Chocolate Crystals and what's up with Tempering

I’m trying to lay out a “big picture” that logically incorporates all the info out there about chocolate tempering. I have found articles that go into depth about the underlying chemistry of chocolate, without really conveying an understanding that is helpful in tempering. I have also found many tempering methods described that include contradictory and/or confusing explanations about what is going on in the chocolate.

Trying to follow any particular method for tempering can give one person consistently great results, while another may fail to get that right temper consistently, if at all. This suggests some important information was left out of the instruction, leaving part of the process up to random chance. The step most often overlooked is the temperature of the room where chocolate is "set". Being too warm or too cold can ruin an otherwise well-executed process.

I believe this confusion and inconsistency is what makes tempering seem so mysterious and frustrating. Understanding tempering fully can help demystify chocolate, and free you to trouble-shoot and modify the process to suit your personal preferences. The following info is my internet research and personal experience folded together to build a consistent story for how chocolate behaves. Please leave comments if anything comes across unclear or inaccurate.

A new batch, tempered using cocoa butter "silk"

First batch. Started out tempered, but turned to type VI when "setting"
 in a room that was too warm. Flavor and texture were affected.

Dark Milk Chocolate from Nibs

Dark chocolate is made of 50-90% cocoa solids and butter. Milk chocolate is made of at least 12% dairy. This recipe meets both requirements, making it dark milk chocolate. It's our favorite. :)

To make chocolate from nibs, you will need a refiner/melanger. I have this one. I get my nibs and cocoa butter from https://www.cocoasupply.com.

Re-Tempered, not perfect but makes me happy, and tastes great!

Beans roasted in the Combi Oven

Roasting Cacao Nibs

 I've tried this in a convection wall oven, but the temperature fluctuates too much, I recently got a precision combi (steam) oven, and nailed it on the second try! They roast more quickly than expected, and unfortunately the first batch scorched beyond using. But the second was perfect! No steam, of course, but the precision temperature control is really great.

Ingredients

• 500 g (3.333 cup) cacao nibs

Directions

Use precision/combi oven:

1. Preheat oven.

2. Look for and remove foreign particles from the cacao nibs.

3. Spread nibs evenly on the baking sheet, and bury probe horizontally in the nibs. Place pan in oven once preheated.

4. Roast per the cooking stage table below. The first stage should take about 10 min. Remove the pan from oven and stir nibs, then place back in with the probe. The second stage should take about 10 -12 min. The nibs should smell chocolatey, like brownies.

Stage	1	2
Transition		automatic
Sous Vide	off	off
Temperature	160°	155°
%	0	0
element	top/bottom	top/bottom
fan	high	high
probe	125	150
starts	immediately	immediately
rack	2	2