We created a similar process. We designed our bars using Adobe Illustrator and created 3D models using Sketchup . We printed the bar "positives" using a budget 3D printer set to its finest resolution settings.

We bought some plans online to build a vacuum form machine. The plans were great and offered many options for customization.

Once we got the machine up and running we had to source some plastic. We purchased some PETG and Polycarbonate. The polycarbonate would be great but have found that it requires much too high of temps (like @timwilde mentioned) and melts our 3D printed molds after a single pull.

PETG is working great for now. It creates very detailed molds that have stood up well.

I've attached some pics of the process as well as an image of the final bars. Note that these pics were from pretty early on in the process. Since then we added a frame for rigidity and reprinted the "positives" a few times as we tweaked the design.

Would love to hear any feedback or answer any questions as we have learned so much from this great community.

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First there are a few forms that caramel will come in.  The most common is the individual blocks wrapped in cellophane.  Whereas these are the most economical ($1.98 for 14 ounces) they are also the most time consuming to use.  It takes time to unwrap each block and then of course, you can’t help but eat a few of them as you unwrap them – that’s just a given in my kitchen and should be in yours too.   Since they are larger blocks of caramel, they also take a little longer to melt.  So if you are more cost conscious than time conscious , these are the ideal caramels for you.  You can find these in the candy aisle.

Then there are the caramel bits – little balls of caramel.  These have been around for about 5 years but up until about a year or two ago, they could only be found in the stores during the holidays.  Now they are a constant on the shelf.   The bits are easy to measure out and use just what you need.   Of course, when I use them, I still sneak a few – just another given.  The caramel bits cost more ($2.98 for 9 ounces) but will save you lots of time by not having to unwrap them as well as less melting time.  So if you are more time conscious than cost conscious , these are for you.  The caramel bits can be found in the baking aisle near the chocolate chips.  flagen.se

I apologize if this has been specifically addressed... I looked for posts.

I'm wondering what issues I might deal with if I add some dried herbs or spices or chiles to the melanger while grinding my liquor? My final product will be drinking chocolate so texture is not really an issue since I will not be tempering. My goal is to create, on a larger scale, infused chocolate without having to infuse the milk every time I want to make a flavored drinking chocolate. (e.g., a lavender infused drinking chocolate without the step of milk infusion or adding crushed lavender). 

Any reason to think such spices would become infused in the stones in my grinder? (That wouldn't be so nice.)

Many thanks,

David

Manufactured in 2016

Sold because we have upgraded our equipment

Should you be interested, please get in touch

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Hi Clay

Thanks for the response. I have placed my order already. Sorry for the ignorance but what is the Jean-Marie Auboine school and where is it situated? Im based in South Africa but would consider travelling if its worth it. Thanka again

Yeah - those huge honking pieces they sell at various places are not my idea of a 'proper' truffle. Lazy man's truffle - got tired of scooping and rolling so made them bigger!

Ahh, so they are a sub-category of Bon Bons. That's a helpful way to think of it. Tho, the ones they are selling can be cut into quarters easily! They're cake pop sized. 

Thanks for the input.

I've never completely convinced myself that I clearly know what a truffle is vs a bonbon. I tend to think of the little (and I do mean little) one bite ganaches shaped like the thing that pigs dig up in France - to be a truffle. A cut piece made from ganache might also qualify. And when I pipe a ganache into a shell - I might call it a truffle filling. 

To me various chocolate items count as bonbons - truffles, molded chocolates, enrobed chocolates...

Hi! I have a tiny chocolate company in S.E. Wisconsin - something of a social venture project. Sweet Impact Chocolates is in it's 4th year, but I only started doing full-fledged chocolates in the summer of last year. I'm focused on all-natural products, using ethically-sourced chocolate and then 10% of my sales goes to NGO's that help trafficked kids and education for girls/young women. I could go on and on, but I'll leave it at that to spare you all 

Among many other things I'll be running to this forum for, I have a fundamental question for you all. Honestly, I hadn't needed to address it until a florist approached me about carrying my chocolates in her shop. 

What differentiates a "truffle" from a "bon bon?"  My understanding was that a shell, with truffle filling, no matter the shape, could be called a truffle. But, based on what lines they already carry, a truffle needs to be enormous and a ball, and dipped. They carry a product that, honestly, after taking the class I did from Ecole Chocolat, offends my food snob sensibilities. It's 1.5 ounces and has so much artificial junk in it, including the coating not actually being chocolate, that I was stunned. She wanted to know if I could do anything like it. Which I can, but if I'm going to put my name on it, it won't be that sort of product. Trouble is, she only pays 1.42 for each one, and has a 3-6 month shelf life. Color me gob-smacked!

So, are there any technical rules about what makes a truffle?

Thanks in advance and I'm so happy to have found this forum!

-Kristi

Clay, Thanks very much for the link to Compatible Technologies International. We live in northern Minnesota, and they are in Saint Paul, so we drove to their headquarters last Wednesday to test their Ewing Grinder with Don Jacobsen, one of the founders. We ground about a pound of Venezuela roasted nibs (had to go to Target to get a hair dryer to heat the burr grinders and shaft first, and heated the nibs in the microwave, and after that, the grinder turned the nibs into a powder (probably because it was not completely heated, but a very fine powder) that we later added to our Premier Grinder. It worked great! We will purchase the machine and adapt it with a motor, but we are confident it's going to do a great job and save us a lot of time and energy. Will post more, with photos, when we get the machine. You can find out more on their web site. CTI is a wonderful company! 

HAHA,

        Brad, I am with you on the eating chocolate for the health benefits a one part joke and one part a marketing ploy by the industry to sell more of it. Lol. I get people walking into my store and asking me for healthy chocolate all the time, I used waste my breath and try to explain the " fat and sugar" issue, but now I just tell them to go to their local supermarket and buy cocoa powder. I suppose that if the choice is between eating a supermarket pumpkin, pecan of apple pie, or a chocolate bar, the  chocolate bar is in theory a healthier alternative.

Haha!  Gretahass that was funny.  General statements about flavanols and UV protection...  Maybe I should just spread dark chocolate on my skin instead of SPF15.

How about we look at FACTS - such as the one that says dark chocolate (say 70%) is approximately 65% fat and sugar.  I challenge ANYONE to name one health food that is 65% fat and sugar and call it a health food with a straight face.

Chocolate is CANDY whether it's dark candy, milk candy, or white candy.

You want healthy food?  Eat a salad.

That is true. I'm not sure what I was talking about.    Maybe I just saw 50%, not 40-50%...

A 70% 2 ingredient bar would almost certainly be very close to 40% total fat, assuming well fermented beans were in play.

$650 new, asking $400 + shipping. Stainless steel, includes stand. Located in New York. 

Another followup question, I'm guessing you can't conch like a melanger in a ball mill because it refines too quickly?

I've not got round to building a prototype yet, I'm still finishing my tempering machine

Hi Humboldt-chocolate,

No we haven't tried flooding and scraping because we purchased the moulding line that works with the dosing head, not with a scraper, I suppose we could hand scrape them, but it adds another person that we would need to mould them.  At the moment we are sprinkling the inclusions, which also means we need an extra person.  We are trying to work it out

I too have purchased the Unica...But have not tried to use it with inclusions yet. Have you tried to flood and scrape without the dosing head? I look forward to hearing more. Thanks

Research points to flavanols – substances that help lower blood pressure and improve vascular function ,  improve cognitive function , and even provides UV protection for our skin! Dark chocolate has a higher proportion of flavanols than milk chocolate.

Known as The Highland Chocolatier, Iain Burnett is an award winning chocolatier based in the heart of the Scottish mountains, His lovingly handmade chocolates are specially crafted  to give an authentic, world-renowned taste of the Highlands. International award-winning artisan chocolatier Iain Burnett and his highly skilled team bring you a taste of Scotland you will not forget.  

Hilliard's Cooling Cabinet, 2008 for sale. I bought this in 2012 from a small chocolate shop owner who bought it new in 2008. Excellent condition.  $2,200.00 (will ship--crating fee is $95.00, plus shipping cost to your destination )

Please email for details and my contact info if you are interested.  

Katherine M. 

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You may be interested in Clay's post:

https://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/group_discuss/662/20kg-diy-chocolate-melter-for-about-200

This is the model:

http://www.selmi-chocolate.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EN-selmi_one.pdf

Bear in mind it is the single phase 220V version

Michael

Hi all is it possible to use an ordinary commercial "Dry Well Bain-Marie" for melting and holding chocolate to temperature. If NOT why not?

Many thanks in advance

Which model is it? can you link me to some specs please.

Hello,

We're looking to buy a small tempering machine (4-10kg).

We're located in Cornwall-England.

Many thanks

Thanks to my beautiful sister, D, I have two quality blocks of koko samoa standing on my kitchen table. I mean REAL Samoan koko! On my kitchen table. I feel like throwing a party because I haven't had Samoan koko since...I can't even remember the last time, and now it's right HERE.

Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to ferrous alloys, such as steel or cast iron, to achieve greater toughness by decreasing the hardness of the alloy. ...Tempering is accomplished by controlled heating of the quenched work-piece to a temperature below its "lower critical temperature".

Thanks for your help.

Yes, it most likely is overkill for your uses. We regularly do 40-50 plaques at a time.

If you don't mind saying, how large a production are you speaking of? At this point, I am a small producer, so might be spraying 4 molds with a single color, then changing to a different color. My airbrush is OK for doing that (it is a siphon type, so tends to need frequent heating--I have always assumed the gravity-feed type is better when it comes to dealing with the thickening of chocolate). But the brush/compressor I have cannot do the speckling (to take one example) that I believe the Fuji is capable of. Leaving aside the issue of cost, do you think it would be overkill for what I do?

You require the complete system, including compressor. 

Unlike small airbrush systems, it has a large (and loud, comparatively) compressor, a much larger hose (think garden hose thickness), and costs more. However, it is a beast in production. 

Thanks for that information. I have heard of others who use that brand for spraying molds. I believe it requires it own compressed air supply, not just a regular compressor, correct? Is that what you mean by a "serious piece of equipment"?

I use a FujiSpray HVLP system. It works very well, but is a serious piece of equipment. It uses a gravity fed spray gun with a 3oz stainless cup, so you can heat periodically during application. They have interchangeable needle/nozzle sets of varying sizes, and different cup sizes too, although the 3oz is the only stainless cup option. I use the smallest one for spraying cocoa butter into plaques.

The sprayers being discussed (such as the Krea ones) appear to have containers holding a rather large amount of the material being sprayed. Many chocolatiers operate on a much smaller scale, particularly when spraying colored cocoa butter into molds. Does anyone know of an HVLP device with a smaller "tank"?

Yiep, I use this sprayer to achieve a nice velvet covering. Easy to handle. Make sure it's cleaned properly after usage. Chocolate might get stuck in the atomizer piece; spray hot water through and you're fine

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Hi Jay,

Sorry for my late reply. I haven't been actively checking the forum post but now I am back! 

I would love to receive some bean samples for running trial. May I know how it works?

Best regards,

Katie  

Thanks for the recommendation!

Dear chocolate lovers, I would like to know if someone ever bought a Sowbaghya wet grinder as there is on the website 

Hi there!

Can anyone reccomend a recipe for Peppermint Patties? Is there one anyone has had good success with? Has anyone tried making it with Invertase?

Thanks very much!

Daniel

Very nice!!  I originally thought that I would need to do vacuum molding to do any custom work. 3d printers, at the time, only had ABS or PLA as printable filaments.  In the last 2 years though, that's dramatically changed; PETG, Polycarbonate, Nylon, as well different alloys of PLA and ABS.  As soon as I saw PETG and Polycarbonate available, I thought I'd look into skipping the intermediary step of printing the positives and doing the forming.

BTW: The primary reason I thought it would be more expensive is that the vacuum is limited by strength; you can diy almost all of it. But to get good plastics and reusable molds out of the deal, you end up going super thin or different materials that are more brittle. Polycarbonate, as an example, has an extremely high melting temperature.

I'll keep posting here. As of right now I'm fairly confident in my printing skills, however, I'm building up a higher quality printer. I still need a few pieces before I can appropriately test a good PC or PETG mold.

As for resolution; nozzles are available as small as 0.15mm  Resolution for movement is usually in the 0.05mm range.  Frankly, much smaller than that and you start having surface tension and viscosity issues with chocolate. Between a dremel engraving kit to polish up the surface and different vapor polishes i'm fairly confident that I'll have something quite usable.

I'm also expecting to go full custom, but still have to learn the software so I can start charging for that setup.