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 can’t get tempering down. I follow everything but no matter what my chocolate blooms.  Here is my last batch.  I am being super careful and using the syringe you recommend or a small ladle so it is perfect.  Could my nibs be bad or the cocoa butter I added be defective?

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.

These are the kind of announcements I live for.  Don't get me wrong, I like offering new beans.  But they are ephemeral.  Equipment though.  I love that because it gives you more arrows in your chocolate making quiver. 

What is your experience how the growers are treating their crops

with toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and low quality chemical

fertilizers? Like Avocados being one of the least sprayed and Tomatoes

one of the most toxic sprayed. And must be eaten as organically grown.

Where do you place yorr Cacao Beans?

Will you be selling cocoa butter silk after the weather warms up?

The flavor of cherry comes charging out of the gate with the cherry liquor Kirsch right on its heels.

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.

Can you have too much of a good thing?  With these three new beans that brings your choices for Peru to 7.  That's just crazy but I have no control when it come to passing up good beans.  And all of them are certified Organic.

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.

I'm interested in buying your winnower but I am going to use the crankandstein instead of the champion to crack my beans. I noticed your winnower is connected to a champion. For lack of better words, what are my options here?