The structure doesn't seem different this year from those in years past (i.e., educational sessions, tastings, and a mix of mostly local chocolatiers and out-of-town chocolate makers). I've always found it to be a pretty solid value for adult admission and a steal for children. I look forward to attending again this year.
Scott
Hi Jacob,
I've taken part in it for the past two years and will be again this year. Looking back through my emails, it looks like it's been called the 'DallasChocolate.org Chocolate Conference & Festival' since 2012.
The chocolate side of things this year looks to be as great as ever, with a lot of great chocolatiers and chocolate makers in attendance.
Santiago Peralta of Pacari will be doing a class on cacao growing and processing, and Art Pollard of Amano and I will be doing a class on the bean to bar process.
All in all, I think it will be a great event.
Ben
Has anyone heard anything about what's happening with the Dallas event. Previously they had called it a "Conference" and this year they seem to have gone to "Festival".
It seems a little more on the fad side of things this year. They seem to have upped the prices a bit again and are having food trucks show up outside. I'm not a big fan of the food truck feel mixing with the chocolate feel of years past and don't think it will be as appealing. Put it all together and so far I am not inclined to go this year. If anyone has heard anything about what's happening I might reconsider.
Thanks all!
No problem! Happy to help. 
many thanks Ben!
Here are a few of the discussions:
http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/hilliard-vs-chocovision-newby-here
http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/tempering-machine-2
http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/1978963:Topic:14103
thanks for your opinion
ups did not know, I'm new to the site, I'm looking but can not find. You Might you help me choose?
Hi Mariano. There's a lot of discussion on these two tempering machines (among others) on this forum. If you search for little dipper or chocovision, you can see what's already been said. I think there are a few threads that specifically compare the two.
-Ben
need to buy a tempering machine and want to know what the best of these two brands.
Thanks for the pointers everyone!
I have had increased success, although it is definitely baby steps at this point. So many little details to remember! So far using the deodorized cocoa butter seems to bring about better results. I am on the market for an automatic tempering machine as well, which might help out.
Thanks again
Francis
In addition to what Sebastian correctly written above.
1. It looks like ingredients you use should not cause blooming problems due their nature. They may stillcause tempering problems if you mix them into chocolate when they are too cold or too hot.
2. The problem may be in the actual temperatures of chocolate during the tempering.
quote from your post:
"Re-cool to 83 I have tabled the chocolate on a marble slab and mixed it back in for this stage, and also cooled it in a cold room.
Warm to 89 for dark and 86 for milk chocolates."
Unfortunately these "rule of thumb" temperatures will not ensure correct temper in all situations.
Any changes in the recipe may require change of these temperatures.
I would suggestexperimenting with small batches of the chocolate (without mixing in the ingredients) that you have and cooling to different temperatures, making records and finding the best settingsfor the chocolate you have. I know that this is time time consuming (bloom doesn't show straight away) but if the chocolate comes out of moulds very well and looks good you are half way there.
3. Another possible issue is the temperature of moulds. If too cold or too hot they will couse chocolate to bloom even if correctly tempered.
No need to start with it at 80 degrees. also no need to be so precise warming up to 123/105. just heat them both up to 120 or so regardless of if they're milk or dark. your milk may need to be cooled lower depending on how much milk fat is in it. the more milk fat, the cooler you need to work.
Okay, so I guess we can't discuss this without getting into all the details, here goes.
I temper with a thermometer. Recently I've been using an infrared one, but I had successfully used candy thermometers as well. After having all this trouble I ordered a thermometer that can be calibrated.
http://www.amazon.com/MeasuPro-TF5000-Waterproof-Thermocouple-Thermometer/dp/B00KB8K85S/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1409501987&sr=1-6&keywords=thermometer+thermocouple
Here is my process.
Start with chocolate cooled to 80 degrees
For dark warm to 123, for milk 105
Re-cool to 83 I have tabled the chocolate on a marble slab and mixed it back in for this stage, and also cooled it in a cold room.
Warm to 89 for dark and 86 for milk chocolates.
place in molds.
This is kind of simplified, but that's the regular gist.
The recipes that went wrong contained the following extra ingredients: Sichuan pepper topped with dried candied kumquat, dried bhut jolokia hot pepper, cardamom topped with espresso beans.
All batches were tempered twice to no avail. I will proceed with a different cocoa butter today and see how it turns out.
Thanks again,
Francis
The technical answer to your question is yes, however in practice with hand tempering, it always boils down to time, temperature, or contamination. A heat gun is a combination of both time and temperature - i'd not be so quick to rule out it's role.
Are you using a thermometer? if not, why not? if yes, is it calibrated?
do you have any other formulation changes, or are nuts / soft centers involved?
Any recipe change may require change in the temperatures during tempering.
Could you describe your tempering process?
Hello chocolatiers!
I recently came into a streak of what seems to be serious bad luck with tempering. Six failed attempts on three batches of chocolate. And this after years of relatively successful hand tempering.
Here are the variables:
Southern california summer weather. Right now this means heat wave, often we have temperatures in the mid 90's
I have tried to mitigate this by tempering in the morning and tempering in an airconditioned lab. Both corrections have been unsuccessful.
Change in heat gun. I doubt this could be having an effect.
Change in cocoa butter. I recently purchased 50lbs of non-deodorized organic cocoa butter from J Edwards. Picture attached.
A white chocolate made with their deodorized organic butter came out fine. I am doing an experimental batch of dark with some of this added to check it out.
My question to all of you is as follows. Can a difference in cocoa butter grade effect my temperature curve, or be contaminated somehow and not temper at all, causing problems in the temper process?
Please help if you can.
Thanks
If the temperature is 68F and humidity at 60%RH dew point will be 53F,
same temperature and 70%RH dew point at 57.5F and at 75%RH dew point at 59F.
If product surface temperature will be below dew point you will get condesation on the product and resulting problems with bloom and bacteria.
That means that if you blow a very cold air (like from portable air conditioner) into the pan which will slowly cool down the product surface to 50-52F and take that product out into hot and humid room you will get in trouble.
What polish and varnish agents are you going to use?
Do you have a specification frm supplier for the application conditions?
I would guess that it would be extremely hard to use polish and varnish at these conditions effectively. This is based on products that I know of and my enginering knowledge.
I would suggest roasting your almondsto almost scorched level before giving them a chocolate cover. Makes fantastic product.
Online converter says that 68F is 20C.
Do you know what is the humidity level?
From these two I calculate for you what is the minumum teperature of air that you can blow onto the product to avoid condensation.
You will probablyneed that room colder anyway for polish and varnish application and drying. We find that anything above 64F and 50%RH results in product sticking together when drying resulting in kiss marks.
This depends on product you use.
If you just starting dont spend any large amounts of money on the set up. Get a small pan like in my link or one offered by Justin above (even cheaper).
To make good or very good panned product consistently you will need controlled environment (pretty much applies to all chocolate production). Because making it on a small scale is very time and labour consuming process failed batches are very costly.
Simplest way to achieve controlled environment is by using air conditioned room. I'm not sure what temperatures are like in Washington throughout the year or what manufacturing set up you have so it's a bit difficult to offer specific advice.
In general if you have a room with big domestic reverse cycle air conditioner that will allow you to hold temerature between 16C and 18C you will be OK for starting (make sure your liquid chocolate tanks are outside this room), you will need to keep humidity around 50-60%RH (add a heater in the room to drop or splash some water to increase).
From home improvement store buy an exhaust fan, something like this:
http://www.justventilation.com.au/categories/Inline-Duct-Fans/
and suitable flexible duct.
Fix it so you can blow air into the pan (make sure your electrical work is done to local regs).
In this way you have cool air going into the pan at right temperature.
Pan your centres (slowly or even slower), smooth them.
Put them in a tub and keep in this room overnight.
Next daypolish, varnish and rest on trays in the same room.
This should work just fine while you learn how to get what you want.
Portable air conditioner is not a good idea.
It will blow into the pan air that is too cold so if you take it out you may get condensation on product surface which kills it.
You will need to control the conditions in the room anyway.
Beware that panning is a noisy work as well.
It's a little difficult to offer advice without knowing exactly what you are planning to do.
I mean on what scale?
Is this two or three or more than ten batches a day?
If you are going to just make a couple of batches I would just consider running the whole process in a well air conditioned room with a fan blowing air into the pan.
If you can keep the room around 18C you should be OK for small scale production, having some source of heat in the room working at the same time as air con will help to keep relative humidity below 60%RH.
You can use the same room for resting product between process steps. You pan a few batchesone day, let it rest till the next day to crystalize all chocolate, than polish and varnish these batches.
If you are thinking about making it on a larger scale (many smaller batches a day) or you are looking for a very fine finish you may need to invest into air handling system that would keep your room conditions correct and supply dry cold air (40-50%RH and 15C-16C) into your pan. Your supplier of polish and varnish should be able to give you exact requirements.
I don't know if your interested but i have a panning machine for sale. Im asking $750. It has variable speeds and works great. Text me if your interested and ill send you some videos of the machine.
Justin
239-980-9753
Hi Peter.
any ideas for the cooling system?
Thanks
Ismael
I think these pans on offer at Union Machinery are much too large for what you need.
A quick google search found this:
http://www.bid-on-equipment.com/Item/194510~16%22+Stainless+Steel+Rotating+Pan+.htm
Possibly much more suitable sizewise and about half the price.
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
Don -
This belongs in the Classifieds section. Please repost.
:: Clay
Warner extruder with 1-1/2 opening and auto knife cutter. Good for batch production on a variety of centers.
Variable speed knife cutter to adjust size of portion.
$650.00 OBO +Creating $55.00 extra or pick up in Texas.
Courtney -
Discussions like this really belong in the Classifieds section and it's ALWAYS a good idea to let people know where you are located in a post like this. If you're outside the US (you're not, you're in Maryland) then the recommendations would not be useful to you.
You can get chocolate dipping sets online through Chocovision . They're not terribly expensive but if you contact Chocovision and speak to Ian and let him know the charitable nature of the work you're doing (and that you are a ChocolateLife member), he may be able to help you on the price.
How much cocoa butter do you need? In NYC David Rosen Bakery Supply sells Blommer undeodorized butter in 35lb tubs at a good price. I've bought over a ton of this over the years so I must think it's pretty good (it is). Call Blommer at (215) 679-4472 and ask if there's someone closer to you that sells it.
:: Clay
I'd second this. Erika what types of fat are regularly available to you?
I would add butter for the additional fat.
Has anyone taken the Chocolate Academy International Chocolate making class from Callebaut? I am trying to find classes here in Brazil to perfect my chocolate making abilities. Could anyone please give me any feedback about their experience with this class?
If you're looking at chocolate bars and stuff, then definitely check out www.chocolatedistrict.com
