I am a long time coffee roaster and know it is important to cool coffee as fast as possible.  How quickly do I have to cool my cocoa beans?  I’m worried they going to over roast if I don’t get them cool in a couple minutes, especially in the Behmor roaster.

I use my Sous Vide for so many things and am planning on making silk. My question is however have you tempered chocolate using a sous vide

For almost 6 months or so, I've been using coconut sugar (we are trying to be organic, low sugar, etc.), and the last batch of sugar I bought from my usual supplier was moist.

Hi John! I apologize if I am inquiring at the wrong time; I'm not sure who is managing emails right now. I hope all is well and you are having a nice recovery! If you are able to reply, I had a few questions.

This is an awkward email to write as it has basically nothing to do with chocolate but instead Chocolate Alchemy and myself and something that might affect you (yeah, you probably want to read all of this).

Instead of whole cacao nibs, can I buy cracked cacao nibs from health store and put it in Melanger
Instead of cracked cocao nibs can I buy raw cacao powder from health store and put it in Melanger

How do I maintain a large batch of chocolate at 92-93° while pouring multiple molds? Can it drop below that and still maintain the temper?

It is a bit snowy here

I have a question about tempering which answer I can’t find anywhere and I’m hoping you can help.  Simply, why are the tempering temperatures have to be different for dark, milk and white chocolate?  Is it because of the greater amount of cocoa butter in the milk and white chocolates?

One thing I can’t find an answer about is how I should go about sorting my beans.  I have tried a bunch of different ways and nothing really seems to improve my chocolate every time.  I see so many chocolate makers sorting but just can’t figure it out.  Please help!!

 1. If I am using the melanger to make Dark Chocolate, I do not make chocolate liquor correct? I just use the roasted/cracked/winnowed cacao nibs and put them directly into the melanger? When would I need to make chocolate liquor?

Before we jump into the NINE (9) new beans, I want to let everyone know that the dates are set for the next in depth, full day, Drum Roasting Profile Seminar.  Spots (limited to 10 each) are starting to fill up.

I would appreciate if you could provide any specific bean recommendation to make milk chocolate.

How do we store chocolate that is coming out of the Melanger? Does it have to be tempered first? Or can we just pour it into a container?  I can’t seem to find the answer.

First of all I want to thank you for the incredibly useful free content on your website.  It is a mixed blessing in that I seem to be frozen with indecision where to start.  I’m sure you have gone over this but what do you suggest?  How do I get started making chocolate?

I make ganache and if you let it set and if you don't make it with a lot of cream it can set up nicely. So my question is this. Why no wet ingredients if you know how to incorporate them like in making ganache?

Time to get your orders in for Christmas delivery

The holiday schedule