We've noticed that different beans seems to have different amounts of intrinsic oil. The Peruvian Maranon seems to have quite a bit of oil and produces a chocolate that flows very easily but it tricky to temper correctly. Is there a way to know in advance the amount of oil in a bean so we can adjust the amount of cocoa butter we add?

It is another of the short and sweet speed rounds of Ask the Alchemist.

What is your favorite chocolate?

I want to make my own brewing cocoa.  I have a really good coffee grinder so I am all set there.  How can I use the Behmor for roasting brewing cocoa?  Do I have to remove the husk?  Are some beans better than others for brewing?  Thanks for all you do.

I was wondering about adding flavors to the white chocolate in the melanger? At which point? I was considering using oils unless you have another recommendation.  Do you know ratios to attempt to begin with? Thinking of Orange, Lemon, lavender - not altogether.

I have read about that volatile compounds are released and the acidity in the chocolate drops as it is refined.  I tried to test the changes in pH.   After 12 hours there was hardly any change in pH (7.1 to 6.9). It clearly tastes different even after 12 hours but the acidity didn’t change.  How can I measure and track and acidity?

I notice you advocate dropping your beans into a hot roaster.  I assume this is because you want Maillard reactions and Strecker degradation products.  Is there a certain temperature that works best for these products?

Finishing phase. 

This phase extends from a bean temperature of 232 F until you decide your beans are fully roasted, generally 245-270 F, and lasts 3-6 minutes with the temperature continually rising.

I am roasting to reduce acidity and boost chocolate flavor: I use a 3k drum coffee roaster. Would you recommend roasting a bit longer or hotter maybe 25 minutes building up to 290 degrees?  For the Ugandan I've been enjoying a 21 min roast at 275 tops. 

How can I relate this (the roasting profiles) to what happens in my Behmor, where I cannot control the temperature in subtle ways? 

Is testing the moisture level of the beans before roasting needed? I thought it may help cut back on the dry phase stage to insure you don't over roast. It's just I've seen coffee roasters do it.

I’ve been roasting in my convection oven at 250 F but I can’t tell when the beans are done.  How do I tell?

Could I ask your opinion about how the Gourmia compare to the Behmor roaster? I'm thinking of getting either from you. I'm hoping to roast both cacao and coffee beans.

In one of your articles you mentioned you like silk tempering more than chocolate seed tempering because of the strength of type V crystals in tempered cocoa butter. Can a chocolate tempered with chocolate seed have a chance of blooming because of the seed? I'm not sure if my last question made any sense but all I'm trying to understand is why chocolate seed crystals are not as good as silk seed crystals?   

Here's where I am coming from. I made a batch of 73% chocolate using the Lam Dong beans from Vietnam. The tropical fruity taste and tangy hints are excellent in this chocolate. It peaks about 4-5 seconds after placing it in your mouth and lasts about 4 seconds - it was heavenly. However, I found this fruity tang peaked on the second or third day after making the chocolate and then declined in intensity after that. I had placed the batch in a plastic container and sealed it but there was a lot of air space. So, how do you preserve this little piece of heaven? Tighter sealing? Freezing? or just accept it does not last long? I checked your answers, and did not see anything on storage of chocolate.

I am really sorry but I keep reading all the different ways I can temper and I am so confused.  I don’t know which way to pick.  It does not make sense that they can all work.  How should I temper my chocolate and do I have to do it right out of the melanger?  Will it be ruined if I don’t?

Coming from a coffee roasting background, it's difficult to get away from the roasting precision requirements and theory minutia.  I keep telling myself, its not as important with cacao beans, but I still get a little lost trying to plan out what I'm going to do.

Is 'Behmor' impossible to adjust temperature in any profiles?
I read your articles of Behmor and all I could see was the 'Power(%)' of heat and time.
Not exact temperature.
So it looks as if I can roast beans with fixed profiles only.
Because I like to roast with flexible (manual?) temperature and time running.

I use a Chocovision Delta to temper chocolate and have two questions:

(1) In using the seeding method (with tempered chocolate from the bag or from a bar of the same chocolate), I learned that it doesn't take very much seed for the chocolate to test as in temper--not the 30% or so that many (most?) people recommend.

Have you seen any stone grinders (of similar size) with more metal than plastic in the center bearing shaft?    We are trying to shy away from as much plastic as possible. The Delrin (= polyformaldehyde) does not seem so friendly either. 

 There is nothing unfriendly about Delrin.  The poly makes ALL the difference.