Forum Activity for @Ben Rasmussen

I'm having the login issue on serveral machines. Two are running chrome on Ubuntu Linux and the other is a Chromebook running chrome (obviously). 

I am in need of a stainless steel chocolate melter 125-250lb.  If anyone has a nice used unit that is available for sale, please send me a message or call me.

Ryan - jlmsales.rposey@gmail.com / 678-464-1452

What part of the city are you heading to?

No.  I am closing the inglewood store at the end of this month and moving everything to the new location.  5X the space and a 1/4 of the cost for rent.

Congrats!

Are you keeping the Inglewood store? 

Hi Everyone.  I have finally pulled the trigger and am moving into a larger space - one that will support online ordering and shipping of my amazing chocolate bars all over North America.

To help accomplish this, I have created a landing page that will allow you to make an online purchase and get FREE DELIVERY.

OR....

You can contribute a larger amount of money and either get your money back and a HUGE return (80%) or actually become a shareholder of my company.

Part of the factory I am constructing will have a lab specifically set up for bean to bar classes!  Here is your opportunity to help someone who has helped many through this and other forums, and also continue to help the industry by sharing what I have learned over the past decade.

Check out the page and get more information at the following:

https://www.sochoklat.com/public/FundIt/index.html

Thanks ash - appreciate it!

We have an old tyme. We use it mostly to pre grind cacao but have run nuts through there as well. It makes a pretty ruff grind peanut butter.  No reason the sugar couldn't go through it but it wouldn't do much to it as it doesn't grind down much smaller than the sugar is already. The best I have seen yet is the robo coup Blixer 5 about $3000 and the best deal for the money. Grinds nuts into paste very well and super fast. It also combines ingredients together well. This is what we are looking at for anything to do with nuts.  

Thanks Gap.  Need something a little faster than a stone grinder i'm afraid 8-)

Sebastian - I sure you'd have thought of this already and have your reasons for not doing it, but I'm interested why you wouldn't use a cheap food processor to grind the nuts and then drop them in a Premier Wonder Grinder for a couple of hours? I do it all the time with pistachio, hazelnuts and almonds and haven't had a problem. I've made pure nut pastes and also 60/40 praline pastes (without caramelising the sugar). Seems much cheaper.

Edited to add: I think you make a bit of chocolate yourself as well. The Champion Juicer (if you use it) is also capable of making nut butters, although I haven't used it for that before.

Thoughts on it?  Any details on how fine a grind it's able to achieve?  Does it also grind any additives one would incorporate into peanut butter (such as sugar), or is it a nut grinder only?

Any other suggestions of grinders one might look at for a very small scale (only need a couple of pounds of scale) for making nut butters would be appreciated!

Thanks folks

I think we met at JMA in April?  Can you please email me photos of the back, compressor etc.  also how old is it?  Helen@decadencechocolates.ca

Hi Helen. Yes, the case is still available. I'm currently using it through Christmas at a pop-up location at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, but it's available at that. I originally listed the price at $700, but I would sell for $625 if the timing works for you.

Is this still available?  What is the price?  

Looking for a chocolate display case, preferably European style (straight sides and front) 

Hello, 

Is your Machine still available? 

Of yes,  where are you located? And do you have a spec sheet and photos?

Thank you very much.

Alek 

Hello everybody,

To whoever is interested, KREA Swiss is now making a Christmas Promotion:

Buy a chocolate melter 6kg unit and get a hot chocolate spray gun for half a price

https://www.kreaswiss.com/christmas-promotion

I've watched the water makers parody, and shared that link out, some colleagues actually thought the product was credible... Anyway, the parallels with Mast Bro's video is uncanny, down to the intro, the retake, the zoom, the pace of speach... I would believe it if someone told me that the water makers vid is a parody on Mast Bro's video.

Ben -

I agree, the situation with Groups is messed up. I need to get professional help to make them work properly.

Also, I have noticed that the Forums are working well for what the Groups were trying to so - and people are using the forums for those purposes. So, I am working on fixing the sorting problems for archive retrieval purposes, but pushing people towards using the Forums.

As a part of the process I will be updating the home page - rearranging things - and I will add the last updated timestamp.

The login thing is probably a browser cookie issue, but I will ask the developers. I don't ever have an issue here, and I use Chrome, Safari, and Firefox on MacOS. Is it in more than one browser? What combination are you having problems with?

:: Clay

I'm looking for 2 chocolatiers FT for our Las Vegas Chocolate factory available immediatly.

Please contact me at jma@jmauboinechocolates.com

Thank you

Two issues:

1) The login 'Remember Me' checkbox doesn't seem to work, or works intermittantly at best. I almost always have to relogin when visiting. 

2) The groups are still essentially useless due to the fact that you can't tell what's been updated. It actually seems worse now than when I last looked. For example, the top discussion was last updated in 2009. Besides the fact that the top discussion should be the one most recently updated, you can't tell that that discussion was last updated in 2009 until you go into the discussion. The changes that I think need to be made are for the sorting to be changed so that the most recently updated discussion should be at the top and then descending in reverse chronological order, and that the display on the group page should include 'Last Updated by $user at $datetime'.

On a side note, I wish the 'Latest Forum Posts' on the homepage also included the time it was last updated, like it does on the 'Newest Posts' forum page, which is much more useful than the time it was originally posted. 

Thanks,
Ben

Hi Sir,

We have produced chocolate machinery over 20 years , with the customers of NESTLE, KRAFT, MEIJI, etc., and hope to find a way to cooperate with you!  

If you are interested, let's talk about the details, or you can visit our website www.chocolate-machines.com with detailed information of various machines.

  Best regards!

Tony

YOQ Group Ltd.

Tel: +86 15150501878

Email: cleopatra.tony@gmail.com

Skype: yoqtony

Website: www.chocolate-machines.com

Hi there folks,

We are looking for an enrobing belt for a fbm prima. Needs to be in good working condition. Thanks 

sal@palmacacao.com

I am interested in one ! Contact me if  available 

Hello Clay,

I would like to buy a FBM Prima. Are you the right person to contact?

Regards

Gerardo

Hi, I recently switched to a new wholesale supplier. When I opened the 28# bag of cacao powder I noticed there are a lot of clumps or balls of powder. Is this a sign of too much mositure or some problem? Would you accept such a powder or send it back?

I have been having some problems with foaming while the chocolate is in the temperer, and this is a new problem. I am attaching photos to some the foam and the clumps in case they are related.

Thank you for any advice you share with me!

 clumps2_edited-2.jpg - 43KB

There have been a number of studies on the transition from Form V to Form VI, or Beta 5 to Beta 6 (they are identical, just two different naming conventions in the literature) that have been interesting.  Two that I like are found here (I am not using standard referencing):

Relation of fat bloom in chocolate to polymorphic transition of cocoa butter - http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11746-998-0101-0

and

Fat Bloom and Chocolate Structure Studied by Mercury Porosimetry - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1997.tb15455.x/abstract

The first (written in 1998) goes over the different views of what causes fat bloom in the transition from V to VI.  Two elements I found interesting - tempered chocolate stored at 5 degrees C showed no elements of bloom in long term storage, and there was a direct correlation of fat bloom formation to storage in conditions of alternating temperatures (not necessary just hotter).

The second (written in 2006) concludes that even well tempered chocolate is porous - with a weak correlation between the percentage of cocoa butter present with the "empty space" present in the tempered chocolate.

In combination, this would tend to indicate that fat bloom forms when some low-melting point oils within the tempered chocolate structure slowly migrate, helped by the structure alternately heating and cooling, to the surface of the well-tempered chocolate as the chocolate becomes denser (tighter packed triglyceride structures) over time in storage.  There are of course variations in bloom formation mentioned in the studies due to changes in humidity and the like, but that is a problem I rarely have being in the desert.  From a practical standpoint, I am exploring the effects of storage at 5 degrees C for my ganaches to see how long and if they maintain an acceptable mouth-feel when brought back to room temp. 

In regard to tempering with Beta 6, given the above there should be no theoretical difference in final result than using the 5 - the Beta 6 has the same basic structure, just (simplistically) more densely packed (and you do not get Beta 6 crystals in chocolate when tempering with Beta 6 crystals - you get 5). The heat of your melted chocolate, even at 35 degrees C, is going to impart enough energy to the Beta 6 to bring it back to Beta 5.

I also do use Mycryo extensively.  I prefer using standard seeding, but if I have a relatively full vat I will use a little standard seed to drop the temperature a bit more quickly, then finish it off with Mycryo.  I have found in practice that I get a great end result in any of the three variations: 100% tempered chocolate as seed, part tempered chocolate and part Mycryo, and all Mycryo as the seeding element.  The chocolate does seem to thicken faster, however, limiting production times, when using the Mycryo instead of tempered chocolate as the seed at equivalent temperatures.

Thanks Clay! I'm definitely thinking after the holiday season is over, we are most likely 3 months or so out from an upgrade but I want to get my research done soon so we're ready to pull the trigger.

Just out of curiosity, what is your opinion on Savage Bros machines? I've had my eye on them for a while but haven't hear much either way about them.

I saw that myself, and two outfits in Australia.  Price on the chocolate is not surprising (coconut sugar is expensive), but the shipping would kill me.

Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse

ICCO’s Ad Hoc Panel on Fine or Flavour Cocoa met in London last week to update the list of countries where they consider fine or flavor cocoa grows – and the percentage of the crop that is considered fine or flavor. From the ICCO web site:

"The share of fine or flavor cocoa in the production of cocoa beans of individual countries has developed over time. Successive International Cocoa Agreements recognized producing countries exporting either exclusively or partially fine or flavor cocoa. The list of countries and their proportion of production of fine or flavor cocoa under the successive International Cocoa Agreements of 1972, 1975, 1980, 1986, 1993 and 2001 are reproduced in Annex C of each Agreement."

The last time the panel met was in 2010 and in the intervening five years the landscape of production has changed. Jamaica has been moved out of the 100% category down to 90%, and Peru’s fine or flavor production figure has been reduced from 90% at the meeting in 2010 to 75%. Ecuador held steady at 75% despite presenting documentation that more than 25% of exports are CCN-51.

Hondura and Guatemala (both at 50%) and Viet Nam (40%) were recognized by this year’s panel. Perhaps surprisingly to some (but not to me, who visited the country twice this summer), Nicaragua was added to the 100% list - the only such addition this year.

The final list as recommend by the panel according to the requirements of the International Cocoa Agreement of 2010 follows. This is the recommended list, as the recommendations still need to be ratified by the ICCO General Council at a meeting in Dominican Republic in May of 2016. The percentages listed are the percentages of that country’s EXPORTS that ICCO considers to be fine or flavor cocoa beans, not the percentage of total harvest:

100%

• Bolivia
• Costa Rica
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Madagascar
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Saint Lucia
• Trinidad

95%

• Colombia
• Jamaica
• Venezuela

90%

• Papa New Guinea

75%

• Ecuador
• Peru

50%

• Belize
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Panama

40%

• Dominican Republic
• Vietnam

35%

• São Tome

1%

• Indonesia

The Panel also recommended that it met bi-annually to review the list and that a standardized grading scheme be developed. For more information about the history of the Panel, visit: http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/fine-or-flavour-cocoa.html

I love, love, love, love the Timmy Bros, Water Makers parody. For those of you interested, here's the link to the Mast Bros video that's being parodied .

Russ -

Given the time of year I generally do not recommend that you try and put a brand new machine with a different technology into production right now. The time you spend to get it integrated into your work flow can lead to production interruptions. You are right to worry about being down at the busiest time of year, but that should not be an issue for a brand new/demo/refurbished machine. Going forward, good preventive maintenance is the issue to keeping the machines in production at the busiest times of the year - something that many people neglect to do.

The challenge I see (and that you neglected to mention in your post) is that your chocolates are sweetened by honey. It's a challenge to temper honey-sweetened chocolate. FBM does have customers who do, but in general it takes larger machines - with longer tempering pipes and greater cooling capacity - to handle this kind of specialty chocolate because of the moisture in the honey, which inhibits crystal formation and spread.

As you may know, I represent FBM, in part because I believe that they are technically superior machines to Selmis. I don't think I have a machine in the US that is kitted out to handle honey-sweetened chocolate reliably. It would require testing and I don't think we could get that done in time to get you into production before Christmas. Because of the way I know that Selmis are built internally, I think that would be no more effective than FBM. The same is true of Gami, Bakon, Pomati and every other company that uses the tempering screw approach.

I'd like to say it was easy, but it's not. If you were working with conventional couverture I have at least one small demo machine (a PRIMA) here in the US (220V, 3-phase power) that I could get to you in a week or so. However, I could not in good faith recommend it for honey-sweetened chocolate without extensive testing. 

I know of no measured depositors that attach to your Chocovision machines.

:: Clay

PS. Here's the link to the FBM web site where all of their chocolate machines are listed. The one being used for honey is the Maestria, outfitted with the craft chocolate upgrade and the pneumatic doser. The list price on that machine is about €31,000 which is a lot for 80kg/week of bar production.

Good luck on this, my quick research into this shows only one company - Real Food Source in the UK - offering something like this. I doubt they are making it themselves, though, so the challenge would be to find out who's making it for them. Also, the prices are in pounds - that's 50% higher than USD$ prices right off the bat.

I need a supplier of couverture sweetened with coconut sugar instead of pure cane for a particular customer of mine.  Initial requirements are low - @ 20 kg for the initial order, but potentially could grow to the 1000 kg/month range.  Does anyone have a lead on a source?  Please email me at troy@lajoliesse.com or post in reply. 

Thank you,

Troy Lapsys.

I know there are a lot of opinions about what tempering machines to run and the answers vary widely based on capacity and needs.

We've been running several Chocovision 3z's for almost 2 years now and I love them. However, my business is growing and their shortcomings are starting to cut into my efficiency. Most importantly, we are making on average 300-400 chocolate bars twice a week and hand pouring each one is quite labor intensive. I know there are machines out there with depositors and I'm hoping to find one that is metered so we can dial in various amounts based on what types of molds or products we are making.

Another factor is that the 3z's take quite a long time to heat up even though we are pre-melting a large portion of our chocolate. Idealy we want to upgrade to a larger capacity machine with the ability to deposit and at least has an option for enrobing as that is something we are interested in moving towards. I've been looking at Selmi machines and some Hilliards as well. Are there other good machines people have experience with? My biggest concern is reliability so we aren't down a machine in the busiest time of year.

Mack -

The uploading problem was probably not a filetype issue - but a matter of your profile not having full privileges. I have move you out of the "unassigned" user category to the "chocolate maker" category so you should now be able to upload.

GIF, JPG, and PNG are all supported.

 You guys seem to know a lot about chocolate melter units. I just ordered this one with the promotion of a chocolate sprayer. Has anyone ever used one of these products?

https://www.facebook.com/KREASwissFoodEquipment/photos/a.527730707280305.1073741825.353907527995958/908041275915911/?type=3&theater

Thank you!!!