Peter, please allow me to "troll" this topic a bit. Specifically, could you address the mold temperature question?... i.e., should it be close to the temp of the chocolate when first poured into it? (to avoid "shocking" it... that's my gut-feel anyway) I'm a rookie and would appreciate any insight. Many thanks!
What is the capacity of this machine
there's sufficient moisture in your chocolate to allow acids and bases to work together, if that's what's really causing your taste problems. adding water to chocolate is never advised. Remember your goal here isn't to dissolve anything, it's to adjust for flavor. if flavor required soluability, you'd never taste your chocolate in the first place 8-)
Dear sebastian,
Potassium carbonate seems like it doesn't dissolve in chocolate well, but it dissolve very well in water. Should I mix it with a little bit of water first, making it a concentrated water solution then add it to my chocolate? Will it seize my chocolate? or it will be ok and I can conch the water out later?
Thank you
Could you describe your tempering process?
How do you check if chocolate is tempered correctly?
What is the temperature of your moulds before depositing chocolate?
- See more at: https://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/forums/new_posts/14825/where-is-the-tempering-errors#sthash.0l3zAvu8.dpuf
I may be guilty of that.
My apologies.
Hi All, Since I got such wonderful responses last time I posted I thought I'd try again. I'm having problem with milk chocolate. I'm molding in 3d molds. My easter bunnies won't pop out and it is really sticky and tacky. The molds aren't the problem as they are fine when I use dark chocolate. What am I doing wrong this tme.
Peter,
I think you're confusing two different people (the second poster was not the original poster) - I made the same mistake initially.
Hi Antonio,
I don't want to sound harsh but:
1. You are looking for help with a tempering problem.
2. I have asked a few questions that may help to find the solution.
3. You have not bothered to answer these questions but posted a link to a chocolate melter. This machine will only melt the chocolate and will not temper it.
I'm not sure if you have posted a wrong link (hopefully).
Could you please look at my questions again and try to answer them.
Peter
Oh Thanks I will post it there 
Chocolato -
All For Sale Classifieds have been moved to TheChocolateLife.info. 30-day listings are $5 and 60-day listings are $10.
:: Clay
We have One Twirlo Coating Kettle for sale ,Brand New never used.
We purchased 2 of them and just used one ,moved now onto a bigger one now but keep one small.
Great for startup coating business or Coffee roaster to make chocolate covered Beans.
It is a great little tabletop machine ,easy to clean (patented Bowl mounting) incl cooling via Fan
More info below:-)
http://www.pastaline.it/products/twirlo/?lang=en
http://www.pastaline.it/download/schedeprodotto/pastaline_twirlo.pdf
Paid 5350 euro + Transport -Tax ....
Asking $4750 ONO This is a bargain!!!
We would love to help you with your custom recipe: http://davischocolate.com/pages/co-manufacturing
We work with you to develop to your exact specifications and have no minimum size orders.
Contact Brent@davischocolate.com for more information!
Have sweet day 
Hi All!
We are cocoa enthusiast and need help from the experienced.
We roast coffee and now want to roast cocoa and planning to start a small shop selling Bean to bar single origin chocolates.
We are situated in South Africa, and finding it very hard to break into the cocoa import market on small quantities that are cost effective to produce single origin bars.
Can anybody recommend who can supply me with cocoa beans,in small quantities (ie.100 kg. approximately)?
We would like to do this directly from farm suppliers, if it is possible?
We appreciate any/ all help with referrals, suppliers , direct farms contact details etc. or any other information to make this seemingly imposiible task a little lighter as we are 100% commited in Cocoa and very much look forward to roasting great world quality beans and growing into a full production Bean to Bar manufacturer in South Africa.
Thanking you in advance... for the love of cocoa.
Sumari & Frederick
Yes, understanding the process helps. I follow instructions in my temerping machine booklet. May be there is good adivise in it for you: https://www.krebsswitzerland.com/image/data/Mktg_PDFs/chocMELTER_6KG_manual_low_res.pdf
Could you describe your tempering process?
How do you check if chocolate is tempered correctly?
What is the temperature of your moulds before depositing chocolate?
Marinko than good, congratulations, then I'll buy that machine!
this very cheap
thanks for the info
Very cheap grinder ( 1000$ ) but everything works, I just added the electric fuses, start-stop.
Maybe in the future I add in the speed control.
I drilled a couple of holes for better ventilation, but the engine is not warmed up at all after 30 hours with 10 kg of chocolate.
These days I'm going to test 35kg so I'll see how it works.
Watch the video on facebook NADALINA COKOLADE.
that good thing receivedst! and it works well ?, is good quality?
thanks for your answer
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=934215193264584&set=vb.182031788482932&type=2&theater
I waited two months but the grinder 20L SRI LAKSHMI arrived and looks the same and has the same capacity as the SPECTRA 65 mélanger (18 "drum). Only there is no regulation of speed.
20LTR COMMERCIAL TILTING GRINDER - $ 955.00
With 2 HP THREE PHASE MOTOR
WOODEN PACKING CHARGE - $ 41.00
TRANSPORT CHARGE to the EU CROATIA --485.00 $
There is only one problem: no CE certification, should be checked for the USA.
https://www.facebook.com/182031788482932/photos/p.934215793264524/934215793264524/?type=1&theater
Here is some more food for thought. In my experience, the more cocoa butter the dipping chocolate contains, the more prone to cracking with colder temps. The Callabaut/Cocoa Barry suggested in the previous post I'm sure contains soy lecithin, which helps to counteract it a bit. I use a lot of dark chocolate that doesn't contain soy lecithin, and it seems like the manufacturers use more cocoa butter to help emulsify. When I started my biz, I read that ganache should never be chilled, and I've stuck to that train of thought. The space I work out of is sometimes a bit of a challenge to keep warm during the winter, though, and if it is cool enough, some of my dark chocolate truffles will crack like crazy. Hope this helps!
hello marinko,
I was reading that did you do an order Srilakshmi, wanted to know if they sent you the product or the company is a scam?
thx
Did you ever solve your truffle cracking issue? I had the same problem. Check the fluidity of your couverture. Callabaut/Cacao Barry rates their couverture with droplets on the front of the package. I was using a "3" fluidity when the cracking occurred. Try using a couverture that is more fluid. Get a "5" if you can.
Check out Cargill Chocolate on the web. I use their Wibur and Peters brands manufatured in Lititz, PA. Linneas is a distributor- but you must be a business to order.
Quite welcome
Hello,
I have been tempering for while. Beans from Grenada worked perfect. But recently I'm having problems. I use a 20Kg tempering machine with rectangular tank and revolving disk to mix. I then place the molds in the fridge at about 8 C. When I take them out and unmold, all bars are shinny and great. But after one day some become bloomed and pale and develop a powdery texture. What puzzles me is that within the same 4 bar mold, 2 could be perfet and 2 bad.
The chocolate is made with Hispaniola beans (low butter content) and yes, there is humidity as I'm doing this in the ODminican Republic. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong? Thanks for your help
Thanks Sebastian - much appreciated as always
This is fantastic! I can't tell you guys how much I appreciate your advice on this. I'm going to go for the proofing cabinet for the ability to pre-melt several batches and have the built in temperature control... also being able to prep several batches one on top of the other will be helpful to conserve space in a small kitchen
Thanks again Michael and Clay!
Ghee, is very similiar to anhydrous milk fat. It's often heat treated much more significantly than AMF, so it's color and flavor may differ. Since Ghee is much more regional than a more standardized AMF, there's going to be a much wider range of what any given Ghee actually is. Conceptually, very similiar to AMF - but there's a wide variation. Closest things to watch are how much moisture is present in the Ghee (keep it as low as possible), and how much oxygen it's been exposed to (more = faster rancidity. Most ghee producers will have no idea what you're tlaking about when to start to have this conversation, fyi).
On a similar theme: is ghee an allowable ingredient in milk chocolate?
Or asking a different way, is there a difference between ghee and anhydrous milkfat or butterfat? Is it essentially the same thing, just a different name? Or are they made fundamentally differently and considered different ingredients?
I use a groen steam kettle for both my caramel and fudge. It get's up to about 295f which is hot enough to caramelize sugar, but not hot enough to scorch it. I just add the ingredients, stir until dissolved, add a temp probe attached to a thermometer with an alarm set to the desired temp, then walk away to do something else. The syrup will stir its self through convection. I should mention I'm making American style caramel as opposed to European style. I don't caramelize the suger first, just let it happen during the cook. The other advantage is the kettle tilts, so pouring out the syrup is easy. The down side is they can be pricey, though I bought my 40 qt used for less then $1000USD.
You are right about the math. Theoretical throughput is much higher. It was late and I was tired and dropped a zero. Anyway, most people I know who ask me for advice about belt width say they need 300mm or 400mm belts when they haven't thought through other issues that will determine the actual rate of production -- theoretical max throughput assumes absolutely no breaks in production which is only possible with fully automated lines.
Excellent post with some very good information and advice.
I will just comment on the below from my point of view.
1. Possibly some calculations went wrong but 4 pieces x 20 rows per meter x 2 meters per minute gives 160 pieces per minute.
This gives significantly more than 1000 pieces per hour.
2. We enrobe our products twice, hand decorate on second coat. As correctly stated the feeding speed, the take off speed and the difficulty of decoration dictate the speed. With 1 person feeding, 2 decorating and 1 on take off we reach 4 pieces by 18 rows per minute. On a good day.
Hi Paul,
Clay brings up excellent questions and points. My advice is to find a way to see as many machines in production situations as you can to get a sense of each's strengths and weaknesses.
I own two used Selmi Plus machines (one with dark and one with milk) and have one enrobing belt that goes on either machine. I'm pretty much a one-person show, and the Selmis are the heart of the operation for me.
Here are some things I love about them: The footprint is small, which is good because my shop is small. I can run them by myself, change the paper roll by myself, and pretty much do everything by myself. They are easy and intuitive to operate and adjust. I can teach an intern how to use it very quickly and I can fine-tune things easily. It's dependable, both in operation and in chocolate temper. It cleans up easily. And, frankly, Selmi's are pretty to look at. Which probably doesn't matter to a lot of people, but I spend a ton of time in my shop environment, and I really don't want to spend it with ugly stuff.
Some things I'm not as wild about: Paper tracking works perfectly sometimes, but toward the end of the roll, it sometimes is not as smooth. I wish there was better operational documentation. I suspect I could be doing more with my Selmi, but I don't know how to access those advanced operations easily. Also, I have to use a converter because I don't have three-phase power to my shop. Not a big deal, but still a consideration.
I'd be happy to answer specific questions if you have any. Hope this helps, and good luck in your search. --Robyn, St. Croix Chocolate Co.
Since there are so many unknowns for me - what i'd suggest you do is start by adding tenths of a percent to your mass during conching, and evaluate it every 2 hours. If there's insufficient change, add a few tenths of a percent more, and assess after 2 hours of conching. Continue until you're satisified that it's either working or not 8-)
Since pH is a measure of the -log of H+ ions in a solution of water - which chocolate has very little of - i'd not bother with a pH reading of your chocolate mass.
Do let us know how it goes!
I've found a reasonable way to stir caramel for most of the cook time. It's the Ardente Gourmet Stirrer. It is a battery powered stirrer that has two blade sizes. One is 9" and the other is around 14". Another chocolate site suggested that a deep fryer makes a good caramel cooker. I bought a Presto Multi Cooker (6 quart). It works pretty well.
I can let the caramel stir in the device until it reaches 218 or so. Then I have to stir it by hand to prevent scorching. It's not a perfect solution as the batch size is really small, I still have to stir it by hand for a little while, and it is easy to overshoot the target temperature, but it sure is wonderful to be able to put a batch of caramel on, then continue prepping the pans and such to recieve the caramel. It takes the hands on time for a single batch of about 4 pounds from 40 minutes down to about 10 minutes.
I haven't tried it with my regular large pot because frankly my stove is crappy (glass top) and the presto cooker gets the heat into the caramel so much faster and more consitently.
dear sebastian,
thank you for your kind answers
May I put potassium carbonate directly into the chocolate solution? If so, how much? Should I measure the PH level of the solution while adding it in?
You can buy neodymium magnets fairly cheaply and create your own finger or grate trap by using a bunch of them. The least expensive Eriez grate magnet I could find is over $600.
If you're using any sort of metal/metal grinder you probably also want to pump the chocolate through a magnetic trap to remove any metal particles. These are even more expensive than the grate magnets.
Prochoc is available for about 110 Euro from Libaire Gourmand - it's in french.
Thanks Sebastian - I'll definitely look into these!
I like the grates/finger type personally, as it's more surface area:product contact (higher liklihood of foreign ferrous object removal). The effectiveness of them is directly related to the strength of the magents in them (rated by gauss). I almost exclusivly used these all around the world.
Sebastian - Do you mean the tube-shaped magnets that are used in grates and in liquid traps? The ones I've seen for grates don't appear to be any less expensive than the plates, although I could be wrong. Also, I was under the impression that the grates were better for larger ferous objects, whereas the plates were better for smaller objects. I may be misunderstanding what you mean however.
