100 obo USD,  plus shipping Costs $250 USD from site.

I am in Canada

Fully Automatic tempering machine Choco-Lution Bakon USA.

Touch Screen, 100 programs, Heated vibrating tables.

Pristine and just fully serviced by Bakon USA 2 month ago.

2 Years old. Works great and tempering 45lb Chocolate in 20mn.

Made in USA, ETL/NSF Certified.

Machines are in Las Vegas and can be shipped.

Tempering Machine New $19,500

I'm selling at $12,500

I have 2 units

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Ours is a Martellato (specs from BakeDeco: http://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=8790&categoryid=0)

Asking $700 plus shipping see our separate post about used guitar for sale (this is NOT coming from bakedeco at all).

Thanks Sebastian for your suggestions. We conched again chocolate for 48 hours and then we put vanilla. We tasted the chocolate  a few times during the first 10 minutes and then we stopped the conching process. The vanilla taste started to dissapear after 10 minutes.

Our previous bad experienced with the chocolate flavour might have been caused by a bad batch of cocoa beans, definitely not because of the vanilla.

I live in India and can offer you small grinders. you can email me at : amutchall@gmail.com

Avninder Mutchall

For Sale: One Hilliard Little Dipper. The machine is in excellent, used condition. It was completely rebuilt one year ago. It is used regularly in our shop. I now do all tempering in my Selmi so the Little Dipper needs a new home. The machine weighs about 50 lbs. It is located in Cincinnati, OH 45202. I will assist in preparing for shipping and can help coordinate with UPS/FedEx as desired.

The asking price is $795 plus applicable shipping.

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Final price: $5,000 plus shipping.

For sale: One used Hilliard Hand Coater with Enrober. This is the 80 lb per day model. The machine was completed torn down and rebuilt two years ago. It includes the overnight cover, extra blades for the bowl, spare parts, and the original manual and paperwork. It has only been used a handful of times since the rebuild. Everything is in good working order. The machine is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. I would be glad to help coordinate shipping if required. The machine can be palletized for ready shipment. Freightquote or Total Quality Logistics are good options. The machine weighs 100 lbs and will ship from 45202. 

Asking price is $5500 OBO, FOB Cincinnati.

Video of the machine running is at:Hilliard Hand Coater in Operation - Chocolate Tempering Machine

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Reduced Price....

I posted this a while back but have been using it so I have not been eager to sell it.  Now we have changed our process and the Belt Coater is sitting and once again we are ready to sell.

This 38 Inch Belt Coater is in very good (practically new) condition. This is a three phase unit with an fm50 phase converter so you can run this unit with full variable speed control from any single phase outlet. This all in one unit has lights, fans and a 12 jet water jacketed drip system set up with a 2 inch sanitary tri clover fitting.

The entire unit is mounted on a base frame with casters so that it can be moved and cleaned easily. This belt coater also comes with a ribbed polishing belt. The polishing belt (not pictured) can be changed in about a half hour.

This Belt Coater can handle batch sizes as large as 120 pounds for most centers and up to 150 pounds for a heavy center such as a dried fruit.  Pictures can be seen at http://decorchocolates.com/beltcoater.aspx

$7,500 

Jeremy

425-344-7737

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Thanks for the advice Clay, I'll give them a call and see if they can point me in the right direction 

I personally don't know anyone who's selling used equipment for this scale of production.

You may find someone selling used in the UK here in the classifieds on TheChocolateLife. CocoaTowns and their ilk are likely, I have no idea if there is any used Kudvic machinery, but they are comparatively expensive, per kilo of batch capacity, new. You could contact CPS to see if they know of any used equipment.

Malcolm at Vantage House may also know of used items.

I do know them, but we are looking to purchase used equipment rather than new. We are wanting to scale up our production to 300 bars per week and have been looking at cocoa town eg65 and a russian provider called kudvic. But we are interested in any brands that will fulfil that sort of production level. 

Do you know Vantage House ? They handle pretty much everything you need if you are interested in smaller-scale production. How much chocolate do you want to make in a given day/week/month?

Hello.

Is this still for sale?

Thanks Clay!

Im looking to add to my chocolate making equipment and basically improve my set up. Based in the UK and interested in grinders, breakers and winnowers. Get in touch if you have anything you think might be of interest. Cheers

@helion:

Thanks for the kind words ... but it is the community that does most of the important work here by being open and sharing.

50F is too cold. 55F is better.

Do you have a digital hygrometer in your work space? If not, get one. Ideally it will log the humidity over the course of the day and you can download that into a computer and keep track. If not it should measure the current humidity and the peak humidity over the past 24 hours.

A good starting working humidity is ~55%. The closer you can keep the entire work space at that level or below the easier your job will be. Humidity in the air will always condense on a colder surface if the humidity is above the dew point and the temperature of the surface is below the dew point.

Your best approach is to work to keep the ambient environment humidity (temp is ideally ~68-72F) as close to 55% as you can. You can do this with a dehumidifier - try and get one that exhausts the humidity into the warm exhaust air and then pipe the exhaust to the exterior. This will remove the humidity from the space and you will not have to plumb the humidifier to a drain or constantly dump buckets.

Just having a cabinet that lowers the humidity will not address your condensation problem. You can increase the temperature of the cabinet (up to 60F or so) but that will increase the amount of time required to cool. Increasing the airflow may help with that, to some extent, but you do have to remove the heat from the cabinet.

Thanks Clay.

Model LM3, 120v/60Hz. Only used twice and wasn't right for our job. In like new condition, with one container/lid.

Asking $290

Shipping included to continental U.S.

Contact info@verucachocolates.com for more information

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Hilliard 10" Compact Coater enrober with 240 lb per day tempering melter and 6 ft. cooling tunnel - $20,000. 

Call Maritza Pichon at 678-427-7736

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Kim:

I have uploaded the current catalog page for the Prima that lists the prices and accessories. Click on this link to go to the file download page and then click on the PDF icon to download the file.

There is a Prima going to IBIE in October and it's 20% off, plus you pay only shipping from Las Vegas. I am confirming the electrical configuration (might be 3-phase). Another ChocolateLife member has already expressed interest in it, but we can extend the show discount to you, even if we can't offer shipping from Las Vegas.

:: Clay

Will do!

Sarah Ann -

I will get you pricing info to your email within the next 48 hours.

Christopher is right in saying that it can be made quite easily. A Robot Coupe should easily be handle it depending on the consistency you're looking for. Smaller blenders (even Vita Mixes) are underpowered in my experience.

You can also purchase praliné paste. Callebaut is one option, as are Felchlin, Valrhona, and others. I would look to AgriMontana as well (they, along with Domori, are owned Illy) but they make the nut ingredients for Domori. Very good. But - take a look at the ingredients list, especially on cheaper products as they may not be clean label.

Calum -

Vantage House is a UK distributor for Everlasting, which is located in Italy. I am representing Everlasting in the US through another distributor.

The largest unit accepts 20, full-size sheet (US) pans. Temperature control as well as humidity control. These are also fast recovery time units, which means they return to the set temperature and humidity points very quickly. There is also two-door unit which reduces air transfer when opening and closing doors.

These units are designed to crystallize and hold chocolate and do a good job at it. I would use perfed sheet pans. Let me know and I can get some pricing for you.

To address the point @helion brings up: humidity is more of an issue in some locations than others. I don't know where you are located, but in general, being able to control the humidity in the environment is a very good idea. Controlling humidity within the fridge (not just in the room) provides extra control that is valuable, it's not a replacement for humidity control in the working space.

A PID temperature controller is one way to take a fridge that does not operate in the 55F range and get it to operate there. It does this by turning the unit on and off. Robust compressors are an absolute necessity when cycling like this.

Sounds good Clay,

I am planning to come to LV. Not sure yet if I will be driving or flying so shipping could be an option. I am located in St Petersburg, FL.

Please forward me the prices at your convenience.  bcurly@msn.com

Thank You,

Curly

Is this machine still available?

Is this guitar still available?

Hello Clay. 

Great info. What is the cost on that Prima?

Clay, 

can you email me about the price for the prima with/without the enrober? I live very close to Vegas and can come to the shoe to check out the machine. My email is sarah@chocolita.com . 

Jeez - I even checked my trusty text (Peter Greweling's Chocolates & Confections, 2nd ed., p.277) to make sure the accent was correct. Thanks a lot, Greweling!

Anyway, as I mentioned, you can still Google "praline paste" (or "praliné") and find recipes or sites that sell it in bulk (e.g., Callebaut). It's not difficult to make, though if you need a bunch you can buy it. 

Okay, I think it is Clay's option 2, (prah-li-nay), based on the spelling with the accent on the 'e', which is in the book.  Do you know if it's available for purchase in larger quantities, or do I have to make my own?  Any recommendations?

Praline is one of the most overloaded words in chocolate, and what you are talking about depends on spelling and pronunciation. The origin of the term is reputed to be the household of the Gilbert Choiseul du Plessis-Praslin, where caramelized nuts were first accidentally cooked.

Praline (pray-leen). The words the Belgians use the way the French use bon bon. Usually a shell-molded piece, but it can refer to hand-rolled and slabbed/enrobed pieces as well.

Praliné (prah-li-nay). This is a caramelized nut paste. However, it can also refer to caramelized nuts (especially when referring to the products of Mazet de Montargis). A coarse (not completely refined) praliné is often referred to as praliné l'ancienne (ancient).

Praline (prah-leen). This is what Christopher is referring to as being from New Orleans. Usually a disk of caramelized sugar (below hard crack) dotted with pecans.

Curly -

FBM is officially closed for most of the month of August. I will reach out to the president and see what can be done. I think that it is highly likely - and we can offer you the 20% discount.

If we can get the order in right when FBM reopens (we can work on that in the next couple of weeks) we can get it made and ship it to you. Would you be planning to come to LV to see the ProXima in operation and get some training on it?

It could make sense to ship the enrober directly to you (you'd be on the hook for international shipping) rather than via LV. Where are you located?

:: Clay

I would not expect vanilla to have any ability at all to increase sourness.  Perhaps taste your vanilla directly (or disperse it in water) - to see if there's a defect in your vanilla bean.  Any defect that would result in sourness should be very visually obvious, i'd think,  unless the beans were soaked in vinegar or something. 

If you're using a single fold extract (ie 1x strength), 0.5% is usually sufficient.  Obviously tastes vary, but that's a good starting point to consider.  Add towards the end as vanilla's a fairly volatile flavor and if you add it at the beginning of a 72hr grinding cycle, you're going to lose quite a bit of it.

Oh, "praline"....such a complicated little word. Where I'm from - New Orleans - and the rest of the Southern US, the praline is a crystallized-sugar pecan confection (pro-tip: the less-traditional kind with cream are awesome for the 1st 5-10 minutes of their life...after that, "meh.") which was adapted from the almond version born in France. In modern day France, Belgium, and most of Europe, a praliné is a bonbon or an enrobed chocolate (tbh- not positive if it's used for both molded and enrobed).

However, I'd guess Wybauw means the third option: praline paste. Some consider the traditional version to be simply caramelized hazelnut paste, while others say it's a caramelized mixture of hazelnuts and almonds made into a paste, and still others would say any caramelized nut paste will do depending on your recipe and whims. One simply caramelizes the nuts (Untoasted! They will cook in the caramel.) and processes them in a food processor until the nuts express their oils and a paste forms. Google "praline paste" and you'll find some recipes. 

Bon Appétit!

We used 1kg of cocoa beans (70% dark chocolate)  with 35 mg of vanilla (not extract) .  We used a very acidic cocoa  bean and a mild acidic cocoa bean.  24 to 72 hours of conching.  The strong flavor (not good) was the same regardless of the conching time.  I guess too much vanilla.  Any suggestions in the percentage of vanilla that should be used? 

I am reading one of Jean-Pierre Wybauw's books, and "praline" is an ingredient in many formulas.  I've always considered a praline a finished product.  Can anyone enlighten me on what this ingredient is?  Thank you!

FINALLY.....

After 8 years I have put in place an order and delivery system.

For those of you out there who have always wanted to try my company's chocolate, we are now taking orders and shipping throughout North America.

Oh.... and I have updated our website too, so would like feedback on that.

Please give our order system a try.  I would like to work out any kinks before the Christmas season approaches!

Cheers

Brad Churchill

Choklat

Clay,

I could be very interested in the Proxima from the LV show. Is there any chance that there could be an enrobing system available at the same time and place?

Thank You,

Curly

Pavoni Polycarbonate Chocolate Mold, Smooth Round 21 Cavities

Lot of 30 molds for sale. Will only sell in increments of 10. Buy all 30, 20 or 10. Please note: I will only sell in increments of 10. So you can buy 10, 20, or 30 molds. Not 5, 15, or 21 

Bought from Bakedeco about a year ago. These molds show some minor use, i.e. choc residue, some superficial cracks on a couple of molds at the corners where I was a little overzealous with the tap out. Always hand washed and dried. Make lovely little forms for pralines, etc. Beautiful glassy finish every time. Selling because got new molds! See bakedeco listing: bakedeco.com

Price New = $22.50 per mold 

ASKING PRICE = $11.25 per mold - 50% off original price. BUYER PAYS SHIPPING based on SHIP TO address. 

30 molds = $337.50 + shipping

20 molds = $225.00 + shipping

10 molds = $112.50 + shipping

Please message if there are any questions and thanks! I can be reached directly at: bunkburger@yahoo.com 

Specs & Pics Below: 

Smooth-round chocolate mold
Unadorned by design
An Artisanal-series polycarbonate mold

Each cavity 28mm diameter x 14mm high
Each round chocolate piece about 10 grams
Size of mold 5-1/4 inch x 10-3/4 inch

• Toughness of polycarbonate enables use of mold numberless times
• Glassiness of surface lets you turn the mold upside down to have finished chocolates fall out
• Made in Italy

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Aly -

Where are you located?