Hi chocolatiers,
We're looking for our first tempering machine. I like the specs on the FBM Aura - 4kg bowl is enough, dosing pedal is necessary, 110V power. If you're looking to sell something comparable, please contact me! Located in Olympia, WA. stephen@cobbstreats.com.
Thank you,
Stephen
Stephen - i f you're looking at smaller volumes (ie not hundreds of lbs per day) - you might want to consider the EZ Temper. it's a pretty different approach from standard tempering machines, but works quite well.
Thanks Sebastian, I'll check it out...
Stephen: The EZTemper is not a tempering machine, but it's a good approach for small production. The EZTemper produces crystallized cocoa butter that seeds the chocolate and tempers it through mixing. You are still working in small batches and have to worry about keeping the temperature in the right range until you've used up the batch. I know some FBM customers who use both: they use the Aura for the chocolate they use a lot of, and use the EZTemper for the chocolates they use in smaller quantities for decorating or special short runs. The two are not mutually exclusive.
I see you are in Olympia. I spent a year at Evergreen and am currently slated to return to campus on 6 October to give a lecture/tasting to a class. I am not sure of my schedule that day and hope to catch up with at least one friend who's still in town. But who knows? Will you be in Seattle at the end of the month? We could meet there as well.
Hey Clay, great to know. We were going to vend at the chocolate fest but just decided to wait till next year. I'll be there for one of the days and would love to meet you. We live near downtown Oly and would be around on the 6th as well. I still like the sound of the Aura as we discussed...just making sure there's not a more reasonable (and/or used) option at this point.
We're currently doing six 3-lb batches in a day, manually. Because we're spooning the chocolate into 90 molds per batch and then filling and swirling, I'd say it takes the two of us a good ten minutes once we get started. At that point, it's a guessing game. We try to keep the bowl on and off the heat, but it's not as precise as I'd like it to be, and we don't have the hands to keep it constantly on the move.
One big plus of having a machine that could hold it in temper would be the relief from feeling rushed. The EZTemper would relieve a lot of manual wrist work and time, but yea, we'd still be in a time crunch once tempered. Worth a grand to us at this point, definitely. The next step up would be something like a Chocovision Rev Delta. We'd still need to be manually spooning out the chocolate, and we may run into trouble (?) since some of our chocolate has coffee grounds and chopped nuts in it, but it'd definitely improve the flow. If it works with stuff in the chocolate, I think it could definitely be worth the $2250. One downside is that it won't work if we decide to do some honey-sweetened chocolates, whereas I think the Aura could. The ~$7k Aura looks amazing and, assuming it wouldn't have trouble with things like coffee and nuts, I think it could be an excellent investment.
Whatever we get, I'd like to know that we can get some good quick support if something goes wrong. I was planning on talking to FBM at the choc fest, but could definitely benefit from more of your expertise...
Thank you for chiming in.
Stephen
FYI, ended up getting a good deal on a Chocovision Delta. Will use that for now till production demands require something more.
