I'm thinking of buying a tempering machine, I like Pomati's T5 or Selmi, does anyone have any review on these tempering machines? What brand is your favorite? I need a small tempering machine, for maybe 7-10kilos of chocolate.
Hi! I just bought a truffle shell mold and then I realized I really dont know how to use it :S does anyone have any videos or info about this? I really want to make my own truffle shells 
After tempering? Ive noticed it depends on the climate you have where youre working, I like to leave it at room temp until the edges start to pre-crystallize, and then put it in the fridge. But if the day is slightly hot I put right in the fridge
Is there any other small panning machine, not the Kitchen Aid attachment, that you can recommend?
is it expensive? we are experimenting with sugar-free chocolate, using a beet-based sweetener, but coconut sugar sounds great 
tempering failed. You should do as many temper checks as necessary. You could add a "mother" to the chocolate and let it melt enough time so that the rest of the chocolate "behaves" properly
could be contraction/releasing marks. You should leave your chocolates on the mold til they release completely
I also heard you can leave your chocolates on the molds and they come out shinier. Never tried it, but this was said by Greg Cook from Chocolate Arts he also mentioned the sprayed cocoa butter/chocolate on the molds. I'm glad it worked for you.
haha that's why I'm asking. I believe there's no substitute for sugar, but we made a batch with NutraSweet and people, that are used to consume sweeteners, liked it very much, personally I hated it, it left a horrible bitter aftertaste. But I wanted to know if there was any other beet-based sugar somewhere.
and what about beet sugar? there are some sweeteners beet-based that say to be zero calories
I leave my chocolate in the melter for hours , tempered and untempered, and it still blooms if cooled improperly or doing a bad tempering. Since blooming is caused by improper crystallization I dont think keeping it at a certain temp (other than the advised storage temp) can make chocolate bloom resistant.
You can slightly heat the mold before filling so there aren't any temperature shocks in the chocolate, also gives the chocolate a nice shine (even when it's not polished)
Since your chocolate is artisanal, you should do temper checks everytime. Then you'll know the correct temps for YOUR chocolate. The temp curve can vary depending on the type of cacao, the process, the amount of cacao butter, hte quality of the cacao butter, the type of chocolate, etc. When you decrease the temp in your chocolate, make temper checks at different temperatures until you get the right one and write it down
