[LotusCakeStudio]

In the other forum, I posted about selling my vegan truffles on a large scale. If I end up selling a lot of them, getting a tempering machine is going to be a neccessity. I've seen some (in PAD) for $400 and others for $700. I've even seen one for $1,000. I don't mind paying more for a quality product, but at the same time, if the less expensive one is just as good, no point in wasting money. Which brand to buy? What type of features should I be looking for? Any other advice to offer?

[W.DeBord]

I don't have one, never did, but I have looked alittle at them over the years. The problem is that the ones that are affordable don't melt enough chocolate fast enough to make any real production. Then the ones that do melt alot their prices were sky high.

I remember recieving info. for a product advertised in Chocolatier magazine. They mail you a video tape of their product line as well as a brocure. Anyway I remember the tape made some comparisions with other manufactors (to show how their product was better). It might be a place to begin looking and the answers might become clear to you as you look.

Check out an issue of Chocolatier and Pastry Art & Design to get the names of the manufactors. To speed things up look up the companys on line.....

[breadster]

hi lotuscake-

i have worked with tempering machines for years- i have 2 kinds - the $1000 Hilliard and the $400 Sinsation by Chandre. I use them both- sometimes at the same time. Let me explain. First i had the Hilliard- and once i had the technique down of melting chocolate in the microwave before seeding it i could actually do batch after batch and achieve some quantity- biggest problem i found was changing the machine over if i wanted to do white chocolate- the cleaning of all parts including screws became excrutiating- so i bought the sinsation to augment the other- it takes much lesser quantity- its biggest flaw- and yet sometimes an advantage- because the clean up is so easy- also it is computerized and quite accurate wheras you really have to know your viscosities and tempering degrees of your chocolate etc with the Hilliard

actually neither machine is a substitution for understanding chocolate

but i wouldnt do my chocolate work without them - they really enable you to "produce"-
if you get to the point where you decide to get one and want more details and tips and tricks i'll be happy to fill you in- private email if you wish - at the risk of boring others- but i'd definitely start with the Sinsation- good product support and it's something you can always use- it's small and transportable -hope this helps

[LotusCakeStudio]

Thanks for the replies. Funny thing, I remembered the name "Sinsation" from seeing it in PAD so I typed, "www.sinsation.com" into my broswer. And uh... it wasn't the site for the tempering machine, if you catch my drift. But I *did* find the real site. I also found a couple others. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the Sinsation have a 2.5 pound capacity machine? That one seems to make more sense. Because out of all the ones I saw online, it was either 1.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds, or 10 pounds for $5,000. *ouch!* But I don't think I'll ever be at that stage of needing to do 10 pounds of chocolate at a time anyway. Anyhow, I wish there was something in between like 5 pounds. If it's out there, I haven't seen it. I currently temper in the microwave and I'll be using it for a while, but it's good to know that the Sinsation is a good product. Where did you get yours for $400? I thought it was $400, but when I looked at the site, it was $459 plus $14 s&h and an additional $25 because of the weight. That puts it to just under $500. Thanks!

[breadster]

its called inflation and 3 years ago