Jim D.

@SweetSymphonybyM Originally I decided the information below was too detailed and esoteric to include on eGullet, but now I'm going ahead, with the idea that it might be helpful to another in the future. The diagram referred to is a drawing Grex tech support sent me; and can be found at this link. Please note some changes/explanations for the diagram mentioned below. I must state at the outset that I have very few mechanical/technical skills; I mostly followed directions and read a lot online to get this done. It is a setup for a more or less "permanent" connection for an airbrush; if you want to allow for using a paint gun, there are a few adaptations I could describe if desired. I got all Grex items from Jerry Carter Air Tool, the only business I could find that had everything (Grex does not sell merchandise directly). Jerry himself was very helpful. TG5 GREX Tritium Top Feed w/ 0.5 mm Needle TK-7 GREX Nozzle Conversion Kit 0.7mm CP50-1 GREX Tritium Top Feed Cup 50mL GMAC GREX Quick Connect w. Air Flow Valve AD21 GREX Adapter 1/8” M x 1/4” M AD24 GREX Adapter 1/4” F x 1/4” F GBH-06 GREX 6' airbrush hose As is obvious from the list, I use a 0.7mm needle, but for that, you have to purchase the 0.5mm airbrush and also the upgrade kit. Whether the 0.7 makes a huge difference, I do not know. But I do know that pastrygirl on eGullet is now thinking of upgrading to the 0.7, so she might be able to furnish more information on why she feels that way. The 50mL cup is definitely what you need; otherwise you will go crazy refilling the cup. The quick-connect air flow valve (which is attached between the airbrush hose and the airbrush) is really useful (more info below). The two adapters (AD21 and AD24) are for the "permanent," non-quick-connect setup. Items I bought elsewhere: The Grex airbrush holder did not work for me at all, so I bought this one from Harbor Freight, for the grand total of $9.99. It works great. It does need attaching to something so that it doesn't tip over, and I found a small piece of tile at Lowe's to which I glued the holder. I also got a moisture trap/filter at Lowe's. I'm not sure it's necessary, but I figured it couldn't hurt and it is recommended by many. Note that in setting up to airbrush, you will need some way to prop up the filter so that air flows from top to bottom. And you will need a roll of plumber's teflon tape. If a connector has an O-ring to seal it tightly, that is sufficient, but there are some connectors that don't, and they need tape for a tight seal. And here are my notes on the hookup of the system. Please excuse me if you already know a lot of this. From the compressor, you need a typical air hose long enough to reach from compressor to close to where you will be airbrushing. Here's an example of such a hose. If you add a moisture trap, you need two such hoses (one from compressor to moisture trap, another from trap to airbrush, so they will be shorter hoses). The hose needs (or two hoses need) a male connector to the compressor, female connector on the other end. For this I have a quick-connect connector (1/4" male to connect to compressor, 1/4" female to connect to the air hose). Here's an example of such a quick-connect fitting. From this hose to the moisture filter/trap, the diagram provides two options. The Grex AD24 (which is 1/4" female to 1/4" female) is sufficient (I see no reason for a quick-connect connector here since the setup will be "permanent"). Then the moisture trap needs to be connected to the airbrush hose. This is the end of the moisture trap that is blue in color in the diagram. Unless you plan to use another spray gun (such as an HVLP one), you don't need the quick-connect options and the AD21 is sufficient (note that the AD12 connector close to the green airbrush hose in the diagram) should have been included within the red rectangle, as it is not needed unless you are using the quick-connect option. Then the airbrush hose needs to be connected to the airbrush. For this I strongly recommend the quick- connect option (G MAC) as this has a pressure regulating knob that comes in handy. It is also great to be able to disconnect the airbrush quickly to clean out one cocoa butter color and/or place the airbrush in a warmer between brushings. As a side note: The Grex cannot do splattering with cocoa butter, and the pressure regulator will not make that happen, but it does come in quite handy when the viscosity of cocoa butter is causing an issue. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. I knew none of this stuff when I started, and I owe practically everything to Grex tech support. Just one example: Having teflon tape is so taken for granted in the airbrushing/spraying/plumbing worlds that nobody told me I needed it until I spent a lot of time trying to make connections airtight and asked Grex. I paid $300 for a Grex-branded compressor (actually from California Air Tools), but if I had it to do over, I would get something more like the California Air Tools 8010A ($198 on Amazon)--larger air capacity than mine, same (relatively) quiet operation, and less money. Since Grex no longer sells the compressor I bought, this is the one they recommended to the person I previously helped with these decisions. My entire setup (with the more expensive compressor) cost approximately $850, so this would be around $750.

I'll be posting my ideas presented to another eGullet member on the same subject shortly. I'm researching some details/sources for materials to try to be of help.

Several of us on eGullet took Andrey's online course. There is an entire thread devoted to that course. Melissa Coppel is currently offering live online courses worth considering as well. Or subscribe to the Savour School online videos--Kirsten Tibballs is really useful. You really won't find many kits available, and in my humble opinion, you will always do better if you select the components you really want (and ones that will serve you well in the future). A little patience will reward you. And Andrey's course has very little info on equipment. He actually uses a fairly simple airbrush for everything.

Turns out you can do velveting with an airbrush, or so Callebaut says in a video I found. Since you would be spraying out a more viscous liquid (chocolate + cocoa butter) than just cocoa butter, you would need sufficient psi. So you might want to search for some online examples of velveting and see if you can find psi mentioned. My advice is to find the connectors. It isn't all that complicated, and I have a graphic that Grex sent me showing it all. Another eGullet member just went through this process, and we handled our back-and-forth through PM, so I'll see if she has any objection to my sharing that with you. With a kit--as you have already discovered--you pay more. I had a momentary blackout when I saw what you paid for the CR kit.

I myself am a big fan of blissful ignorance. But now that Kerry has said it, I'll second her suggestion that you cancel. You are overpaying for the compressor. If you want to use a spray gun (in addition to an airbrush), you need more capacity--see what Kerry found in the way of compressors a little earlier in this thread. I have a compressor of 4.6 gallon capacity, and it struggles with a spray gun. I have learned that it's the air capacity of a compressor that matters. And particularly if you want to do velveting, I think you need a spray gun (though I have not done that technique). I have a Fuji system, and unless you anticipate large production, you don't need it. I think you do need to do more research. Have you read through this thread? Others have gone through the process of finding what you are seeking. And definitely a gravity-feed Grex, not side feed. And the large cup they sell.

I shouldn't have said anything. You will be able to spray molds successfully with that setup. Do be careful with the included bottle of airbrush cleaner for cocoa butter. You might want to use that the first time you use the airbrush (to clean out any "factory residue") or for practicing before you start decorating (which is what I did), but you don't need it when actually brushing colored cocoa butter. But make sure it doesn't have anything in it besides cocoa butter (or water is OK if you dry the airbrush out thoroughly afterward but I doubt CR is selling just a bottle of water). For routine cleaning, just clear the cocoa butter out with a heat gun or other heat source and add the new color. As for the cocoa butter, when you said "the unsafety of edible paint," I trust you were exaggerating and do realize that it isn't paint we are using but cocoa butter with (usually) artificial (USDA-approved) colorants added.

@SweetSymphonybyM, you ask some questions, but have you definitively made the purchase? That was not clear ("buyer's remorse" is not the same as an order cancellation). I'm not sure if there is a point to saying anything about your purchase if it's "a done deal," so to speak The major part of this kit from Chef Rubber is a Grex Tritium side-feed airbrush. The 1/2 HP compressor has a 1.5 gallon tank. There is a discussion of the Chef Rubber natural colors in another thread. And I recall other discussions of the topic in various places on the forum (CR now has two lines of natural products).

Those are exactly the same bowls I use for small quantities. I love those Nordicware bowls. I too sometimes reheat the chocolate emptied out on parchment. Sometimes in a big batch, when the chocolate in the Delta machine is clearly becoming over-crystallized, I scoop up that dumped chocolate, heat it enough to get it definitely out of temper, then add it to the chocolate in the machine. This works very well to deal with that over-crystallized state (which creeps up on one because its signs are not so clear-cut as might be wished).

Yes, for small quantities dumping the chocolate over parchment is definitely preferable--unless you have a bowl at least the diameter of the mold. I use a tempering machine. It has a large bowl, but it's still not large enough to dump molds. I have learned over the years to tilt the mold (not 180 degrees, closer to 90) so that the excess chocolate runs into the bowl without mess. With that method I don't have to temper so much chocolate since I am collecting some of it each time. Then I quickly move the mold over parchment to finish tapping out the excess. This method does require some "adjusting" because the chocolate in the top cavities runs down into the lower ones, making the top ones have shells that are too thin. I have developed a technique for counteracting that issue but won't go into it here as it is probably of little interest to others. What many chocolatiers prefer is a rectangular melting tank (such as in some Mol d'Art models), which is large enough to dump the mold with no mess, but that involves larger quantities than @Douglas K is using at present.

"5 years" may be exceeding the shelf life I require, even for my most frugal customers, who stretch their Christmas boxes until Easter.

@teonzo: Upon further reflection (and after eating one of the "marjolaine" bonbons that had sat for a while), I think I will abandon the idea of deliberately allowing the cookie insert to soften. Instead, I will add the hazelnut gianduja ganache to the shell first, then instead of almond gianduja ganache, make a soft almond gianduja (one that will have a texture not wholly unlike ganache), and insert the cookie into that. In that way I can bake the nut meringue cookies as you describe (crisp outside, softer inside), and, when surrounded by gianduja, they should maintain that texture. Susanna Yoon is firm about a 10-day shelf life for her bonbons, but I don't have the luxury of that with my wholesale customers (and retail ones who eat their box of chocolates slowly). Do you see any issues with my revised plan?

The September 2020 assortment: Clockwise, beginning with the blue bonbon at the top: (1) "marjolaine" (hazelnut gianduja ganache, almond gianduja ganache, nut meringue), (2) "crème brûlée" (caramel crunch, vanilla buttercream), (3) Speculoos cookie butter & milk chocolate, (4) "caramel macchiato" (caramel ganache, vanilla ganache, coffee ganache), (5) pistachio gianduja, (6) lime cheesecake with graham cracker crust, (7) salted caramel with shortbread, (8) layers of extra-dark chocolate ganache with Angostura orange bitters & vanilla buttercream, and (in the center) (9) cherries and caramelized almonds with almond gianduja

Your reply is, as usual, very helpful. I like the idea of pasteurized, fresh egg whites; I'll have to see if I can find them locally. I have access to Sosa products, but (without checking) assume the container is going to be much larger than I can cope with, given that I will not be making this filling all that often and given the short shelf life of dried egg whites. Susanna Yoon (originator of this bonbon filling) made it work with gelatin-based marshmallow, and, as I reported, it worked for me the first time. But I believe egg whites will produce a more reliable recipe. The recipes I have seen for marjolaine (the cake) call for meringue layers, which start out quite crisp but, because they are adjacent to components such as pastry cream or butter cream or ganache (depending on the recipe), they soften as they sit, and nearly all recipes assume the cake will not be served immediately. I have seen several references to Fernand Point's original recipe that lead people to believe he used meringue (with nuts folded in), but it seems a bit hazy. I haven't seen any reference to a softer layer that you mentioned, except in cases where people are adapting the recipe. In any event, it's the nut meringue that I am going to use (and have used in the version that I have made). In Susanna Yoon's video, there is a big point made of how crunchy the meringue cookies are on the outside, but soft inside. That's what I am aiming for. She does, by the way, sprinkle them with confectioner's sugar just before baking them. I was quite pleased to see your recommendation that I get a chablon for shaping the cookies because that's exactly what I did! I was surprised that I found one with circles the size I needed to fit in the molds I am using, but Chocolat Chocolat in Montreal is an amazing place. The chablon worked quite well to keep the cookies in shape. What Yoon does is to pipe them without a guide of any kind (her piping skills are impressive), and she lets them rise as they will, then turns them upside down into the ganache in the shell, so they soften as they sit--unlike the usual goal of keeping cookies crisp by surrounding them with something like a gianduja. So what I did is to fill the shells about 1/3 with a hazelnut gianduja ganache made with dark chocolate, then another 1/3 of almond gianduja ganache made with a combination of milk and white chocolate--to keep it more like an almond cream, then inserted the nut meringue cookie with the pointed, risen side down. I must say I am pleased with the flavor combination, and after I get the cookie to be something I can produce reliably (which I think the egg white meringue rather than gelatin marshmallow will accomplish), I will be satisfied. The Aw, by the way, of the two ganaches was quite within acceptable limits, and although I didn't check the cookies, they were crisp enough that I can't see a problem with them.

I actually had some dried egg whites from a local grocery some years ago that did not taste totally disgusting (when flavored with other ingredients in a recipe), but the store quit carrying them, and I don't recall the brand name. I am encouraged by the fact that Peter Greweling calls for using either fresh or powdered egg whites in aerated recipes, meaning that he must have located at least one that tasted OK. Today I found powdered egg whites from Modernist Pantry (a business of which, if I recall correctly, various eGullet contributors have spoken positively). The website has a video showing these egg whites being reconstituted and whipped into a meringue, with the claim that one cannot tell them from fresh egg whites. I will order some of this powder and report back. I am working on a bonbon filling, this one based on Susanna Yoon's take on the French pastry called marjolaine. In a much-viewed video Susanna uses gelatin-based marshmallow, but in her recipe published in So Good magazine, she calls for fresh egg white-based meringue. Not wishing to use fresh eggs in bonbons (even cooked ones), I have made a gelatin-based meringue twice (trying to guess at her recipe); once was successful, but the second time the baked meringue cookies puffed up (as desired) but many of them split open in the oven. In both cases, the meringue mixture is very fragile, and any attempt to bake a second batch from the mixture comes out as an almost completely flat cookie (which is delicious but totally different from the baked nut meringue used in the original marjolaine). Thus the conclusion that egg whites are the only reliable way of making the dacquoise layer. And by using actual dacquoise, I can probably adapt Susanna's recipe from So Good. The taste of the various marjolaine layers together is good enough to keep me searching for a reliable, reproducible way of making this filling.

I'm looking for suggestions on the best-tasting dried egg whites--if such a thing exists. The couple that I have had left much to be desired in the way of smell and taste.

That was the same as my humidity today, so I went ahead and made caramel. Hard to get below 50% days in Virginia in August. I have tried every conceivable pressure (and the fan spray attachment) to get the Grex to splatter, but it doesn't. It does splatter paint--if that helps! The largest cup is the 50 ml. It is plenty for most of the time, but a 75 would be great for the other times. I got the commercial spray both. The single box is sufficient. The second filter (attached inside the box) is washable. The other two beyond that are not but do not need to be replaced often. It is the outer one that catches the cocoa butter. Last week, I used three of them while spraying a total of 22 molds. The fan is very quiet and very powerful. It is easy to see the cocoa butter being sucked toward it (and away from me). It's not perfect, especially with certain colors (white, light blue--anything with lots of white in it, I think), but it's better than the box with a fan behind it I used previously. The filters are not expensive, but if someone's production were larger than mine, it might be an issue. I bought a whole roll of the material and will cut my filters to size (sounds like something someone I know might do!). There is a video on the CakeSafe site where they place a white board behind the fan box and then spray colored cocoa butter into the fan. No color gets through. I was skeptical enough that after I watched the promotional video (included on the CakeSafe site) of a chocolatier touting its benefits that I emailed David Ramirez Chocolates to ask if they really liked it that much. Within minutes the owner of the company had the chocolatier doing the spraying email me. I gave her a call, and we had a long conversation when I asked all the tough questions I could think of. In the video she wears a white chef's coat, and it stays clean. We agreed that certain colors will always produce backspray, but she is very enthusiastic. If anybody wants to see it, here it is:

@Kerry Beal, beautiful shine on the shells. What's the climate like in your space? I didn't know you had sprung for a Tritium. So how do you like it? And how does it compare (in your use) with the Fuji? I like that the Grex people are getting more inquiries and sales from chocolatiers because the more they know about what we do and how we use their equipment, the more help they can be (in my theory, at least). For example, I would love a larger stainless or aluminum cup than the largest they make. As I have stated, I use mostly the Grex for normal production (Christmas is another matter), but last week I got out the Fuji for splattering. No question, it does a good job (depending on the skill of the splatterer, of course), usually better than a toothbrush. And, last question, what PSI are you using to spray? I am using 60, tried lowering it last week, kept wondering why it was taking so long to cover molds, raised PSI back to 60, got much better results. You do use more cocoa butter and there is more backspray/overspray, but....I guess Chef Rubber has to make its money somehow and that's why they make respirators. I did spring for the CakeSafe spray booth and am liking it very much. It faces head-on the issue that cocoa butter is a different substance from the paint that is normally airbrushed and takes a completely different approach. Rather than suck the cocoa butter out through a hose, this device filters it out at the source of spraying, which, of course, means replacing a filter rather often.

As promised, it looks easy--and delicious. Are the eggs beaten or broken up or anything before being added?

I had a ganache once, a coffee one from Andrew Shotts, that persisted in splitting. I tried all the tricks, and it seemed to work, but a short time later, the separating would start again. The last time, I had it in the piping bag, and as I piped it into the molds, it separated--in the mold. I gave up at that point. But next time I reduced the butter in the recipe, added more liquid, and it has worked ever since. As Kerry pointed out, it might be the chocolate itself; the problem always seems to come down to too much fat for the amount of liquid.

It might help if you listed the quantities of each ingredient you are using.

I get good pistachios from Fiddyment Farms in California. I don't know if you use it or not, but their pistachio paste is also very tasty. I was finding the Italian paste impossible to get reliably.

I have purchased some hazelnuts from Freddy Guys in Oregon (thanks, @curls, for the tip). They are more or less peeled (the contact said about 80%, which is less than I would like). I did find the Piedmontese ones via Amazon, they looked luscious, but alas at 250g for $18, they were a little rich even for my blood, considering the quantities I need. That's compared to the 1361g for $40 I'm paying at Freddy Guys.

I don't suppose you would like to hike out/drive out and pick some from the trees to send me.

I found the answer myself regarding AUI--they don't carry hazelnuts. And in addition, Sunnylandfarms doesn't list hazelnuts as available.

Thanks for the tip. I agree about the chore of peeling hazelnuts. I did it the baking soda way once, and even then it was very nasty. I'll pay anyone else almost anything to do it for me. By your distributor, did you perchance mean AUI?