Forum Activity for @Brad Churchill

Hi Adrienne

I hope to be able to increase volume enough in the new year to offer my bars over the web all over North America.  I've already bought some of the equipment.  Now I just need a place to install it and put it to work!  ;-)

The reason I don't ship right now, is because I can't meet local demand.

Cheers

Brad

Brad,

I live here in New York City and would love to try your bars and confections and share with my chocolate colleague Brady

but I don't think you ship to the states and I can't get to where you are.

Congratulations to all of the finalists!

CHOCOLATE

• Areté Fine Chocolate – Camino Verde 75% Dark Chocolate, California 
• Brasstown Chocolate – Ecuador 75% & Belize 70%, North Carolina 
• Charm School Chocolate – 70% Dark Belize, Maryland
• Creo Chocolate – Purely Dark, Oregon
• Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate – 70% Bolivia, Alto Beni, California
• Escazu Artisan Chocolates – 70% Piura Blanco, Peru, North Carolina
• Fruition Chocolate – Bolivian Wild Harvest 74% & Nacional Dark Milk 68%, New York
• Just Good Chocolate – Madagascar 70%, Michigan 
• Lonohana Estate Chocolate – Kanahiku 70% Dark, Hawaii 
• Nathan Miller Chocolate – Gingerbread Bar, Pennsylvania
• Patric Chocolate – Triple Ginger & Browned Butter Bar & Red Coconut Curry, Missouri
• Ritual Chocolate – Mid Mountain Blend & Belize 75%, Utah
• Rogue Chocolatier – Jamaica & Tranquilidad, Massachusetts
• SPAGnVOLA – 70% Single- Estate Dominican Republic & 75% Single Estate Dominican Republic, Maryland

CONFECTIONS

• American Spoon – Chocolate Fudge Sauce, Michigan
• Amy E's Bakery – Peanut Brittle, Oregon
• Ashby Confections – Fresh Orange Sour Strips & Salty Desert Heat, California
• Askinosie Chocolate – Hey, Hey Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, Missouri
• Batch PDX – Batch Bar & Twicks Bar, Oregon 
• Bees & Beans – Honey Bar Reserve, Oregon 
• Bixby & Co. – Nutty For You, Maine
• Black Dinah Chocolatiers – Maine Mint Truffle, Maine
• Ethereal Confections – Blood Orange and Vanilla Bean Meltaway, Illinois
• Farm Chocolate – Panforte in Dark, California
• Fat Toad Farm – Fat Toad Farm Original Goat's Milk Caramel Sauce, Vermont
• French Broad Chocolates – Hazelnut & Almond Dragee, North Carolina
• JJ's Sweets Cocomels – Palm Sugar Cocomel, Colorado
• Katherine Anne Confections – Cucumber Cooler Caramel, Illinois 
• Lake Champlain Chocolates – Apple Cider Caramels, Vermont 
• Little Apple Treats – Rose and Cocoa nib Caramels, California 
• McCrea's Candies – Black Lava Sea Salt Caramels, Massachusetts
• Neo Cocoa – Toffee Nib Brittle, California
• Nosh This – Lavender Crack, California
• Sapore della Vita – Caramel Sauce & Torrone & Totally Fudged- Chocolate Fudge Sauce, Florida
• Serendipity Confections – Chocolate Covered Butter Caramels with Fleur de Sel, Wyoming
• St. Croix Chocolate Co. – Wild Grape and Peanut Butter Bar, Minnesota
• Videri Chocolate Factory – Sugarplum Ganache Bonbon, North Carolina

I'm not aware of a standard size. the 7.5MM base worked out well for me, and we were lucky enough to find one on here.

When we hand-cut our pieces, they were just under 1" square. Thus the 22.5MM frame was a flawless transition.

There should be plenty of packaging to fit your piece.

-a word on ordering candy cups from my experience. pay attention to the base size and the # cup. Make sure they match. I ordered a case of candy cups that were "Supposed" to be exactly what I needed. However when they came, they were a different size. The seller's PDF showing the different cups available had a space in the wrong location. So, the size was actually a LOT smaller than anticipated. The candy cup number i.e. #4, #5... was correct, but it had the wrong description. The seller worked with me to correct the problem, and offered me a discount on another case of candy cups that were the right size, but I still have a large case of very small candy cups... Just sayin, read the label on the case before you open it...  

Oh the things you learn.

I use different types of coconut oil in specific confections. 

I prefer using the unrefined oil for the most part, although with more delicate confections, I have an option of a more refined product, that retains most of the characteristics of the unrefined, but with no coconut taste. Costco carries both types, here.

Except in the dead of summer, I find confections made with coconut oil hold up pretty well, with limited leakage issues. I do live in a cooler climate, so this isn't as big of an issue...I'd imagine it would be more of an issue for some of you. In warmer climes, the oil does find fissures in the outer chocolate shell to exploit, if you plan on enrobing your product.

In Greweling's book, he suggest one plays with ratios up to 28% coconut oil, for different mouth feels.

Coconut cream is nice in ganaches...I have a confection that uses it in place of cream. I havent conducted any really lengthy tests on its shelf life yet, but it easily doubles the shelf life of a confection, as compared to cream-based.

I'll second the Mol d'Art suggestion. 

I use different ones, sized from 3kg up to 12kg...they serve their purpose very well, and the price is right. They're very lightweight, can be easily moved around the kitchen, and can be put away when not in use.

If you are referring to the Academia de Cacao in Nicaragua, the course in May is not yet filled. However, it is not bean-to-bar class, it's rooted in what you need to know to improve cocoa quality.

Hi Larry,

Would you suggest getting a guitar cutter with a 5mm or 7.5 mm base? I'm wondering if there is a "standard". My hope is to make some savory chocolates which will be smaller in size, but for larger pieces, I'm wondering if there's a more common size (e.g. candy cups, etc.).

Thanks,

Annalynn

Are you open to buy new or used? My recommendation is to look for a "used table top fully automatic with depositor":

With a 4K budget you may be able to get a used table top full automatic tempering machine with depositor (Brand new range will be between 5 to 10K)

Here are few examples:

FULL AUTO

http://www.tcfsales.com/products/659-fbm-AURA-Table-Top-Auto-Tempering-Machine/ ( For more information contact Clay Gordon via ChocolateLife )

http://www.savagebros.com/p.26/50-lb-20-kg-table-top-chocolate-melter-conditioner.aspx 

SEMI AUTO (with depositor)

http://www.tcfsales.com/products/623-LCM-Table-Top-Tempering-Machine-with-Pump-25-kg/

SEMI AUTO (Mini Wheel)

http://perfectinc.com/en/tempering/mini-wheel-tempering-air-20 

http://www.tcfsales.com/products/557-DEDY-Mini-Molding-Machine-23-kg/

http://www.bakonusa.com/chocolate-machines/choco-tt 

Directly to customers. I buy wafers and melt them down. Around 4000$

There is a lot of melting and tempering machines with a depositor head in the market. I still have few more questions to help you better:

1 - Based on the quantity, I am assuming you are selling your bars directly to your customers (individuals/online customers or smaller specialty retailer) and not via retail stores (major retailer), correct?

If you intend to sell your bars via retail stores you may need a volumetric controled pump and custom depositor for your mold - major retailers usually require weight accuracy and those custom depositors could run you expensive)

2 - Do you MAKE your chocolate (bean to bar) or Purchase Blocks/Discs from 3rd party Chocolate maker and what is the typical batch of chocolate you make/melt on a daily basis (How many Kg) (based on your answer I am assuming you melt 3rd party blocks/discs - correct me If I am wrong)?

3 - What is your budget (range) for the equipment?

PS - A 600 bars daily batch, seems a large quantity of bars to be produced via Microwave Melting/Manual Tempering 

I'd like to queue up for this machine, if the other folks don't buy it first. 

I, too, am in California. 

Cheers.

d

I make milk and white chocolate bars. Currently using microwave to melt and piping bags to fill the molds. Make roughly 600 bars in a day looking for a machine to take my melted chocolate and dispense it into molds

@niewulis, in order to provide you with an accurate answer, what is the volume of bars you're going to produce, how many types of chocolate (dark, milk ..) and how many types of bars (just single size or more?) what kind of equipment do you currently have?

 I will be interrested in both of them or one of them can you please reach me at cocoaglobe@gmail.com

Thank you,

Ruth

My contact email is info@starchildchocolate.com I would be interested in one. 

For one, these are already worth 400 and brand new

250 for both?

Reduced tgo 250

SOLD 

I've started using coconut cream in my ganache and it works perfectly. Question in how long will the shelf life be?

Check out Chocovisions tempering machines, varied sizes and not overly expensive. Sounds like you might be over seeding your chocolate?

I used the tempering machine from Perfect Equipment out of Quebec, it doesn't pump but it works amazingly well for creating bars just with the standard set up. Check them out, they might have something up your alley?

Thank you Gerhard!

Well done on your sculptures!! :D I couldn't find info on your website, but I will check again ...

excellent! thank you sir!

I am a chocolate sculptor and carve mostly out of a solid block..lots of infos and sculptures on my website: gerhardpetzl.com

If you need more infos, you are very welcome to ask me! 

Hi Jason,

You do not have to use seed chocolate when tempering. This is just one method usually used by people that melt tempered chocolate for making truffles and such. There are many YouTube videos on tempering chocolate. I would suggest watching some these and then giving it a try. You can always buy a bag of chocolate chips and practice. 

- Thomas

I use the Mol d'Art 6 Kg melter just for that purpose and it works great for me. They also make a 3Kg melter. I have no affiliation with the company.

http://www.moldart.be/en/producten/chocolate-machinery/chocolate-melters/

Clay--

I totally agree with you about learning to temper chocolate by hand first.  Good advice.  Thank you for your input and I look forward to learning from you and others who have such deep knowledge about the amazing world of chocolate.

Thomas,

Is it always necessary to use seed chocolate when tempering?

Jason

Hi guys,

Do you know anything about sculpting with chocolate? I have searched around and didn't find much info. I mean, kinda like the creations by Patrick Roger (France) and Stephane Treand ...

Do they temper chocolate and work with it, or as I'm assuming, they work with a different type of chocolate?

Thanks!

Hello folks,

Any idea how to keep the chocolate in temper. I make one mould, and it gets too thick for a 2nd one, so I will need to heat it carefully each time, and stir like a maniac.

Heard you can buy a chocolate melter and putting the tempered chocolate in it to maintain at working temperature. Seems like a good idea. Any (inexpensive) melters you would recommend? I don't need a huge melter. I'm based in Europe...

Thank you!

Hi! 

Is this still available? 

Info@whimsychocolates.com

Thank you!

http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/thread/1673/sale-hilliard-chocolate-tempering-machines?page=1&scrollTo=8889

Hi, I am looking for another one or two Hilliards little dippers. I dont care if they are super old as long as they work well and are a good price. Thank you for looking

Thanks, Larry! All very helpful. Based on sizing, I think I'm more keen to having a 15 mm and 22.5 mm frame. I shall update.

Cheers,

Annalynn

Annalynn,

I saw your post about looking for a guitar cutter. I wanted to point out a few more helpful things.

There are several frames that have the wires strung across with different spacing. identifying which spacing you are looking for would be helpful to get what you want. The wire spacing options for the 7.5mm base are 15mm, 22.5mm, 30mm, and 37.5mm. You could remove some wires if needed for different spacing. i.e. if you wanted a 45mm piece cut a 15 or 22.5mm frame with some wires removed would do the trick. 

Also, they don't make a 7mm base. it is 7.5mm.

Happy guitar hunting,

Larry

I temper chocolate, bean to bar that I make, in one stainless steel bowl. I use a double boiler to heat it, place it in a sink with a couple inches of cool water to cool it, and back on the double boiler to heat again. All while stirring with a spatula. I can do up to 6 pounds at a time. I would say this is about as low tech as one can get. I did buy a melter to pour the tempered chocolate into to maintain a working temperature. I started making bean to bar chocolate at home about a year ago and have made about 40 batches of different types. Although no white (yuck). 

Holy cow Clay.  I just about fell off my stool when I read your post!

We finally agree on something unilaterally!

Gotta go.  I need to print and frame this thread!  

LOL

Brad