Trouble with my X3210 Revolation and Tempering information

Sarah Thieben
08/17/08 05:44:56PM
@sarah-thieben
Hello!I make gourmet toffee and slather it with Belgian chocolate. I originally started with a little Revolation 1 and although I found it always took longer than the website said it would to temper the chocolate, it always turned out beautifully. As my business grew I purchased the larger X3210. The first thing I noticed is that it beeps for the seed chocolate to be added in about 5 minutes, well before my 7 pounds of chocolate are done melting. The second thing is it takes closer to an hour and 15 minutes to temper the whole batch, and the third thing is that I have to put the trays of toffee in the refrigerate to harden after tempering otherwise there is a chance that the chocolate will bloom, especially trays that have are towards the end of the batch. This happens even if I put it on temper 2 mode. Also, the tempered chocolate, which is spread pretty thin, takes about 15 minutes to set and harden, which is a LOT longer than it used to in the beginning.I am using the same kind of chocolate as I did in the beginning, and the humidity of the environment is between 45-50%, with temperature (now, during the summer) about 72 degrees.I can't figure out what is happening, whether my machines need to be serviced (seems unlikely I'd be having the same problem with two different machines). I have been extremely careful for any contamination that might be getting in the machine. Is there something in the environment that could be causing the problem or do I need to adjust temperature somehow?Any feedback would be very helpful.Also, I've noticed that if I refrigerate the toffee until thoroughly cold and THEN apply the chocolate it has a tendency to crack and pop off--any idea why? Looking forward to all feedback.