Seventy% - Topic: melting vs tempering

Sebastian on melting vs tempering

Sat, 15 Oct 2005 18:16:17 +0000

The small equipment we use are Hilliards exclusively. They are capable of melting as you are drawing product out of them - of course equilibrium depends on how fast you pull out, as the melting process is a constant (you can't make it go faster and remain in temper). What you might consider doing is getting a smith or savage bros kettle, say a 125 lb capacity (they go new for about 5000 US). You will be able to temper in these via either water connections or electric heating systems, and either draw chocolate driectly from them or use them to feed your other vessels (you also might want to consider buying an enrober at the quantites you're talking about - union machinery will very likely be buying a small enrober with a 6" wire belt on it very soon, you might want to contact them if you're interested - they're essentially equipment resellers). Of course, these types of equipment can strictly melt also, you don't *need* to temper in them, so you'll have the flexability of doing both if you so elect. Savage bros also has a 50 lb kettle, but it sounds like you might need something a bit larger if you want to account for your business to grow. I'll be out of the country for a while (leaving today) so any follow up from me will have to wait...

toffeezone on melting vs tempering

Sat, 15 Oct 2005 15:13:33 +0000

This is my first time posting on the website, but I just want to say what a wonderful site!! I have read through many posts regarding tempering and they have been very helpful.

We make english toffee and we currently melt our chocolate in a double boiler, but we cannot produce the melted chocolate fast enough. We go through 5-6 pounds of chocolate an hour, 20-40 in one days cooking. Because we cover the final product with nuts, we don't feel like we need a tempering machine (unless we expand our product line in the future or are convinced it would be better to cover it with tempered chocolate).

I am looking for advice on machines that melt verses temper. I have read the many threads on Chocovision, Hilliard, ACMC and you have offered wonderful advice on those machines. I am tempted to purchase a chocolate tempering machine, but I am concerned about the turn around time for melted chocolate. This is a novice question, but can you continually add chocolate to a machine such as ACMC's melter and have it melt quickly?

Also, I have noticed Mol D'Art makes "melting containers." Has anyone used these? How do they compare to ACMC's or Hilliard's melters?

Thanks

toffeezone
Kevin Chenoweth
Home of Grandma's English Toffee