Enrobing/tempering machine recommendation

[The other Sven]

My partner and I are looking for an enrobing/tempering machine recommendation.

 

We have recently started a business selling chocolate covered caramels in California, and it's becoming very apparent that hand enrobing won't be feasible for much longer. As a new business we can't spent a fortune, but we also don't want to buy a machine that we will outgrow too quickly (so no Chocovision enrober). Looking at a lot of machines, and wishing we could afford a Selmi Plus and their R200), we have focused on 3 machines and I would love to hear your educated thoughts about them. They represent different price points and I will list them in order of cost. There are a few thousand dollars between them. 

 

1. Dedy Mini-Enrobing machine: Has no automatic tempering. Uses a wheel. 120mm belt. 15kg capacity. Is German (as am I 😉 ). Small and portable. 
   https://www.dedy.de/en/product-category/coat-and-pour/
2. Chocolate World CW12, plus CW12 Enrobing Line: Automatic temper. 180mm belt. 12kg capacity. 
   https://www.chocolateworld.be/winkel/machines/tempering/M1200
   https://www.chocolateworld.be/winkel/machines/enrobing/M1200A
3. Chocolate World  CW24 Delight, plus M1300 Enrobing Line. Automatic temper. 200mm belt. 24kg capacity.
   https://www.chocolateworld.be/winkel/machines/tempering/M1250
   https://www.chocolateworld.be/winkel/machines/enrobing/M1300A

 

There's obviously more to these machines than my short description, hence the links. I think the CW24 has more capacity than we will need for a while and am a little concerned that it's the "economy" version of the regular CW24, so probably not as well built. My partner, who actually makes the caramel, tempers the chocolate, etc., is concerned that the Dedy does NOT have automatic tempering. She has no problem tempering chocolate, either using our EZ Temper (what a magical device) or via the seed method. Currently the issue is rather to keep the chocolate in temper while had dipping. That said, here are some of my questions: 

 

• How much of a real issue is automatic vs. hand tempering? 
• Any concerns about keeping the chocolate in temper with these machines?
• Is it really worth stepping up to the more expensive models?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if anyone uses these machines...and of course feel free to let me know if there is another machine in this price range you think we should be looking at.

 

Thank you for any input you have.

 

[Chocolot]

What electricity do you have? That might make a difference. I have a Perfect enrober. It is far from perfect, but it has made me a lot of money😀. It is a larger version of the Dedy. Willow has both the Dedy and Perfect. She will jump on when her work day is over. 

[The other Sven]

Hi Ruth,

 

Thank you for your response. Electricity is a good point. We know we need a one-phase machine for now, which all 3 supposedly are (or can be). Currently we are starting as a home kitchen, which is a possibility here in CA, but before we have our own commercial kitchen, we'll probably be looking at a shared commercial kitchen space (there are some options around here). So we can't count on a specific type of commercial electrical set-up.  

 

Sorry to hear that the Perfect enrober is far from perfect...maybe they can change it to "Almost Perfect". 😉 But I appreciate your point that a not quite perfect machine can still be a good choice. I'd love to hear what Willow has to say about the Dedy. 

 

PS: FYI, I clicked on the link in your signature, and even though the URL is to the correct site (which looks very yummy), the link is to http://www.sweetchocolot.com/ which is probably outdated as it says that "This site can't be reached".  

[YetiChocolates]

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!

[The other Sven]

Hi Willow,

 

Thank you for your detailed comments. This is so helpful. 

 

Electricity. I didn't realize that there were machines that run on 110v. That is very interesting. We will have to take a closer look at the Perfect. Just to make sure that I am looking at the right machine...you have the Perfect Temper Enrober from Perfect Choco? (https://perfectchoco.com/en/produits/perfect-temper-enrober-12/) Or is it one of their wheel machines? (https://perfectchoco.com/en/produits/mini-wheel-enrober/)?

 

How good are the Dedy and the Perfect keeping chocolate in temper? That is sorta one of my big concerns, that we run a big batch and somewhere in the middle the chocolate falls out of temper and we've wasted a lot of product.

 

So jealous that you found 2 used machines...we've looked, but they seem to go fast. We'll keep on looking...

Thanks again. 

 

 

[YetiChocolates]

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!

[The other Sven]

Thank you for clarifying, and good to hear about your experience with the chocolate staying in temper. For now we are planning to stick with enrobing, but great pointer about shelling. And yes, we also have an EZ Temper, which we love and which I also described in my initial post as "magical" 🪄❤️.

 

I'll have my partner look into the Facebook group (I am not on it). Does that group have a specific name? 

 

Thanks again

[YetiChocolates]

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

[The other Sven]

Great. Thank you very much. We'll check it out.