New Machine

Hey All,

Looking for a new larger tempering machine. We currently use 2 Chocovision Rev 2s. The problem we have is that for one of our products, until we get an enrobing line, the most efficient way for us to coat is to drop them into the bowl and fish them out. Many of the larger units temper through a pipe and I am pretty sure that the chocolate in the bowl is not tempered, just melted. Any idea about the Choco TT from Bakon? We would ideally like a continuous tempering machine with capacity for 25-50 lbs. We appreciate the help!

Corey

Corey:

Which machines are you referring to when you say,

"Many of the larger units temper through a pipe and I am pretty sure that the chocolate in the bowl is not tempered, just melted."

If you are referring to continuous tempering machines (e.g., FBM, Selmi, Gami, Pomati), then yes, the chocolate in the bowl is not going to be in temper. The chocolate coming out of the tempering pipe is. To do what you're doing in your Rev 2s you'd "draw off" some tempered chocolate into a working bowl, do your covering, and then any chocolate you did not use you'd return to the working bowl.

The ChocoTT is like the Rev2 in some respects except the wheel spins, not the bowl. Once the chocolate is tempered you could just throw the stuff you're dipping into the working bowl, but the normal way of working would be do draw off smaller amounts of chocolate into a separate bowl. On the follow-up point it's not a continuous tempering machine - it's a batch machine.

As for capacity ... is that 25-50 pounds in the working bowl? 25-50 pounds per day? 25-50 pounds per hour?

Once the continuous tempering cycle is established, a continuous tempering machine can temper up to 3-5 times the capacity of the working bowl, per hour, if you "top up" the bowl as you draw chocolate from it. Following this guideline, a continuous tempering machine with a 25 pound working bowl capacity can temper between 75 and 125 pounds of chocolate per hour.In reality, the only way you can use this much chocolate is if you're doing a lot of large molds - it's very hard to use this much chocolate when dipping or enrobing.

When you're using a batch machine, it can take 60-90 minutes to get to temper from a cold start (solid chocolate). Therefore, you tend to have much larger bowl capacities because when you empty the bowl you have to wait a long time to start work again waiting for the chocolate to temper.

One approach is not inherently better than another, they are different, and suited to different styles of work and working and personal preferences, working conditions (e.g., shared space, permanent kitchen) and budgets.

Thank you Clay!!!! That is incredibly helpful.