Dish Pit for Chocolate

[DJ Silverchild]

I'm finally building out my kitchen and since cleaning is a huge bottleneck for us, I'm taking the cleaning station very seriously.

 

Obviously there will be chocolate going down the drain and I need a grease trap. I also want to put in a commercial dishwasher.

 

Can I please get some advice on how big a grease trap I should buy and advice on commercial dishwashers for chocolatiers?

 

[pastrygirl]

I'll try to remember to look at my grease trap tomorrow and see if there are details.  Probably one of those things where its better to err on the side of larger?

 

I don't currently have a dishwasher, I have a ginormous 3 compartment sink that is awesome because a full sheet pan will fit flat in each basin.  Takes more space but much lower cost. 

 

Things to consider in dishwashers - does it sanitize by heat or chemicals and what will that do to your molds?  Will it fit all your equipment - sheet pans, hotel pans, melanger drums, etc?  Do they require a service contract and/or charge per cycle?  Restaurants I've worked in have used Auto-Chor, it's nice to have that regular service and one less thing to worry about but may be costly.  But how much volume are you washing?  You don't need to keep up with dinner service.just clean after a production run.

 

A high temp dishwasher is going to be hot and steamy and should be in a well ventilated area away from chocolate.  A low temp one might use chemicals that degrade your molds.

 

[pastrygirl]

Here is what I have, not sure how it was chosen. 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Smithy
Rotated second photo (log)

[JeanneCake]

the size of our grease trap was mandated by the Board of Health; I have 1200 sf and the minimum size for the grease trap was 100 pounds.  We are also required to have a contract with a professional company to have it cleaned regularly and the BoH checks it (they have to fill out paperwork when they empty it and the BoH gets a copy).  Apparently the town spent millions and millions of dollars many many years ago on their water treatment plant years ago and they are very sensitive about the whole thing   So your mileage may vary!

 

If you get an undercounter dishwasher (it looks like a home model), you might not have to vent it; but the door types do (at least, around here that's the rule of law.  See BoH above