Chocolate Enrobing Machine: The Ultimate FAQs Guide

In this guide, you will find all information you’re looking for about chocolate enrobing machine.

From features, parts, working principle, to classification, among other critical aspects – by the end of this guide, you will be an expert in chocolate enrobing machine.

Keep reading to learn more.

What is a Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

Chocolate enrobing machine

This is a piece of equipment commonly used for coating different food materials with different coating mediums.

In some instances, it is referred to as a chocolate enrober or merely an enrober.

It is integrated with different equipment to create a seamless production line for coating solutions.

Chocolate enrober is mainly used in the confectionery industry and comes in handy in other applications such as pharmaceuticals.

Nonetheless, you can find it in different varieties based on technical features, structural specifications, size, surface material, etc.

Also, you can use several ingredients on this machine to coat different food materials as long as they meet the necessary requirements.

What are the Key Features of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

A typical chocolate enrober has many features, which are imperative in determining its efficiency, reliability, and overall production.

Therefore, it is vital to understand and know the role of such features in the performance of this equipment, especially before buying it.

However, these features often vary from one enrober to another depending on numerous factors, including the model and customization.

Some of the core features of this particular enrobing equipment include the following;

Temperature control – An automated feature regulating temperature requirements of the machine based on the product needs.

Digital PLC display – Features an LCD touchscreen with an HMI control system for regulating various parameters of the machine.

Stainless steel surface – Enhances strength, stability, and hygiene concerns of the machine in the production process.

Adopt power rating

Highly versatile – You can use it to coat different food ingredients such as caramel, sugar icing, fondant, etc., on various food products.

Compact structural design – Improves convenience during transportation and installation. It also allows it to cover a small part of your workspace.

Weight subject to design requirements – It is dependent on various factors, including the size, customization needs, etc.

Compatibility with other equipment – You can easily integrate it with different auxiliary machines to form a solid production line.

Is there a Difference between Chocolate Enrober and Chocolate Panning Machine?

chocolate panning machine

Yes.

Technically, chocolate enrober is used for applying powder or liquid ingredients onto the surface of food, chocolate, or pharmaceutical product.

The essence is to transform the properties of such products into enhanced taste, performance, and appearance among others.

On the contrary, a chocolate panning machine is a piece of electromechanical device used for adding different candy shells to chocolates and nuts.

Chocolate enrober adds the coating element on the surface material mainly for functional, decorative, or both purposes.

On the other hand, chocolate panning enforces the strength of the food by incorporating the shells on the surface of specific food materials.

Another difference is that a chocolate enrobing machine can cover the entire part or a mere section of the food products it is coating.

Chocolate panning machine, on the other hand, covers the entire product surface.

Why should you Invest in Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

This piece of equipment provides a wide range of benefits in the overall chocolate enrobing process making it a worthy investment.

Some of the reasons you need to consider investing in this machine include the following;

1. Increases production and volume levels gave it feature several automated functions, which enhance the speed.
2. Reduces operation costs significantly since the machine is automated thus will rarely need intensive human labor to operate.
3. Enhances quality of production because it provides greater control, which improves the consistency of products throughout.
4. Delivers relatively consistent coating results on all the products you are producing compared to the traditional manual dipping technique.
5. Guarantees a complete product with an excellent finish matching the desirable results.
6. Saves time and resources since the machine only enrobes the right food products. In other words, it has a “no-product-no-enrobing” feature, which facilitates proper material utilization.

What are the Benefits of Continuous Chocolate Enrober?

continuous chocolate enrobing machine

An ideal continuous chocolate enrobing machine offers various advantages as far as production, efficiency, and reliability aspects are concerned.

Some of the obvious benefits of this enrober variant include the following;

1. Provides enrobing solutions 24/7 and guarantees large volume and excellent flexibility.
2. Features a broad range of auxiliary equipment, which is vital in allowing in-depth integration with the current and new production lines.
3. Offers faster turnaround of enrobing ingredients, thus reducing downtime and cost while it increases throughput.
4. It features a closed water system with an in-built heat exchanger offering precision temperature control. In the long run, this provides a consistent greater product quality.
5. Constructed from stainless steel material, making it hardy, more resistant to harsh conditions, and relatively easy to clean.
6. Comes with numerous automated functions integrated with a user-friendly human-machine interface (HMI) for easy control of different parameters.

Which are the Main Parts of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

A typical chocolate enrobing equipment consists of a broad range of parts and components.

All these parts are synchronized to ensure they operate and attain the desired machine efficiency accordingly.

Nevertheless, these units are pretty simple thus easy to comprehend, and they include the following;

• Wire belt – Facilitates product transportation through all the stations within the production line
• Chocolate tank – Consists of a water jacketing and agitation ideal for temperature control.
• Chocolate tempering – Facilitates onboard and outboard of enrobing materials.
• Blower station – Reduces amount of chocolate on the top and sides of the particular coated product.
• Chocolate pump – Circulates chocolate ingredients to the enrobing station.
• Vibration station – Removes excess chocolate on the sides of coated products.
• Enrobing station – Features a waterfall-like curtain to coat top and bottom of the product.
• Licking roller – Reduces and controls the amount of chocolate on the bottom part of the product.
• De-tailing rod – Eliminates smaller chocolate tails as they move to the cooling tunnel.

Which is the Best Material for Making Contact Parts of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

Stainless steel.

Arguably, this specific material is considered as the most suitable for making contact parts of this equipment.

It features anti-bacterial features, which is essential in food handling and production processes.

As such, it means the material prevents the food products from contaminating immediately after processing.

Stainless steel is also easy to clean. You only need to use non-abrasive detergents or washing solutions to clean the surface.

In essence, it allows you to remove any hidden food debris from the surface material, which can lead to food contamination.

Moreover, this material exhibits excellent resistance to high temperature and corrosive materials.

What is the Working Principle of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

Ordinarily, the chocolate enrobing process through the enrober occurs in various stages.

In many instances, relatively large enrobers come complete with the equipment handling the process from the start to the end.

However, you can also purchase smaller enrobing machines in separate components and integrate them to form a single unit.

Nevertheless, here is how a typical chocolate enrobing machine works;

• Chocolate ingredients are placed in a tempering machine to melt and turn into a smooth liquid.

Tempering machine is integrated with the enrober to supply liquid chocolate at the enrobing stage.

• Chocolate ingredient is placed on a wire rack, which carries it through the prebottomer for even enrobing.
• Wire rack carries the product towards the enrober and facilitating its passage through a preliminary cooling tunnel.

This is essential since it helps to solidify the chocolate ingredients, which the prebottomer applies.

• The conveyor transports the product towards the coating pump to forming a continuous chocolate waterfall, which covers the item.

It is at this specific stage where the actual enrobing occurs with the aid of the coating pumps.

• Chocolate, which fails to get on the product, drains back through the wire rack.

In some units, the unused chocolate returns to the tempering system.

• The product moves to the vibrating table once it leaves the coating pumps.

In essence, the wire rack vibrates vigorously to ensure chocolate ingredient coats evenly on the entire bottom surface of the product.

Blowers also perform a similar function by ensuring chocolate hardly pools on the top of the product.

• The product moves to the tail cutter or de-tailing rod to eliminate unwanted chocolate pieces, which the enrober leaves.
• Chocolate-covered products are then transferred to wax paper to make it easy to remove them once they cool.
• The chocolate-enrobed products then move to the cooling tunnel for ultimate solidification and exiting from the machine for packaging.

A cooling tunnel is typically, long and insulated tunnel maintained at a constant low temperature. It leads to a glossy, hard finish product with optimal shelf-life.

Which are the Products that you can Process with a Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

They are quite a number and cut across different industries mostly, confectionery, food, and pharmaceutical products.

Some of these products include the following;

• Biscuits
• Lozenges
• Tablets
• Ice cream
• Toffees
• Lollipop
• Candy bars
• Nuts
• Pills
• Softgel capsules

What are the Types of Conveyor Belt Systems of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

They are several, but the specific type is dependent on the particular type of chocolate enrober you are using.

Some of the commonly used conveyor belt systems of this equipment include the following;

Vibrating Conveyor Belt System

This system features a machine with a solid conveying surface turned up on the edges to create a trough.

It is an ideal option in chocolate enrobing since it guarantees sanitation, wash-down, and low maintenance.

Moreover, this system is suitable for harsh, corrosive, and hot surroundings associated with the enrobing process.

Flexible Conveyor Belt System

It is based on a conveyor beam in stainless steel or aluminum and features low-friction slide rails, which guard multi-flexing chains.

Conveyed products in this system travel directly on the conveyor or carriers.

This conveyor belt system is ideal for working around obstacles while keeping the production lines flowing.

Which are the Key Considerations during Selection of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

Technically, purchasing a chocolate enrobing machine is quite an investment.

Thus, you need to get the right one, which serves you efficiently and reliably.

For that reason, you need to factor in some fundamental elements during selection of this equipment to make it worthwhile.

Here are a few but critical considerations to look into when purchasing this machine;

Actual Application

Most enrobers in the market today are either versatile or specific as far as the particular application is concerned.

When purchasing this equipment, ensure you choose one, which meets your specific enrobing applications accordingly.

Production Volume

Ideally, chocolate enrobers come in different sizes, which influence the ultimate production volume.

They have different technical and structural features that determine the eventual capacity of the machine.

Nevertheless, always choose based on the ideal speed and other automation features, which influence overall production capacity.

 Integration to New or Existing Line

Ordinarily, chocolate enrobing machines in conjunction with other equipment to form a complete production line.

However, it is important to ensure the specific unit you are purchasing is compatible with the existing or new production line.

It should be easy to integrate since this enhances efficiency and reliability to a great extent.

Size

This unit is available in different dimensions ranging from compact, medium, and large.

It is imperative to choose a particular size, which meets your demands in terms of workspace and production capacity.

Moreover, you can consider a customized design to match the specific size of your preferred dimensions.

Auxiliary Features

Always consider whether your preferred chocolate enrober contains specific additional features that enhance the efficiency of the production process.

Ideally, choosing a machine with core auxiliary features gives you an edge in attaining efficiency, reliability, and performance.

Cost

Essentially, the price for different chocolate enrobing machines often varies depending on numerous factors.

However, it is vital to shop around and find a suitable price, which matches the unit’s specifications.

Can you find Small Scale Chocolate Enrober?

small scale choclate enrober

Yes.

Most manufacturers of these devices often produce different sizes to suit various needs of the users.

Small scale chocolate enrobing machine is suitable for relatively small-scale production in a comparatively small workspace.

It is also suitable if you are working on a tight budget, but you still yearn to attain high-quality enrobing results.

This chocolate enrober design offers fast disassembly and cleaning, which is vital in reducing downtime and speeding up product changes.

Also, it is practical and features a solid structural construction to guarantee consistent smooth enrobing.

What is a Pre-bottomer in a Chocolate Enrober Machine?

It refers to a component in an enrober responsible for coating the food products evenly from the bottom surface.

In some instances, it is known as a bottomer, but it essentially applies an even coat to the bottom of the food product going through enrobing process.

Ideally, some food products often have difficulty getting suitable bottom coverage.

Such products have irregular shapes, frozen, sticky, or soft surfaces.

Once the products are coated using prebottomers, they move to the enrober for complete coating, including the second bottom.

What is the Role of Tempering System in Chocolate Enrobing Line?

Technically, a tempering system in an enrober refers to a countertop electronic mixing and heating pan or appliance.

It is mainly designed to eliminate all guesswork and manual labor from tempering chocolate ingredients.

Ideally, melted raw chocolate for enrobing different food products is often tempered to make it smooth and crispy.

Failure to temper the chocolate ingredients results in dry, dull, unattractive, and uneven chocolate color.

However, a tempering system solves all these issues by automating the process causing chocolate molecular crystals to take on a particular even structure.

This system contains machines, which perform this by heating the chocolate ingredients to a precise temperature.

The machine also cools the ingredients slightly before reheating while it mixes the chocolate in a controlled manner.

Essentially, an ideal computer-controlled tempering system keeps chocolate in a tempered and melted state for hours.

This allows you to enrobe different food products without necessarily tending to the tempering process.

Can you perform all Enrobing Techniques with Chocolate Enrober Machine?

It is entirely dependent on the type of enrobing machine you are using.

Some machines come with operational settings, which allow you to determine all enrobing techniques for your particular food products.

Mostly, you’ll bottom enrobing involves coating the lower surface of the particular product.

This is ideal for products, which do not necessarily need to have coatings on both or all sides of the item.

You can also opt for half enrobing, which essentially is about coating a small portion of the product you are enrobing.

And lastly, you can opt for a complete enrobing method, which entails coating the entire surface of the particular product.

In most instances, full enrobing is usually done on pharmaceutical products. Although, you can also find other food products which apply full enrobing method.

Technically, depending on the chocolate enrobing machine you are using, you can consistently execute all enrobing techniques.

Are Cooling Tunnels Included with Chocolate Enrobing Machines?

Ordinarily, cooling tunnels are often considered as auxiliary equipment in a typical chocolate enrobing production line.

They come in different designs and sizes; hence one-size-fits-all rule can hardly apply when determining technical requirements of this component.

In general, you can always buy a cooling tunnel separately.

But you must ensure the specific one you are purchasing is compatible with your enrobing machine.

What is the Belt Width of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

Belt width of chocolate-making machine.

It depends on many factors, which include the following;

• Machine model – Mostly, different models often come with specific belt widths based on general output.
• Size – The bigger the enrober, the larger the belt width, and vice versa
• Speed – The faster the production speed, the larger the belt width and vice versa.

Nevertheless, the belt width for a typical chocolate enrobing machine ranges between 320mm to 820mm.

However, you can also go for a customized design, which meets your enrobing demands.

Does the Length of Cooling Tunnel Affect the Throughput of Chocolate Enrober?

Yes.

When all factors remain constant, a longer tunnel generates a faster belt speed.

And a faster belt speed translates to greater throughput.

On the other hand, a shorter cooling tunnel requires you to run the product relatively slow to make it cool properly.

In essence, this reduces the overall throughput significantly.

Are there Energy-Efficient Chocolate Enrobing Machines?

Yes.

Most modern chocolate enrobers are designed with a variety of energy-efficient features.

Energy-efficient enrobers use a revolutionary concept of transferring tempered chocolate mass directly from the temper system and injecting it into the consumption flow.

In essence, this maintains quality and consistency all through the delivery.

As such, it enables the tempering system and temperature index to remain constant throughout the entire process.

In the long run, this reduces energy consumption but at the same time gives you the highest possible quality results.

Which are the Auxiliary Equipment in a Chocolate Enrober Line?

Auxiliary equipment

They are quite a number depending on the specific type of product you are enrobing.

Nonetheless, here are among the common auxiliary equipment you can use in an enrober line;

• Tempering machine
• Cooling tunnel
• Feeder mixer
• De-tailing rod
• Quality assessment machine
• Weighing machine

Do you Provide Extra Customization for Chocolate Enrobing Machines?

Yes.

Essentially, the enrobing demands for different chocolatiers and other users of this machine are pretty unique.

Every user has their specific preferences regarding the entire enrobing process and the final product are concerned.

An ideal way of attaining this is by providing extra customizations for chocolate enrobing equipment.

This often involves customizing different components of the machine, such as elongating the cooling tunnel, etc.

In essence, customizations of this unit allow the user to attain their specific chocolate enrobing demands suitably.

When you need a customized unit, you can provide a prototype to the manufacturer to evaluate and approve its feasibility.

What is the Price of Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

Several factors determine the actual cost of a typical chocolate enrobing machine.

For instance, the user preferences, which may include customization of certain parts and components of the machine to suit their needs.

Ideally, a customized unit is more expensive than a standard design.

Also, the size and other additional features such as a number of automated elements determine the cost of this component.

The machine brand you are buying also plays a major determinant role in pricing the chocolate enrobing machine.

Reputable and popular manufacturers tend to price their enrobers more expensively than relatively less-popular brands.

Another price determinant aspect of this machine is the specific type of enrober you are purchasing.

Ordinarily, there is always an option of buying an all-in-one enrobing machine or purchasing the machine and its various components separately.

Of course, the former is more cost-effective than the latter, given you’ll find everything under one roof.

In general, a basic entry-level all-in-one chocolate enrobing machine is likely to cost about US $15,000.

But this type of enrober rarely offers any fancier features like blowers, vibrating tables, or product topper.

They are mainly suitable for small-scale confectionery production.

On the other hand, a relatively large and industrial-sized enrobing system costs about US $100,000.

These types offer a wide range of features, making them suitable for large-scale production and hi-tech laboratories.

In a nutshell, the price of a chocolate enrobing machine varies based on many factors, including the few mentioned above.

Is there a Standard Production Capacity for Chocolate Enrobing Machines?

Not really.

Several factors determine the production capacity of a particular chocolate enrober.

Ideally, the overall size, power rating, belt width, belt size, and automation level are among the main elements determining the production capacity.

Therefore, when choosing a specific unit, it is imperative to look into the features, determining the production volume.

It is also necessary to establish whether you can adjust the particular features to attain a higher or lower production capacity accordingly.

Can you Control the Chocolate Temperature with Chocolate Enrober Machine?

It depends on the specific type of chocolate enrobing equipment you are using.

Some enrobers come with a heated chocolate tank as standard equipment.

On the other hand, others come with a water-jacketed chocolate tank.

However, allowing a small amount of cold water into the water jacket makes it possible for the chocolate to cool down.

Alternatively, heating the internal rod also makes it easy to increase the temperature of the chocolate.

In essence, the cooling and heating feature is vital in manufacturing environments experiencing fluctuating ambient temperatures.

Such surroundings make it difficult to maintain a stable chocolate temperature.

Nevertheless, this machine is fitted with an electronic thermostat controlling the temperature of water in the jacket.

What are the Disadvantages of Buying Used Chocolate Enrobing Machine?

used chocolate enrobing machine

Buying a used chocolate enrobing machine is quite a gamble since it involves a lot of risks.

Some of the disadvantages of purchasing a used enrober include the following;

• Possible shorter life span
• Relatively low productivity
• Reduced warranty period
• High repair and maintenance cost
• Could be running on an obsolete technology
• Might be challenging to get some of its spare parts.
• Could be incompatible with some new or existing lines.

When looking for a chocolate enrobing machine, it is advisable to go for a new one.

It offers efficiency, reliability, low-cost maintenance, and easily integrated with existing and new production lines.

Most importantly, it gives you peace of mind knowing you are operating a certified unit.

Moreover, you can always find a new chocolate enrobing machine even when operating within a tight budget.

Different manufacturers also offer flexible payment methods making it easy for you to purchase a new one.

Therefore, save yourself from the fear of the unknown by considering a new chocolate enrober rather than a used one.

At SaintyCo, we have a range of chocolate machines for your unique application requirements.

Contact us now for all your chocolate enrobing machines.