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Enrober Questions


Truffle Guy

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Wow-I can't stop researching....

Mol d'art has some nice machines too.  Does anyone use these???

http://www.moldart.be/details.asp?language...roductID=220697

http://www.moldart.be/details.asp?language...roductID=220699

The second one shown here is similar to the 'Perfect' equipment machine made in Montreal. Much more reasonably priced than others. There is quite a difference in the machines with the wheels vs the automatic tempering machines such as the Selmi.

It seems as though the Mol d'art machines are more resonably priced than the competitors.

AwholeLottaChocolate

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Wow-I can't stop researching....

Mol d'art has some nice machines too.  Does anyone use these???

http://www.moldart.be/details.asp?language...roductID=220697

http://www.moldart.be/details.asp?language...roductID=220699

The second one shown here is similar to the 'Perfect' equipment machine made in Montreal. Much more reasonably priced than others. There is quite a difference in the machines with the wheels vs the automatic tempering machines such as the Selmi.

It seems as though the Mol d'art machines are more resonably priced than the competitors.

The wheeled machines are cheaper than the non wheeled, mold'art appears well priced in the whelled market. But do check out www.perfectinc.com

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I am considering the Easy 1 by Perfect Equipment.  I did some reference checks and only a few machines were sold at that time. A company in Montreal was pleased with the product but I am going to follow up with them and also contact any other new customers. The machine will cost approx $19k CAD.  I am going to be in Montreal in September and I will check out the machine first hand.

It's a nice looking machine (except for the orange colour). I didn't realize that one was in operation yet. When I contacted them to come up and check it out in May they were still wiring it they said.

An advantage is that it's 220 single phase so you don't have to get the adapter. That makes it a bit bigger than the Selmi, but it's a lot less expensive.

I'm anxious to get a first hand look at it too.

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Hi:

I just bought a Prefamac 30kg machine with the enrober attachment from bakonusa.com. It was about $20,000. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles of other machines for more money, but thus far it's been great for both molded pieces and enrobing. Basically takes 2 people to operate, but I am very pleased with the results. It's a good machine for mid-volume and not as steep as LCM, Savvy or some others. Also I am very pleased with the customer service from Luc at Bakon USA. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be glad to answer them.

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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Hi:

I just bought a Prefamac 30kg machine with the enrober attachment from bakonusa.com. It was about $20,000. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles of other machines for more money, but thus far it's been great for both molded pieces and enrobing. Basically takes 2 people to operate, but I am very pleased with the results. It's a good machine for mid-volume and not as steep as LCM, Savvy or some others. Also I am very pleased with the customer service from Luc at Bakon USA. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be glad to answer them.

It's got a wheel, doesn't it? How do you find cleanup? Do you find the chocolate thickens significantly during the day?

Edited by Kerry Beal (log)
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It's a nice looking machine (except for the orange colour). I didn't realize that one was in operation yet. When I contacted them to come up and check it out in May they were still wiring it they said.

An advantage is that it's 220 single phase so you don't have to get the adapter. That makes it a bit bigger than the Selmi, but it's a lot less expensive.

I'm anxious to get a first hand look at it too.

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I am truly amazed at the selection of machines available after viewing this topic.  How in the world does anyone choose?? 

Diane

I am having to decide by price. Oh, it must be up to good standards but I need to get the biggest bang for my dollar. Being in Canada it is easier for me to do the purchase with Perfect rather than importing.

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Wow-I can't stop researching....

Mol d'art has some nice machines too.  Does anyone use these???

http://www.moldart.be/details.asp?language...roductID=220697

http://www.moldart.be/details.asp?language...roductID=220699

The second one shown here is similar to the 'Perfect' equipment machine made in Montreal. Much more reasonably priced than others. There is quite a difference in the machines with the wheels vs the automatic tempering machines such as the Selmi.

Kerry,

From what I understand, the one with a wheel is not as desirable, because the chocolate will thicken, but the selmi won't. Am I correct in that understanding?

Luis

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Kerry,

From what I understand, the one with a wheel is not as desirable, because the chocolate will thicken, but the selmi won't. Am I correct in that understanding?

Luis

That is how I understand it. I think the final tempering occurs just as the chocolate is drawn up through the screw that dispenses the chocolate.

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Hi:

I just bought a Prefamac 30kg machine with the enrober attachment from bakonusa.com. It was about $20,000. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles of other machines for more money, but thus far it's been great for both molded pieces and enrobing. Basically takes 2 people to operate, but I am very pleased with the results. It's a good machine for mid-volume and not as steep as LCM, Savvy or some others. Also I am very pleased with the customer service from Luc at Bakon USA. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be glad to answer them.

It's got a wheel, doesn't it? How do you find cleanup? Do you find the chocolate thickens significantly during the day?

Yes, it's got a wheel. Cleanup is not bad as there are not to many tight corners. You have a couple of hours before thickening really sets in, but it's easy to control with a few minutes of a heat gun or adjusting the thermostat up for a little while. But I find the heat gun is the easiest and fastest method to thin quickly. I am very satisfied with my results, the shine and evenness of temper is far better than what I could get by hand, and the vibrating table is awesome.

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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I thought I'd put my two cents in here on enrobing since I never could find much info on the web, and now that I own an enrober, I'm sure other people will appreciate the input. I looked at LCM, Savvy, and Prefamac, JKV, and Mol d'art. The last three look pretty similar in all the photos. I decided on Prefamac after having seen them operating in a number of places, because it's a simple machine, fit my budget, and couldn't wait three or four months for the order to be filled, and they had good customer service, both from the US and Belgium. I ordered from bakonusa.com in the US and my equipment was ready within a month and airfreighted to Ecuador, where we are located. It was cheaper than ordering direct from Belgium.

We just purchased a Prefamac 30kg melter, enrober and detailer attachment. First, after using it a couple of weeks, I have to say I think enrobers and chocolatiers are a bit like cameras and photographers. The skill of the person using either is far more important than the equipment, the amount you paid, or the number of bells and whistles.

I'm in Ecuador, and I don't have access to many different chocolates with different viscosities and for different purposes. Basically, I have access to two or three types of chocolate, and I have to adjust them all myself using cocoa butter to thin. This has been a bit challenging to find just the right percent to add, but it's been an interesting learning experience as well to see how the chocolate changes shine and snap with different amounts of cocoa butter.

For the Prefamac, I have found the detailer attachment is a must. It's a little spinning rod at the end of the take off belt before the pieces hit the paper. You adjust it just right and the pieces sort of get lifted gently and carried over, while the spinning takes off excess chocolate, eliminating feet, and cuts off any tails. It took me about 1,000 pieces to figure out how to use it just right, as well as run the whole operation.

At first I couldn't figure out how to keep up with the fast speed of the belt, but it really didn't matter once we figured out you simply pull the paper taut when needed, just as the pieces are coming off the wire conveyor belt. Then you loosen up slack a bit until the next row of pieces is about to come off. So you don't waste paper by having a mechanical pull moving the paper all the time. Ideally, the paper belt and conveyor belt would have perhaps separate foot pedals for control, but those are some of the bells and whistles I wasn't willing to pay for, and my volume doesn't justify the costs. Yes, it really does take two people to operate this thing optimally.

The vibrating of the belt is adjusted by tightening or loosening a spring loaded arm that is under the belt shortly after the pieces are enrobed. There is also a blower attachment, but I haven't shelled out for that yet. Perhaps later.

A lot of people have asked about the chocolate thickening during the day, which it does, but is easily remedied by a couple of minutes with a heat gun or turning up the thermostat gently. I have found this to be a very minor inconvenience.

Production wise, we used to dip say 100 pieces an hour. I can easily put out say 1500 to 2000 pieces in an hour, so as the Savvy-Goiseau sale rep said to me, your volume should increase easily 10x-20x, which it has. Of course, right now the equipment (especially the enrober) is underutilized, but as I was wisely advised, buy a machine you will grow into in a year or two, not one that just meets your needs for the present.

And by the way, the vibrating table which is standard is great for molds! NO bubbles!

Photos!

Chocolate Caramels Scored and Ready for Cutting

OM8diWhutD8o_1vGIzrsRmD24MTB4S5j.jpg

The enrober

dmquFWmR5z8XApBSmXFXahOFK-V2ijSN.jpg

Me at the Machine

AB-2yO90gD9U7NM-nXwzAGz-bxLEHBm-.jpg

Chocolate Caramels Enrobed with Texture Sheets

Lxn2iv2h7j9JWdrLbtAP7BVkHjaZ4yFI.jpg

Finished Pieces, Still would like cleaner squares on top, but they'll sell!

eJn-TE1RsD9Jfh5-6ZPR7ysnHa8I4OaU.jpg

Edited by Marmalade (log)

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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http://www.hilliardschocolate.com/pages/cf..._HandCoater.cfm

Has anyone used this hand coater from Hilliard's??

I've used one and I didn't really like it. No paper take off is a big problem, no vibrating portion of the belt, no detailer, no blower. It's fine if you want the rustic look, say for truffles, but for guitar cut pieces, rather difficult to get good results. And it doesn't have, say, the dual capacity of a machine like I purchased (description below), that can be used for both molds with a vibrating table, or with an enrober attachment. Sure, the price is 2x as much, but you get better results and dual use.

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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I thought I'd put my two cents in here on enrobing since I never could find much info on the web, and now that I own an enrober, I'm sure other people will appreciate the input. I looked at LCM, Savvy, and Prefamac, JKV, and Mol d'art. The last three look pretty similar in all the photos. I decided on Prefamac after having seen them operating in a number of places, because it's a simple machine, fit my budget, and couldn't wait three or four months for the order to be filled, and they had good customer service, both from the US and Belgium. I ordered from bakonusa.com in the US and my equipment was ready within a month and airfreighted to Ecuador, where we are located. It was cheaper than ordering direct from Belgium.

We just purchased a Prefamac 30kg melter, enrober and detailer attachment. First, after using it a couple of weeks, I have to say I think enrobers and chocolatiers are a bit like cameras and photographers. The skill of the person using either is far more important than the equipment, the amount you paid, or the number of bells and whistles.

I'm in Ecuador, and I don't have access to many different chocolates with different viscosities and for different purposes. Basically, I have access to two or three types of chocolate, and I have to adjust them all myself using cocoa butter to thin. This has been a bit challenging to find just the right percent to add, but it's been an interesting learning experience as well to see how the chocolate changes shine and snap with different amounts of cocoa butter.

For the Prefamac, I have found the detailer attachment is a must. It's a little spinning rod at the end of the take off belt before the pieces hit the paper. You adjust it just right and the pieces sort of get lifted gently and carried over, while the spinning takes off excess chocolate, eliminating feet, and cuts off any tails. It took me about 1,000 pieces to figure out how to use it just right, as well as run the whole operation.

At first I couldn't figure out how to keep up with the fast speed of the belt, but it really didn't matter once we figured out you simply pull the paper taut when needed, just as the pieces are coming off the wire conveyor belt. Then you loosen up slack a bit until the next row of pieces is about to come off. So you don't waste paper by having a mechanical pull moving the paper all the time. Ideally, the paper belt and conveyor belt would have perhaps separate foot pedals for control, but those are some of the bells and whistles I wasn't willing to pay for, and my volume doesn't justify the costs. Yes, it really does take two people to operate this thing optimally.

The vibrating of the belt is adjusted by tightening or loosening a spring loaded arm that is under the belt shortly after the pieces are enrobed. There is also a blower attachment, but I haven't shelled out for that yet. Perhaps later.

A lot of people have asked about the chocolate thickening during the day, which it does, but is easily remedied by a couple of minutes with a heat gun or turning up the thermostat gently. I have found this to be a very minor inconvenience.

Production wise, we used to dip say 100 pieces an hour. I can easily put out say 1500 to 2000 pieces in an hour, so as the Savvy-Goiseau sale rep said to me, your volume should increase easily 10x-20x, which it has. Of course, right now the equipment (especially the enrober) is underutilized, but as I was wisely advised, buy a machine you will grow into in a year or two, not one that just meets your needs for the present.

And by the way, the vibrating table which is standard is great for molds! NO bubbles!

Oh, forgot to add it does come with two stainless steel plates about a meter each in length to help with take off from the belt once you have the paper filled with pieces.

Photos!

Chocolate Caramels Scored and Ready for Cutting

OM8diWhutD8o_1vGIzrsRmD24MTB4S5j.jpg

The enrober

dmquFWmR5z8XApBSmXFXahOFK-V2ijSN.jpg

Me at the Machine

AB-2yO90gD9U7NM-nXwzAGz-bxLEHBm-.jpg

Chocolate Caramels Enrobed with Texture Sheets

Lxn2iv2h7j9JWdrLbtAP7BVkHjaZ4yFI.jpg

Finished Pieces, Still would like cleaner squares on top, but they'll sell!

eJn-TE1RsD9Jfh5-6ZPR7ysnHa8I4OaU.jpg

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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Jeffrey - what are you after when you say 'cleaner' on top? With ganaches in Belgium Steph had us spread a thin foot layer on the top of the slab immediately before cutting - so you cut while it was still soft. It made for much sharper edges on the enrobed tops.

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Jeffrey - what are you after when you say 'cleaner' on top?  With ganaches in Belgium Steph had us spread a thin foot layer on the top of the slab immediately before cutting - so you cut while it was still soft.  It made for much sharper edges on the enrobed tops.

I want my textures or transfers to end up with a more square pattern that is more flush with the actual shape of the piece, without the rounded corners. It would be a bit hard to do on caramels since they take a while to cut, but for regular slabs, that would be easy. I have also read the suggestion of letting your cut slab pieces dry out an additional night to firm them up after the cutting. Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try that.

Edited by Marmalade (log)

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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Jeffrey - what are you after when you say 'cleaner' on top?  With ganaches in Belgium Steph had us spread a thin foot layer on the top of the slab immediately before cutting - so you cut while it was still soft.  It made for much sharper edges on the enrobed tops.

I want my textures or transfers to end up with a more square pattern that is more flush with the actual shape of the piece, without the rounded corners. It would be a bit hard to do on caramels since they take a while to cut, but for regular slabs, that would be easy. I have also read the suggestion of letting your cut slab pieces dry out an additional night to firm them up after the cutting. Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try that.

Are you rubbing the tops after you place the texture sheet? You might be able to square them up a bit that way too for the caramels.

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Yes, just enough pressure so they get flush.

One way to eliminate the rounded corners of the structure sheet is to use a puffy blush/cosmetics brush on the top. It would be a lot more work. I think you'd have to cut the structure sheet into individual squares and place each piece one at a time.

Currently I don't have an enrober, but that's what we did when I worked at a chocolate shop in France.

John DePaula
formerly of DePaula Confections
Hand-crafted artisanal chocolates & gourmet confections - …Because Pleasure Matters…
--------------------
When asked “What are the secrets of good cooking? Escoffier replied, “There are three: butter, butter and butter.”

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Yes, just enough pressure so they get flush.

One way to eliminate the rounded corners of the structure sheet is to use a puffy blush/cosmetics brush on the top. It would be a lot more work. I think you'd have to cut the structure sheet into individual squares and place each piece one at a time.

Currently I don't have an enrober, but that's what we did when I worked at a chocolate shop in France.

Thanks for the tip. I have cut the texture sheets up but hadn´t heard of the brush technique. I will have to try it.

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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Yes, just enough pressure so they get flush.

One way to eliminate the rounded corners of the structure sheet is to use a puffy blush/cosmetics brush on the top. It would be a lot more work. I think you'd have to cut the structure sheet into individual squares and place each piece one at a time.

Currently I don't have an enrober, but that's what we did when I worked at a chocolate shop in France.

Thanks for the tip. I have cut the texture sheets up but hadn´t heard of the brush technique. I will have to try it.

I saw that Lior just posted some pix from her class (Trendy Pralines Callebaut) and if I may borrow one, it partially illustrates the technique about which I was talking:

gallery_53591_4944_54536.jpg

To me, the acetate in the pic doesn't look quite stiff enough to get a nice flat surface, but you should be able to do so with a stiffer grade acetate and certainly with the structure sheets cut into squares.

John DePaula
formerly of DePaula Confections
Hand-crafted artisanal chocolates & gourmet confections - …Because Pleasure Matters…
--------------------
When asked “What are the secrets of good cooking? Escoffier replied, “There are three: butter, butter and butter.”

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Yes, just enough pressure so they get flush.

One way to eliminate the rounded corners of the structure sheet is to use a puffy blush/cosmetics brush on the top. It would be a lot more work. I think you'd have to cut the structure sheet into individual squares and place each piece one at a time.

Currently I don't have an enrober, but that's what we did when I worked at a chocolate shop in France.

Thanks for the tip. I have cut the texture sheets up but hadn´t heard of the brush technique. I will have to try it.

I saw that Lior just posted some pix from her class (Trendy Pralines Callebaut) and if I may borrow one, it partially illustrates the technique about which I was talking:

gallery_53591_4944_54536.jpg

To me, the acetate in the pic doesn't look quite stiff enough to get a nice flat surface, but you should be able to do so with a stiffer grade acetate and certainly with the structure sheets cut into squares.

I saw that, I also appreciated the tip about putting the pieces on the enrober to feed corner first, hadn't thought of that.

Jeffrey Stern

www.jeffreygstern.com

http://bit.ly/cKwUL4

http://destination-ecuador.net

cocoapodman at gmail dot com

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