YetiChocolates

Real sad I won't be seeing you and Nancy this year! 😢

I'm in as well! Excited to ring in the big 4-0 with all of you attending 😁

The group is called “Chocolate Equipment, Packaging and Ingredients for sale

The second link you posted is the machine that Ruth and I have - though Ruth’s machine is an older model. As for how long the chocolate stays in temper, I think the longest I’ve worked with both was about 4-5 hours and both stayed in temper just fine. The one caveat to that is if you are using it to shell chocolates, if you pour the chocolate from the mold back into the tank with the Dedy it over crystallizes really quickly. So I’ve just gotten into the habit of pouring the chocolate into one of my 6kg Mol d’Art melters that is fairly warm, then dumping the untempered chocolate back into the tank to reduce any over crystallization from occurring. But for enrobing itself I haven’t run into any issues so far. I will also preface that by saying that I don’t count on the wheel to temper my chocolate, I have an EZ Temper and use the cocoa butter silk to temper instead. Not sure if you’ve heard of cocoa butter seed generators or not, but @Kerry Beal developed the EZ Temper and they are magical. Another bit of advice, not sure if you are on Facebook or not, but if you are there is a used chocolate equipment and packaging group on there that people post used enrobing machines. That is where I found my Perfect. Someone posted in the last few weeks another Perfect enrobing machine and I think she was in California, so it’s worth a look. Anyway, good luck with your search, hope you find something that will meet your needs!

So I would say electricity is definitely a consideration, the Dedy is 240v where the Perfect is 110v (just needs to be on its own circuit). Not sure what either CW machines are. My biggest complaint for the Dedy mini enrober is the vibrator on the belt doesn’t work the best, so you definitely need to have pretty thin chocolate. You also can’t adjust the blower as much as I would like. Otherwise it’s a great machine, the belt is easy to set up and adjust (other than the vibration setting) and is a great starter machine. The other minor issue is that belt is controlled by the movement of the wheel, so you have no control of the speed (or ability to turn off and on) the loading and takeoff belts unless you turn off the wheel itself. The Perfect enrober I recently purchased and although I’m still learning how to use it, I already find it an upgrade. You have more control over the belts, as they are independent of each other. The belt is wider than the Dedy, the vibration adjustment is far superior, you have more control over the blower placement. I would say currently my main complaint is getting the takeoff belt set just right to work with the detailer as you don’t have a way to adjust the detailer, just the height of the takeoff belt. And since I use the machine without the belt, I have to adjust it each time I set it up so I don’t have the option to “set it and forget it”. I have no experience with either CW machine, but before I purchased the Dedy (as I got the opportunity to buy it used and save some money) I was looking into the CW 24kg. I’ve heard good things, I guess it’s whether you have the capital to make that sort of investment. I have been lucky that I lucked out with both of my enrobing machines and got them used. I hope this helps - feel free to ask any direct questions, I’ll answer if I can!

Thanks @Francois Royal for the info. I guess as an update to the fallout of all this, pretty much all the LCB agent was looking for was for me to get a Class 5 liquor permit, which in Washington state is a permit that states the alcohol you are using in your production and in what quantities and where you are buying it. It costs me $10/year and has so far kept them off my back. I also learned a lot about the law of alcohol in confections and know how to answer the question if someone comes knocking again. One thing the LCB agent got wrong during his inquiry was asking what the alcohol by volume was within the confection, which according to the law doesn’t apply, it’s alcohol by weight. Regardless, moving forward I now state on all ingredient labels where alcohol is present, “This product contains alcohol, but less than 0.5% per weight of the product”. I did learn that the particular agent that I was dealing with last year got redistributed within the agency and isn’t an LCB agent anymore. So at least I don’t have to worry about him moving forward. I think it is important to at least have a basic knowledge of liquor laws within your state and how they apply to confections. And when in doubt, if they ask if you add the alcohol during the cooking process you always say yes...

I realized I didn’t post a couple days of food photos 🤭. So here they are... last night in MI dinner of fish & chips and a beer flight. Both were good but filling! Only ate one piece of fish and some fries (admittedly I ate a lot of chocolates beforehand 🤣) The next day at O’Hare I had a Kale & Quinoa salad at Wolfgang Pucks...it was meh. Nothing too exciting When I made it back to Seattle I had some Pho at Pho Bac with a friend. It was excellent. @Gwbyls and I usually get Pho when we are together but MI was a bit lacking in this option...so I had it Seattle and thought of Gaylene 😉

I was definitely in tears, it was an amazing three days. Luis has such a good soul.

Here was my dinner and drinks - fish n chips and a beer flight. Would definitely recommend Silver Harbor beers, especially their strawberry rhubarb sour and imperial stout. Fish and chips were good, although admittedly I ate so many chocolates at Luis’s place I didn’t eat much for dinner...

Taking a break from the continental breakfast scene to enjoy some leftover pizza 😋

Sorry for the delayed response, here’s my dinner from last night at Tosi’s. My entree was house-made bucatini, burrata cheese and arugula with a tomato basil cream sauce - heavenly! Minestrone for soup course and arancini appetizer. And a lovely 2017 malbec. It was a satisfying meal.

Continental breakfast...nothing too exciting. There was a hard boiled egg but I ate it before I forgot I needed a photo, as reminded to me by @Kerry Beal

Here was my airport dinner in Minneapolis...and I got to watch high school hockey on the TV! It was like being in Canada ☺️

I also picked this guy up...never a bad time for a little r&d!

My preflight snack, savory scone and white mocha. Both are delicious!

My breakfast - I had a nibble on the scone but saving the rest for later. Honey cardamom latte and potato breakfast burrito. Quite lovely, loads better than yesterday

Gaylene and I went to the Tower Park area for some Pho and then finished the evening at Ted Drewes!

Gaylene and I are currently 40 minutes out...breakfast and lunch were not picture worthy unfortunately...but here’s the view from the car

I saw that you were bringing it and then completely forgot so I'm SOL in that department...

Hello Haley! For the workshop there will be a demo in the morning on Saturday and then after it’s over people generally start working on things, either individually or in groups. Others will do some basic instructing for new comers or those who are looking for some basic chocolate skills. Then on Sunday we generally finish up things we worked on the day before and do a show and share (sort of) at the end. As for things to bring - I would say bring tools you prefer to work with (i.e. scrapers/spatulas, dipping forks, thermometer), maybe a mold or 2 if you have room. Also if you want to experiment with a new recipe, bring it along. I know my first workshop I attended I didn’t have anything to work on as I just wanted to observe what others were doing, which is entirely acceptable - though expect others to hound you about doing something 😉 It’s a very laid back, friendly group of people who enjoying getting together every year to nerd out with other chocolatiers and pass along their knowledge. I hope this helps!

Ooooo, I do love fries 😋

What is a ControlFreak?

I say bring what you want. We’ll figure out a way to make it work

I took the opportunity to get a second large bowl at the Niagara workshop and recently finally got the stones and holder to have two set ups, more because I do nut butters a lot, but wanted to experiment with nib to bar chocolate and wanted to keep the two separate.