EZtemper - The Help You Need to Achieve Perfectly Tempered Chocolate FAST!

[Kerry Beal]

One of the Ecole Chocolat graduates who has one makes huge numbers of chocolates calculated that it paid for itself in 7 weeks. But her hubby misses the failures which were his to eat!

Edited February 2, 2016 by Kerry Beal (log)

[gfron1]

for me, time is money and that's where its proving its worth.

[gfron1]

1 hour ago, ChocoMom said:

I knew I wanted an EZ Temper after reading about it, but it would require a bit of saving.  But now, after just reading how Rob cranked out 400 pieces in 3.5 hours....I've moved it to the very tippy top of the birthday wish list (which I shall leave in hubby's briefcase).

I put the price in context of other items. Guitar $1500+, Melter $600~, Tempering machine $3500+

I charge $2.50 per pc for my chocolates, and my markup on chocolates averages just about $2.15 of food cost, so nearly $2 per pc covers my overhead, equipment and profit. A couple of good weekends and it pays for itself once you adapt its use ot your situation. We're all doing different things here, so it all varies. I know that the batch I made today will be gone by the end of Saturday and I'll repeat the batch next Tuesday for Valentine's. If you know about how many you can sell IF YOU CAN KEEP UP WITH DEMAND, the its easy to calculate how fast it can be paid for.

 

On a side note, I don't count previous equipment in my costs anymore because those expenses have long since been recouped. That makes the math easy - chocolate plus cream plus other ingredients, plus new toy=cost.

 

ETA - I wish I had spent some time with another chocolatier before I bought mine, who had a similar setup. That would have really sped things up for me. And I still want to do that, and hope to once I'm back in civilization. Its like buying a car, take it for a test drive first.

Edited February 2, 2016 by gfron1 (log)

[YetiChocolates]

Okay, so I need some assistance from the group...I think I know what is going on here, but want to get feedback from others who are way smarter than me in this area.  When I first started using the EZ Temper I was using callebaut cocoa butter that I'd had forever, in little callets, just threw it in the stainless container and put it in the machine, 12 hours later, that perfect silk Kerry tells everyone about.  Awesome, works like magic.  Unfortunately I didn't have that much left, so I wanted to buy a larger quantity since I knew I'd be using it.  Shopped around and opted for Chef Rubber, they had 2.5kg for a reasonable price.  Received it, not in a block, but busted up in chunks.  At first I thought I could do what I did with the callebaut and just throw it in the container and put it in the unit.  Wrong, didn't melt well at all, had tons of unmelted bits.  So I heated the cocoa butter up to 120, cooled it, put it back in the unit at 33.6C.  Now it didn't have unmelted bits in it, but it wasn't that creamy mayonnaise consistency either, it was more fluid than that.  Still worked to temper the chocolate, but being the anal retentive person I am, I wanted the creamy mayonnaise, not the semi-fluid weirdness.  Flash forward to this week.  The cocoa butter I used over Christmas (the semi-fluid weirdness) I had heated up to 120F and cooled and left in the container in the cupboard, so it had sat untouched for about a month.  Put it in the unit at 33.6C...next day, semi-fluid weirdness .  Decided to lower the temp on the unit as reading previous posts stated that different cocoa butters might have different sweet spot temps and I melted a new batch of cocoa butter, put it in the fridge to cool and took it right from the fridge and put it in the unit, which was now at 33.2C.  This is what I found the next morning...

The top one was the cocoa butter I put into the unit immediately from the fridge, the bottom was previously the semi-fluid weirdness, now the creamy mayonnaise that we all want.  After a couple days at 33.2C however, the bottom jar started getting firmer, so I bumped the unit back up to 33.6C.  Now I tried re-heating the top one and cooling it in the fridge, but then letting it get back up to room temp before adding it back to the unit, and same thing happened, still had those unmelted bits (was still at 33.2C when I tried it the second time).  Do you think that Chef Rubber sent me really old cocoa butter?  Reading previous posts, that is what some believe to be the reason for the unmelted cocoa butter bits. And to rectify this should I melt down all my cocoa butter and add silk to it to temper it proper, or should I melt it all down, put it in jars, and let it sit for awhile so those crystals can get back on track.  And do you think that the reason the semi-fluid weirdness turned into creamy mayonnaise was because of the initial shock of the cold container of the other cocoa butter being in the unit?  That's the only thing that drastically changed to the cocoa butter before it went from semi-fluid weirdness to creamy mayonnaise.  Thoughts?  Hopefully this makes sense to everyone.  And if I would have been thinking I would have taken a picture of the semi-fluid weirdness so you had a visual, but it looks pretty much like the top one without the unmelted bits...

[Kerry Beal]

I've had e-mails from people who have gotten cocoa butter from various sources - and it does appear that over time some form V to form VI transformation happens in 'old' cocoa butter and this causes the grainy part of the 'weirdness' and the failure to soften. What I tell them is to completely melt the cocoa butter (making sure it gets up to about 50 C to make sure everything gets melted out - then cool overnight at room temperature until solid before putting it back in the unit. The letting it get solid again is important - if you put it back in while still liquid it won't have the crystals. Some experiments I did back when I just had a prototype to work with seemed to indicate that melting and putting in the freezer to solidify wasn't good - got liquidy when put back in the unit - so I suspect the time at room temperature solidifying is important in reestablishing the approximately 15% form V crystals that should be present in solid cocoa butter. 

 

Don't know if that helps at all.

 

 

[YetiChocolates]

That helps a ton Kerry, going to give it a whirl and see what happens.  Room temp solidifying I think is the key element I was leaving out.  Will report back my findings.  Other than crappy cocoa butter the unit itself is fabulous, definitely a worthwhile investment. 

[YetiChocolates]

Well I had success, your advice worked perfectly Kerry, and now I have 5 more jelly jars full of cocoa butter just waiting to be turned into silk. 

[Tri2Cook]

I'm in. I don't have the experience in the area of molded chocolates that most of the people posting in this thread have but I'm going to jump in with both feet and try to do some catching-up. I think the biggest benefit of this machine for me (at this point) is that it's inspiring me to want to get in the kitchen and play/learn. That in itself is worth the price of admission as far as I'm concerned.

[felipetruji]

wow...

As a chocolate student i'm already loving this machine...

A tempering machine normally goes for over €10K, not something you can afford if you want to start a business on your own.

kudos to Kerry for this machine!

[fandi1]

On 10/13/2015 at 8:19 AM, Kerry Beal said:

Finally got around to making a YouTube video on the cocoa butter extraction - not going to win any Oscars! So far my experiments with the Piteba press have been an abject failure - but I'm hoping when I get some truly raw beans that I might have some success.  

 

Here is the video

 

Hi Kerry,,,,

what kind of Indian spice grinder are you using?

 

[Kerry Beal]

That one is a Preethi - I just got a call from Meyer at Sumeet the other day to say that he has finally got stock on the Asia machines (but not on the Multigrind) so I will likely be getting one of those to replace the Preethi. Remembering to hold the lid on is an issue for me!

[Kerry Beal]

 

 

 

 

Heading to Lancaster, PA tomorrow for the PMCA - can't go without Frogs and Mice! It's going to be a little different at a table rather than walking the show though - people will have to come to me for their vermin. 

 

[Deryn]

Darn .. if this spring weather here were not more like winter I might have been passing close by Lancaster while you were there. I wanna froggie! Oh so cute! Good luck with the show, Kerry.

[Kerry Beal]

Yeah - Lancaster Mike texted me today to tell me that it will be snowing there tomorrow. 

 

There are red buddhas too - appears I didn't take a picture of those. I had leftover red after splattering the frogs so used it up on the buddahs. Next time I do them I'll go for a more stone/jade effect I think - but I'll have to figure out how to do that.

 

 

[Dallas]

Hi all, long time lurker...first post. I bought one of these handy devices from Kerry for my shop a month or two back, and I've now fully implemented it into my daily workflow. I had been on the fence about getting the EZt, but all doubts were erased when I saw the Cacao Barry folk using it at a workshop. Its a beast of a machine, as far as its usefulness in my workflow. I think my marble slab is a little sad with me tho, as I now barely use it for its intended purpose. 

 

The proof is in the pudding, as they say...I am currently on a multi-hundred piece mini-jag (producing between 750-850 bonbons for tomorrow). A bit under the gun, but with the EZt, I can decorate and shell in one day, and fill and cap the second, and done! This while also doing regular daily shop stuff, and getting everything accomplished during regular business hours.

 

I thank you for creating this device, Kerry. My wife and kids thank you too, as they get to see me, even on busy production days!

[Kerry Beal]

Dallas, I couldn't be more thrilled that you're thrilled!

 

[Dallas]

12 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Dallas, I couldn't be more thrilled that you're thrilled!

 

I talk up your device to everyone I meet...I sound like a company spokesperson.

[tikidoc]

Will you have them at the conference, Kerry? I don't do chocolate that often (mostly for gifts for friends and co-workers) but when I do, I'm usually in a time crunch, and end up spending a lot of time screwing around around with getting chocolate into temper when I could be actually be making chocolate. I also think there are many occasions when I WOULD make chocolates (again, mostly for gifts, etc) but I don't because I don't have the time to commit if I have to screw around with getting chocolate into temper. So, after putting in a couple days moonlighting recently, I'm thinking of splurging on this, and would probably purchase at the conference....

[Kerry Beal]

I'm sure I will - there is usually one or two in the trunk at any given time - and this year I don't have to bring everything I own to the workshop (it's already there)!

 

 

[tikidoc]

OK, I'll let you know for sure before the conference. Is this thing light enough to take home as a carry on?

[Kerry Beal]

4.5 kg

 

 

[pastryani]

Hi all - I've been meaning to add a review and this seems like a good place to add my 2 cents:

 

I got the EZ just after Christmas this year and have been using it consistently every few days since then.  I'm not a professional chocolatier like so many of you here, but would very soon like to be. :).  At first I debated getting the EZ because I couldn't  justify the cost as I'm not selling anything yet.  However, since selling was my eventual goal, I took the plunge on this (my first major piece of equipment) and I'm SO glad to have it.  

 

I'm still at the testing and development phase for shapes, colors, and flavors for bonbons and the EZ allows me to try out a variety of molds and ganaches very quickly.  It really does make tempering chocolate super fast and easy, and the only rate-limit ting steps are actually the melting and cooling of the chocolate.  If you're working with small amounts of chocolate at a time, this can be VERY quick.  

 

A warning to those of you thinking of getting this:  the ability to produce tempered chocolate this quickly can lead to sub-standard meals.   I have often times gone to the kitchen to make dinner and on my way, I catch a glance of a new mold I've been wanting to use and the EZ is just sitting there saying "you know you want to..."  And just like that, my ADD kicks in and I find myself casting a new mold, or playing around with cocoa butter, or making chocolate decor.  Oh, and eating cereal when all is said and done. So be warned. 

 

All in all, I've had it about 4 months and just love the consistency and convenience of it.  Even if you're just starting out like me, it takes the time (and guesswork) out of tempering and really makes things, well, EZ!!  Also Kerry's been great (and very patient) answering questions along the way.

 

In a word, the EZ temper is AWESOME.   I highly recommend it.   Thanks Kerry for this magical machine!! 

 

[Kerry Beal]

 

Playing today in my chocolate room - caramelized some milk chocolate. Figured if it works with white chocolate - why not with milk. Pressure cooked in jar for one hour, added about 5% cocoa butter while it was cooling. When it cooled to 33.5 C I added the EZtemper silk - made some bars and some bark with freeze dried cappuccino granules. 

[Tri2Cook]

Do you use your Instant Pot for caramelizing chocolate or a regular stove top pressure cooker? No particular reason for asking, just being nosy. I'm thinking a caramelized chocolate bark with some of that freeze dried corn might be pretty tasty, I might have to find out for myself. Trying to get my head back in the chocolate world and put that EZ Temper to some good use.

[Kerry Beal]

At home I have the Fagor version of the IP - it's a little bigger than the IP at work but isn't actually any taller inside because it has a removeable (but obligatory ) liner in the lid. So I used that. I have caramelized in the stovetop pressure cooker before and also over water in my slow cooker.

 

I think the caramelized chocolate would be really nice with freeze dried corn!