[peterstjohn]

Two hours is _really_ fast (normally you end up grinding for 8+ hours), so I'm curious as to what the ball mill does differently than other melangeurs.

The yield is quite low (250g) when you consider you can easily get 2kg out of a Premier Wonder machine for around $300. Yes, you'll have to temper the chocolate yourself, but these days you can do that really easily with a water bath and some cocoa butter (the 'silk' method).

[CocoTerra]

Hi Peter - This is Nate, the founder of CocoTerra. I just stumbled onto this thread and wanted to answer your questions. The first big difference has to do with efficiency of the grinding and refining process using a ball mill. The stone systems are not very efficient (they only process ingredients at the intersection of the stone cylinder and the bottom platform - a line). It can take many, many hours or even a few days to make chocolate that way. Also, it can take 45 mins to pour the ingredients into a melangeur while you can pour the ingredients into the CocoTerra maker in about 30 seconds. The 250g is the equivalent of about 3-4 bars of bean-to-bar chocolate which we thought was a good amount for a dinner party or for someone's weekly consumption. These ~1/2 lb batches also allow users to get creative and make custom batches with all sorts of different flavorings, inclusions and designs. 2kg of chocolate is a pretty significant commitment. The goal/hope is to simplify the chocolate making process so more people can experience it and create chocolate that is unique and fun.