I guess i should clarify that it is my colored cocoa butter that is chipping. I am trying to put a nice color on my molded chocolate and when the chocolate releases from the mold some of the chocolates have portions of the paint missing/chipped off. I buff my molds thoroughly with cotton balls before i spray them.
I have been having a problem with my Cocoa butter chipping when removing it from my molds. I have tempered it and it has a beautiful shine when it comes out but some of them have portions of the cocoa butter chipped off. I am using a spray gun when applying it to the mold. Is it possible that I am applying too much?
Also, I have read in some forum posts that people have used a clear cocoa butter to give a greater shine but can't find anywhere to purchase including chef rubber. Does this product really exist?
Thanks for your help
Hey Sebastian, thanks for your reply, it seems to be more complicated than we had thought I guess I'll just try to get more information on import and maybe I will start to contact small manufacturers. Thank you so much!
Hi Franzi - you're going to find that most cocoa beans are sold in bulk by large exporters, as they've got the advantage of economics of scale on their side, and understand the various trans-country regulations. You're going to need to first identify your market - i'm assuming you're scale will be quite small, so i'd recommend targeting premium, smaller manufacturers as you're not going to have the volume to do anything but that. Next you'll need to understand the range of flavor profiles you can generate - this answers the 'why should they buy from you' question - if you can deliver a premium product consistently, you've got something valuable. You're going to need to spend some time understanding import/export regulations, as transporting raw agricultural commodities between countries can be a tricky business i'm afraid ("I'm with the government, and here to help - please fill out these 13,456 pages of information. in triplicate. in a language you don't understand. and get back to us"....)
Hello,
I am new to this forum and have a few questions to all the bean-to-bar chocolatiers. I have a friend in Trinidad & Tobago who knows several cocoa farmers and would like to start a little trade business selling the beans to chocolatiers. I live in Germany and would like to help her.
Now I don't really know how to start. Where do chocolatiers usually get their beans from? Should we start a website, and then people find us and order from us? How many kilos or pounds does a chocolatier order on average? Should I import a large amount of beans to Germany, store them here and then send them to our costumers, or do most chocolatiers order directly from the country of origin?
How much do you pay for beans on average? (we want to sell organic beans)
Should I simply send small samples to different chocolate manufacturers?
Any kind of help would be highly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!!
Any suggestions on packaging for Courier of Chocolates in country like India so that quality is maintained.
Can you suggest a company which can supply Refrigerated Display Unit for Chocolates available in India as we require it for our new store. Display should maintain required Temperature and RH.
I do custom candy bars. Please check out http://www.bigfootchocolate.com/.
I can have molds made (any size) to your designs and have the wrappers to match. I do milk and dark chocolate with flavors. Please let me know if you have questions or need samples of my bars. You can contact me at sue@bigfootchocolate.com. Thank you!!
Sue
Hi there,
We create custom candy bars for various businesses and events. Please check out this link http://www.mayanachocolate.com/custom-candy-bars.html . Our work has been featured in Food & Wine Magazine, Epicurious, Candy Industry Magazine, and various other trade magazines. Let me know if I can help. Thanks!
Daniel
Hi all
I am looking for a company to make some private label bars for all our restaurants. We are looking for approx 3oz milk and dark . Does anyone know of a company that can help.
Thx!!
Hello everybody
I'm in the process of getting equipped for some home chocolate production. Regarding melanger, I have to products in mind: The Spectra 11 and Cocoatown ECGC-12SLTA . Both products seem to be very similar. What I like about theECGC-12SLTA ist that one can completely release the tension from the stones for the conching cycle so the cocoa liquor is continuously exposed to air without grinding it further. Any reviews on these products would be appreciated.
A next question would be how do these two melangers compare to the cheaper option Premier,
Regards,
Ismael
hand roll them in chocolate first (like truffles), let them set, then put them on the enrober.
Should work better
In addition to above questions could you post a photo of what you are trying to achieve.
Whole piece and cut in half.
Dear mr Luvin
2 months ago I paid grinder 20l of company SRILAKSHIMI
And they not responding to the mail. I'm a little worried.
How long have you been waiting to make your grinder.
best reg
1. To prevent the motor from overheating- I have 2 cooling fans as opposed to 1 on stock machines. Also, the bottom cabinet/frame where the motor is placed has holes made on the on its sides as well as at the bottom for air circulation to prevent over heating.
2. Tension adjuster
Thanks,
I asked for a quote. What modifications did you do on grinder?
Marinko,
I would suggest you get in touch with Sri Lakshmi Wet Grinders, they're said to be the pioneers of wet grinders ( http://www.srilakshmiwetgrinders.com/commercial-kitchen-equipment.html ). I got a 20 L grinder from them and got it modified exactly as needed for chocolate production. It works great!
Best,
Luvin
Does anyone know if there's a company or a web hoax from fake company. They sent me a quote for the grinder 40lit price $ 1,500. KUMAARINDUSTRIES.CO.IN
http://www.kumaarindustries.co.in/grinder-machine.html
Yes, you can change the temperatures in the Rev 2. Start the melting cycle, and press the up arrow to reach the temp you want (122-131 F. is higher than I have seen for most chocolates--I aim for 113-115). The machine will signal you when the selected temp has been reached. Then you must select Temper 1 or 2. If you are using already tempered chocolate as seed, it is much faster to select Temper 2 (you don't need to lower the temp, then raise it to the working temp). The machine then starts lowering temperature. You can select the temp you want as an end point. I let the machine go to its default temp (which is in the 80s), then use the up arrow to heat the chocolate (dark) up to 90 or 91. All the changes are performed with the up and down arrows.
Hello, I have a Rev2 but I haven't used it yet, I wonder if I can change at will (up and down)the default melting and tempering temperatures for the chocolate. I'm using "El Rey" chocolate and they recomend for their dark chocolate: Melting 83-93 F, Tempering 122-131 F, Cooling 82-84 and Working range 88-90 F
Thanks for your help
Eduardo
The value of your business is calculated on many factors including your balance sheet, amount of assets less depreciation and your liabilities. If most of your equipment is older and fully depreciated then you can't charge much for them. However there can be a difference between tax and book depreciation with tax usually involving some sort of accelerated method. If that is the case then use book depreciation to figure your asset values.
If you have a ready made loyal customer base then there is value in that as well. In addition there is value in future sales.
Your stock and inventory should be valued at your cost not for what they can sell for.
The bottom line is valuing a business is much like trying to find what retail price works in your market for your products. Value your business at what you think is reasonable and if that doesn't work then lower the price until you find a buyer.
Hope some of this is usable information.
Rom
I will be selling my small chocolate business, but I am unsure how to value it. I've read a lot online about selling and valuing businesses, but nothing seems similar enough to what I'm doing to serve as a good guide.
For equipment, packaging and fixtures, do I use the replacement cost? Or what I would be able to make if I had to liquidate? Seems like there should be value in coming into a business with stock and inventory in place.
Anyone been through this and have some pointers? One of my employees wants to buy the business; if that doesn't work, I have at least one other interested buyer. Right now I'm trying to get all my paperwork in order to present to a potential buyer, but obviously I also need a price.
Mickey Miller
Does anyone have any experience with building a melangeur?
Thanks Al!
I think your summary is excellent ! I am definitely experiencing enrober envy at the moment! I would love to see the Sollich in action.I wonderhow the LCM machines would compare? Perhapsthey wouldbe like aBentley?
Thanks for all your feedback. You have definitely inspired me to sell more chocolate so I can get one of these fine machines.
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
The machine I had didn't have a heated blower, so I don't know how much of a difference it would have made. For me, having gone from the wheel machine to a continuous tempering machine, I have just felt like the continuous tempering means you have one less thing to worry about. When you are enrobing a lot of centers, the last thing you want to be worrying about is the changing thickness of your chocolate. I also know, that when I enrobe I want to get the shiniest finish possible - for this reason adjusting the temperature of the chocolate to thin it out is the last thing I want to do. If I start enrobing at 30, I want to enrobe at 30 all day long, as it should result in complete consistancy.
I have had a Savy Goiseau Crystal 185 continuous tempering machine and enrober, which was pretty good. The quality of temper was pretty good and the quality of enrobe that you could get was pretty good too - far above what I could achieve with the Prefamac wheel machine. No bubbles, paper thin covering with no feet.
I have then moved onto a Sollich enrobing line with cooling tunnel, which obviously is a different beast altogether again. The Sollich is an absolute joy to use - the quality of temper, the quality of covering is just exceptional. When I bought our Sollich enrobing line, the guy selling it said, the best way to describe a Sollich and a wheel tempering enrober would be that the Sollich is the Rolls Royce and the wheel machine is a Fiat Panda.
For me, I would rank the enrobing machines I have had as the equivalent of the cars below:
Prefamac Wheel Macine: Fiat
Savy Goiseau Crystal 185: Citroen
Selmi Plus w/Enrober: BMW
Sollich: Rolls Royce
All of the machines above are all at very different price points, and something like a Sollich is not practical for the small workshop, however as I have said before, if I was starting out, I would buy a second hand continuous tempering/enrobing machine, rather than a new wheel machine.
You can see my work on my companies Instagram page: http://instagram.com/chocsoc
If you have any other questions about machinery, please give me a shout.
Hi Al,
I completely respect your point of view. For me, managing the chocolate has not been too much of an issue on a wheel machine because I have the option of heated air in the blower.
If the chocolate begins to get too cool or thick I will simply have heated air going through the blower. When the chocolate gets too warm, I run cool air through the blower. If I did not have this option, it would be a lot more challenging and I would be using a heat gun often to melt out thick chocolate. Because I have the option of heated air, I will use the machine for 10 hours without ever picking up a heat gun.
Perhaps if I acquired a machine such as a Selmi, FBM, or LCM, I might feel the same way as you and never turn back to a wheel machine. Has the Selmi improved the quality of your finished chocolate confections? Does it enrobe better? Are there feet on your chocolate bon bons? How about air bubbles? Thanks for sharing your experiences?
Daniel
....and consider also a melting bowl that would be less narrow but more deep! I mean same bowl capacity but designed less wide (diameter) but deeper...chocolate would be bettermelted and heated .
Completly agree to what Al wrote.
Hi Daniel,
I had a Prefamac Tempering Machine and Enrober. The reason I would not recommend a machine like this is because of the quality of the tempered chocolate that you use when enrobing.
As the wheel machine in essence batch tempers the chocolate ie. the whole 30kg gets tempered in minute 1, the characteristics of this chocolate changes minute 2, 3, 10, 15, 30, 60, 90 etc. The chocolate is likely going to increase in numbers of crystals and get thicker. Obviously if the thickness of the chocolate on your first center is different to the thickness of the covering of your 1,000 center, then this is a problem. I want my chocolates to all have the same thickness, I want consistency in my production. I have heard of people working successfully to reduce the thickness of the chocolate, by increasing the working temp by 1 degree etc, however it's a pain, and I believe the quality of finish is compromised when this happens.
A machine such as a Selmi has a continuos tempering machine, as in the chocolate is always in temper when it comes out of the spout at the top of the machine, and then it is taken out of temper when it drops down into the tank at the bottom, before being taken through the temper cycle again. With this, you are always enrobing in freshly tempered chocolate. Not only does this mean, the thickness of the chocolate is the same all day long, the tank can be topped up with 45degree chocolate all day long and you can enrobe all day with no interruptions for tweaking the chocolate thickness etc.
I'm sure a lot of people will have great experience with wheel machines, however in my experience when you go to continuous tempering you will never go back.
I would 100% buy a second hand continuous enrobing machine from Selmi etc. rather than buy a brand new wheel machine.
Thanks
Al
Hi Al,
What kind of wheel tempering machine and enrober did you have? I would like to hear more about why it did not work out for you.
Daniel
I just bought some equipment from Perfect. Fit our budget, went with a 20kg tempering unit which is more then enough for us for a couple of years and will buy the enrober in a few months. Thank you for all your input, I researched all the equipment that was mentioned. It was great seeing everything that was out there and the features, helped narrow down what would be the best fit for us. Came down to price, availability of parts and features. Thankfully Perfect equipment is in Canada so no duties! always a killer on the budget.
I'm very glad and thankful to have had all of you to ask, this forum is such a useful resource. Thanks Clay!
Hi Dirke,
I don't want to enter in sales talk, that's not why I replied to your message.
Just a good advice is to test well the machine for several hours and days and then you can decide which machine is good for your needs (and your future needs). As said speak also with other people and not only the people that the supplier suggest 
All the best
Tom
Dirke, small tempering machines with enrober are smaller capacity machines. And less expansive machines. Enrober width is 180 mm. Our competitor entrober, on bigger capacity machines, is 200 mm wide. What do you think? When you do enrobe is the machine or the enrober that gives the productivity rate?
I got some customers with small machines enrobers who can produce 300 pralines per hour working only 1 person and 600 units working one person loading and the other at the end of the enrober taking off the pralines.
With 7 kg bowl capacity you can produce up to 30 kg final product. Considering a pralines can have from 3 to 5 grams chocolate.
Sure, if you have to mould 1 kg mold.....not enough bowl capacity!
About upgradability. We do have 2 different capacity machines (7 and 12 kg) that can have same enrober. So, under an investment point of view: 2 machines and 1 accessory means: upgradable solution at the right price.
FBM is trying to care more of what the customer needs are. Maybe we will change our mind in the future 
I thought about a small tempering machine because you first asked for a Chocovision 3z!
Giuseppe
