A few years ago I got the opportunity to tour a huge chocolate factory in central California. I was unfamiliar with much of the equipment and machinery used to make chocolate on a large scale.
My background is in inventing and implementing machinery and processes used in the food processing industry, it was an exciting project for me.
I began an intensive study of producing chocolate on a mass scale. I studied each area of the huge plant and finally discovered what each piece of equipment did.
This plant received cocoa nibs, ground them into chocolate liquor, received fresh milk and transformed it into sweetened condensed milk, cooked it in copper vacuum kettles to further condense it and also produce a delicious caramelized flavor. The sweetened condensed milk was then released from the bottom of the 500 gallon copper kettles and into huge FMC plasticizing plow mills, chocolate liquor was added and these huge mills forced the chocolate mass against the sides and bottom of the mill, drying the mixture and also crystallizing by pressure the amorphous sugar. This process produced chocolate crumb. When the crumb is sufficiently processed, air operated gates open on the side of the mill and the chocolate crumb is discharged into a Whirlpool feeder, it is then fed onto a steel band belt, processed by a de-clumper and fed into a pair of Comils. In the mills it is reduced to a uniform size and then fed by conveyor into a rotary dryer and then into storage bins. This chocolate crumb is stable and can be stored for many months.
I am new at posting on this site so I do not know how long to make each post.
The process continues through paddle mixers, five roller Mills, huge conches and into U. bottomed mix tanks.
I would appreciate any input you can give me.
I will be offering this equipment for sale. Is it proper to post my e-mail so that I can provide photos and videos of this great machinery?.
updated by @junior-horn: 04/12/15 11:18:32
