Chocolate Coating Machine: The Ultimate Buying Guide

A chocolate coating machine, also known as a chocolate enrober, is a smart investment for any food processing business.

This machine can coat almost anything with a solid, uniform layer of chocolate.

Buying it for your business will enable you to turn ordinary foodstuff into savory chocolate-covered confections-all while saving labor and improving your ROI.

So if you want to chocolate coat but aren’t sure where to start, this guide is helpful.

It includes all the basic information you need to get started, including the machine’s benefits, features, working principles, and types, etc.

Benefits of Chocolate Coating

Chocolate coating

To begin with, for you to consider chocolate coating, you must have your reasons. Most of which I bet are related to improving product outlook and sales.

Or, maybe you want to venture into a new niche of food processing and production.

Whatever the reason, chocolate coating is a trend that is taking the food industry by storm.

Some of the main benefits include:

• Helping to mask the odor and taste of some foods
• Adding flavor to bland foods
• Helping to make products more palatable
• Enhancing product durability/shelf life
• Improving product structure and texture

Generally, the chocolate coating helps to improve the overall appearance, texture, taste, and longevity of foods.

It also helps to enhance your brand image while increasing product sales.

These are enough reasons to want to include chocolate coating in your manufacturing, and be able to stay ahead of the competition.

Why You Need Chocolate Coating Machine

Understanding why you need a chocolate coating machine is as important as knowing the benefits of the coating.

Chocolate coating machine

With this, you can evaluate your production process and make a wise and informed decision on whether an enrober is necessary or not.

And if it is, which one is best suitable for your needs.

That said, here are some important benefits of a chocolate coating machine;

• helps to increase production levels and volume
• Saves on labor costs as most of them operate automatically
• Ensures that you have a complete product with a perfect finish
• Delivers more consistent coating results compared to manual dipping
• Allows for more efficient use of materials
• Allows for greater control and consistency of products
• Reduces production costs significantly

Were you worried about the effect that this machine may have on your production costs, sales, etc.?

Well, now you know that there is nothing to worry about as this machine will be a worthy investment to your business.

Features of Chocolate Coating Machine

As you consider buying a chocolate coating machine, keep in mind that there are parameters that you have to consider.

These parameters include design and structure, technology, and quality compliance, among others.

Allow me to explain these elements in more detail.

Features of chocolate coating machine

· Design of Chocolate Coating Machine

The design of your chocolate coating machine will highly determine its efficiency and reliability.

With this, you can determine whether the machine meets your application requirements or not.

In this regard, consider the material used, configuration, as well as parts and components of the machine.

The size and weight are also crucial design elements to consider.

These will determine the amount of space to be taken by the machine after assembly and installation.

· Technology and Automation Integration of Chocolate Coating Machine

Technology in today’s manufacturing is an ally to always want on your side.

The best quality equipment with the newest technology will undoubtedly improve the overall performance of your business.

Chocolate coating machines with the latest features such as a microprocessor, HMI touch screen panel, and thermoregulator can get work done in less time and with less manpower compared to non-automatic models, although costlier.

The possibility for automation integration also makes a unit more suitable as it improves production efficiency while reducing wasted time and material.

You need a machine that you can integrate with other chocolate machines such as chocolate wrapping machine, chocolate depositor machine, or chocolate molding machine.

· Quality of Chocolate Coating Machine

When venturing into the chocolate coating, you need to dedicate as much of your budget to finding the best available chocolate coating machine.

The most important thing to consider is the quality of the machine and if it complies with the set industry standards.

It also has to feature the best quality material, technology as well as design.

· Safety of Chocolate Coating Machine

Safety is critical for any manufacturing equipment.

And as this is to be set and used in the production area, it has to assure the highest level of safety.

A good chocolate coating machine is one that anticipates danger, then offers a solution.

For instance, a machine with emergency switches, alarms, and lights allows for easy control during emergencies.

An isolated material processing section, too, is a crucial feature. It allows for an airtight operation as well as prevents contamination.

The machine should also have an interlocking system such that one cannot access the electrical panels when the power is on.

You should also buy a chocolate coating machine that has clear-marked components for easy identifiability.

This way, you avoid cases of confusion that could cause great danger.

These are some of the safety features to look for in a good quality chocolate coating machine.

Remember, not all machines are built the same.

Different brands and models feature different designs and configurations.

Meaning, some of these features may be absent in some models, while some units may come with additional safety features.

The ultimate goal, however, is to find a machine that is safe to use and operate.

Types of Chocolate Coating Machines

 SaintyCo chocolate coating machine

To match specific application requirements, chocolate coating machines are available in a variety of types.

Unfortunately, we can’t discuss all of the types of chocolate coating machines today.

So for the scope of this guide, I will focus on these four types of machines.

· Automatic Chocolate Coating Machine

The automatic chocolate coating machine is the most popularly used machine for large-scale chocolate coating applications.

These machines include fully automated (and often programmable) preset processing parameters only with a press of a button.

The automatic coating pump and speed and temperature controls work together to produce the highest quality chocolate coating results.

Automatic enrober models also come with the advantage of a fully automated processing line that can be linked to an exit belt or a cooling tunnel.

They are also easy to clean and maintain.

Besides, with or without automatic tempering, all parameters on an automatic chocolate coating machine can be set on the touch screen control panel.

· Nut Chocolate Coating Machine

Nut chocolate coating machines are used to coat all kinds of dry nuts with liquid chocolate. With this machine, you can coat any nuts from macadamia, peanuts, almonds, pistachios, cashew nuts, walnuts, etc.

This machine follows the same working principle as other chocolate coating machines to ensure the highest quality coating results.

Also, they can come as a fully integrated processing line or not.

· Mini Chocolate Coating Machine

If you can’t match the price of the high-quality large volume enrobing lines, a mini coating machine works well as an alternative.

This machine is perfect for a small-scale production environment that needs the highest quality of enrobing.

A mini enrober will work to your scale and budget, offering a combination of built-in flexibility, speed, and high-quality production

The best part?

In addition to being inexpensive, mini enrobers feature a small but compact design that is often light, and portable.

The small size and weight also make these machines easy to disassemble for cleaning and maintenance.

· Chocolate Coating Pan Machine

A chocolate coating pan machine is more of a traditional technology machine used to coat products via the panning method.

It consists of an ellipsoidal-shaped pan made of stainless steel and mounted on top of the gearbox shaft of the machine.

An electric motor drives the shaft during operation.

Although it is an old technology, most panning machines today can control temperature and airflow.

This helps to give you/the operator complete control over the coating process.

Some models even come with automatic spray systems which evenly distribute chocolate during the initial coating process.

Compared to the other enrobers mentioned above, chocolate panning machines are cheaper priced.

A quality panning machine may range anywhere from USD 3000 to USD 7000.

You can find simpler models from as low as USD1300.

Remember, the best solution for a chocolate coating system depends on the application or product.

What are you using the machine for?

What products do you intend to coat?

What turnover rate are you looking for?

These are some of the questions whose answers can help you pick a machine that’s suitable for your intended application.

Components of Chocolate Coating Machine

A chocolate coating machine is an assembly of various parts and components.

The number of parts in any enrobing machine will vary greatly depending on the model, size, and functionality of the machine.

Pan Chocolate coating machine

For a standard chocolate coating machine, components may include;

• Electronic speed control; for optimizing the coating of different types and sizes of products
• Thermoregulator; to allow for easy and quick adjustment of temperature to suit the required processing
• HMI control panel; the user-friendly human interface control panel allows for easy and seamless operation of the chocolate coating machine.
• Feed tank; this is where you introduce the products that you need to coat. Depending on the type of machine, the feed tank can include a wire mesh rack or container for placing the products.
• Coating pumps; the primary function of the coating pumps is to facilitate the flow of liquid chocolate onto products for coating.
• Cooling tunnel; for fully integrated systems, a cooling tunnel allows for easy, quick, and proper cooling and solidification of chocolate coating on products
• Conveyor belt; again, this only comes with fully integrated line models. Its function is to relay products from the coating area to the cooling tunnel.
• Melting tank; this is a stainless steel tank that you use to feed and melt chocolate into liquid chocolate for coating

These are not the only parts of a chocolate coating machine.

But as I said, the components vary greatly from one machine to another.

What you should know, however, is that most chocolate coating machines today come as a complete line of equipment.

It includes;

• a tampering system where preparation of liquid chocolate occurs
• coating machine for actual coating of products
• Cooling tunnel for cooling and solidifying coating on products.

You can summarize all these into one processing line as shown in the image below;

Fully automatic chocolate coating machine

Now you know what makes up an enrobing machine.

The next step is to find out how these components come into play in the actual chocolate coating process.

How Chocolate Coating Machine Works

The chocolate coating is a multistep finishing process.

And as I’ve mentioned severally, most chocolate coating machines come fully integrated with equipment that handles the coating process from start to finish.

Smaller machines can also be bought separately from the cooling tunnel, although this is less common.

At the very least, most coating machines will come with a tempering system.

Here are the stages involved in a complete chocolate coating machine line:

Step 1: Chocolate Melting

The first step in the enrobing process is to place the chocolate in the tempering system for melting.

The tempering system, as you know, is connected to the coating machine.

This helps to facilitate easy and quick transfer of the liquid chocolate for the coating stage.

Step 2: Coating

After melting chocolate, you will need to place the products you want to coat on the machine’s feed band, which could be a wire-mesh rack or containers.

The feed band will then carry the items through the bottom bed of the machine up to the coating area.

Here, the products are carried towards the machine’s coating pumps, which create a continuous chocolate waterfall that covers the product.

Note that the coating pumps perform the actual coating of the item.

So immediately products pass under the coating pumps, the wire rack vibrates ensuring that the chocolate has evenly coated the item on the bottom.

Blowers in the machine perform a similar function to ensure that the coating doesn’t pool on top of the product.

This is a problem that’s quite common with large flat products such as cakes.

Any chocolate that does not end up on the product drains through the wire mesh rack.

Some machines may cycle the unused chocolate back into the tempering system to avoid wastage.

Others, especially the more advanced models, will come with a tail cutter that removes the chocolate tail left by the enrober.

Chocolate coating process

Step 3: Cooling

In this step, the wire rack with coated products moves through a preliminary conveyor.

The conveyor then transfers the products into a cooling tunnel where the products are left to cool and the chocolate coat to solidify.

Note that the cooling area of an enrobing line is usually a long insulated tunnel that is maintained at a constant, low temperature.

This is critical to the outcome of the coated product.

If your machine does not have a cooling tunnel, you will need to manually transfer the coated products to a refrigeration system for cooling.

Step 4: Packaging

Your products are now ready, fully coated, and cooled.

The next and last step is to sort the products for uneven or improper coating.

Remove any products that are not correctly coated, or that may have been damaged during the coating process.

What remains is now ready for packaging and distribution/shipping/transportation.

Uses of Chocolate Coating Machine

Coated chocolate

The primary function of a chocolate enrobing machine is to coat items with a uniform layer of chocolate.

It is used mostly in the food manufacturing and processing industry to coat candy, nuts, biscuits, dried fruits, cakes, and much more.

The machine is also used in the pharmaceutical industry to coat pills, tablets, and lozenges as a way of masking their taste and odor.

Chocolate Coating Machine Quality Compliance

As earlier mentioned, quality and reliable chocolate coating machine should have all the necessary compliance certifications.

The first and most important one is the cGMP certification.

This requires the design and structure of the machine to comply with cGMP standards.

Another standard that the machine must conform to is the FDAmanufacturingstandards.

This is a requirement for all food manufacturing and processing equipment.

Other certifications may include RoHS, which shows that the product is made with non-toxic material and CE for those importing the machine to EU countries.

With a quality compliant machine, you can be sure of the highest quality chocolate process

Conclusion

Hopefully, this guide has helped answer your basic questions about the chocolate coating machines.

You now know what chocolate coating is, its benefits, how it is done, and all you need to buy the best enrober for your needs.

If you still have questions or concerns about this topic, feel free to contact us anytime, we will be glad to help.