I'm not the most qualified to answer this but I'll take a stab at it.
Yes you can temper without seed in a tempering machine. Check out http://chocolatealchemy.com/illustrated-tempering/ for a very good tutorial on cocoa butter crystals and tempering.
The seed method is faster so it is taught in their videos.

The tempering machine can do anything you and a bowl of cold water can do. However it will rely on the cold air to cool the chocolate.

As far as doing more than 10 lbs at ate chocovision has a "holey baffle" that should take it to a 17 lb capacity. I haven't used one so I cannot vouch for it. It should be fine though.

The different percent chocolates will differ slightly in their tempering. The x3210 has some preset methods but you can do manual overrides to get the temp control you want.

Another perk besides more automation is less water in the proximity of your chocolate. I know a bain Marie doesn't get the chocolate wet. But the further the water is the happier I am.

Finally be sure to check the discount page of this site. Clay has worked out some deals for Chocolate Life members.Welcome to The Chocolate Life.

I am brand new to The Chocolate Life. The main reason I made an account is to get on here and start talking with others to broaden my personal knowledge as well as help others whenever possible.

Here is my question. I have been looking into an X3210 for my small business, I sell chocolate at the farmers market, currently I run 5lb batches in my premier/cocoatown stone grinders which leaves me with 10lbs after the job is finished approx 6 hours laters. I have been reading into these machines, and figured that with my liquid chocolate I would be able to just pour the chocolate into the machine (all 10lbs) and press the temper button and let it go. I recently was reading and also watched a youtube video about the Chocovision X3210 and realized... Okay now I need a perfectly tempered seed chocolate to achieve this?

I don't ever let my chocolate harden without it being tempered, I currently temper by hand, simply by pouring it into a bowl, and using a wooden spoon and stirring it with the bowl in cold water to hit about 81-82 degrees F and then heating it back up to 89 degrees F and it always comes out of my molds shiny and with no streaks, this takes about 15 minutes of stirring to achieve.

So I am wondering if I should just stick to this method? It is just kind of a hassle to have to do it manually when I could have a machine do it, but then I also look at the price and realize that this also may not be very cost effective if my current routine is working and I have a finished molded product approx 20-25 minutes after it comes out of the stone grinder.

My final concern on this topic with the X3210 is that I also do different percentages ranging from 60% all the way up to 84% and all of the 60%'s are flavored. The real thing that is bothering me is the need for a seed in these machines, I would think that for that amount of money I can just take my liquid product out of the stone grinder, pour it into the X3210, and press the temper button, and come back a little while later to have a perfectly tempered product.

My final Question on this topic is that in the video it looked like you could temper 10lbs of chocolate from a block, but can you temper more than this is a unit like the X3210 if it is liquid to begin with? And to add one more point, does it have trouble dealing with a thick 60% as apposed to a liquid like water 84%?

Thank you so much,

Glad to be apart of this wonderful community

Steven

updated by @steven-shipler: 04/17/15 20:51:56