Airbrushing cocoa butter outside in warm weather

[jauhe]

I'm a hobbyist and live in a tropical climate, so everything related to chocolate needs to be done in an air conditioned room. I'm interested in getting an airbrush to be able to spray bonbon molds with cocoa butter, but I'm not working in a kitchen and can't have spray going everywhere inside. Would it work to spray the molds outside and immediately bring them back into air conditioning? They'd crystalize fine inside, but I'm wondering if spraying in a hot, humid environment would cause issues with the cocoa butter.

[Kerry Beal]

5 hours ago, jauhe said:

I'm a hobbyist and live in a tropical climate, so everything related to chocolate needs to be done in an air conditioned room. I'm interested in getting an airbrush to be able to spray bonbon molds with cocoa butter, but I'm not working in a kitchen and can't have spray going everywhere inside. Would it work to spray the molds outside and immediately bring them back into air conditioning? They'd crystalize fine inside, but I'm wondering if spraying in a hot, humid environment would cause issues with the cocoa butter.

Only one way to find out!

 

 

[Jim D.]

8 hours ago, jauhe said:

I'm a hobbyist and live in a tropical climate, so everything related to chocolate needs to be done in an air conditioned room. I'm interested in getting an airbrush to be able to spray bonbon molds with cocoa butter, but I'm not working in a kitchen and can't have spray going everywhere inside. Would it work to spray the molds outside and immediately bring them back into air conditioning? They'd crystalize fine inside, but I'm wondering if spraying in a hot, humid environment would cause issues with the cocoa butter.

 

Since cocoa butter is hydroscopic, it will absorb moisture from the air immediately.   On a humid day I can sometimes see, inside an air-conditioned kitchen, thickening chocolate that is quite difficult to work with.  Colored cocoa butter should also be in temper for spraying (to be fair, some people disagree with that statement), which means the temperature outdoors cannot be much above 90F/32C.  In my opinion you would have to be incredibly fast to spray and then rush inside to the AC without having a mess.  And the problem with decorating molds is that you don't usually know until the absolute end of the whole process whether the spraying of color was successful or not.  There are spray booths for indoor spraying, including some homemade devices, that work reasonably well to contain cocoa butter.  But what I would do if I were in your situation is to use brushes, sponges, other odds and ends around the house to color the cavities.  It's not as finished looking as an airbrush, but at least it would give you an idea whether this is something you want to pursue.  I can tell you from sad experience that turning a mold upside down and expecting it to release 21 or so attractive chocolates but instead seeing most of them stuck to the mold is not an activity a sane person would seek out.

[pastrygirl]

How hot are we talking? 

 

If the molds are too warm the cocoa butter will run.  You can chill the molds, but you don't want to chill them so much that condensation forms when you bring them into the warm air.  But 5-10 minutes in the fridge can help.  If you're painting multiple colors, you may need to chill between colors.

 

CB at around 95F and molds/work room at 65-70F usually works for me.  Above 75F or so, I keep things in the fridge between every step.

[Kerry Beal]

I like my cocoa butter at 35º C when spraying and don't bother to temper it. 

 

So a not crazy warm day might actually help prevent the airbrush from seizing up as long as you have a runner to clean off the molds and pop them in the fridge for a few minutes. 

[jauhe]

Thanks for all the tips! The heat isn't terrible, probably mid-80s F, usually not above 90. Humidity can be very high though, so maybe that's the bigger concern. What's the ideal, acceptable, and unacceptable ranges of humidity? Maybe that would be a big deal for the chocolate but less so for the cocoa butter?

[Kerry Beal]

6 minutes ago, jauhe said:

Thanks for all the tips! The heat isn't terrible, probably mid-80s F, usually not above 90. Humidity can be very high though, so maybe that's the bigger concern. What's the ideal, acceptable, and unacceptable ranges of humidity? Maybe that would be a big deal for the chocolate but less so for the cocoa butter?

Ideally humidity 40-50% - might not be a huge issue for the cocoa butter vs chocolate.

 

Do you think you could get your hands on one of these - Cakesafe spray booth? They don't require ventilation. There is a thread in eG somewhere about these. 

 

And by the way welcome @jauhe.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Jim D.]

1 minute ago, Kerry Beal said:

Ideally humidity 40-50% - might not be a huge issue for the cocoa butter vs chocolate.

 

Do you think you could get your hands on one of these - Cakesafe spray booth? They don't require ventilation. There is a thread in eG somewhere about these. 

 

And by the way welcome @jauhe.

 

The Cakesafe spray booth is what I use.  It works very well at containing cocoa butter.  @jauhe, I would be glad to tell you all I know about it, and here is a link to the eG thread that includes it.  My basement no longer has white/blue/green/red clouds hovering over everything for a day or so (I exaggerate, but not by much).  And I no longer have (too many) telltale signs when I blow my nose.  But the spray booth is not inexpensive.

[jauhe]

That looks like a great idea! But pricey. I'll experiment and see how things go. If you do spray indoors without some kind of exhaust fan, how bad is it really? Are we talking some color settling right around where you spray, or mist hanging around for an hour and reaching the whole room?

[jauhe]

(I was thinking of getting the cheapest Iwata (Revolution), if that makes a difference)

[Kerry Beal]

11 hours ago, jauhe said:

That looks like a great idea! But pricey. I'll experiment and see how things go. If you do spray indoors without some kind of exhaust fan, how bad is it really? Are we talking some color settling right around where you spray, or mist hanging around for an hour and reaching the whole room?

It can get pretty unpleasant - see Jim's post above re colored snot. I have a tendency to wheeze when surrounded by cocoa butter spray - and it's not good for your lungs. 

 

You can make a DIY booth with a fan, a big box (or I've built one in the past with a little rubbermaid shed)

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Jim D.]

10 hours ago, jauhe said:

That looks like a great idea! But pricey. I'll experiment and see how things go. If you do spray indoors without some kind of exhaust fan, how bad is it really? Are we talking some color settling right around where you spray, or mist hanging around for an hour and reaching the whole room?

 

For some reason I don't understand, different colors produce differing amounts of overspray.  White is the worst for me, and any color that includes a substantial amount of white (I don't know whether this applies to the new non-titanium dioxide white or not).  I would not attempt spraying anywhere that you care about.

[Jim D.]

10 hours ago, jauhe said:

(I was thinking of getting the cheapest Iwata (Revolution), if that makes a difference)

 

I know it's a very long thread, but I strongly suggest you read through the eGullet thread on airbrushing, which includes information on selecting an airbrush and/or spray gun and a compressor--and in that thread you will see that people (including this person) change their minds on various subjects as they learn more and more.  What  in the beginning seemed to me a very loud and strong and scary compressor before long seemed quite pathetic.  You may waste money if you don't do the research.  If I sound authoritative, there's nothing like making mistakes for learning, and I made plenty.  The size of the airbrush needle, for example, is crucial, as is the capacity of the compressor.  Many people (again, including me) wasted money on airbrushes with too little cocoa butter capacity, airbrushes with siphon feeds, compressors that can't push sufficient cocoa butter through a hose.  Unless you have the patience of Job, you will probably find these issues becoming major irritants in time.

 

You began this thread by stating that you are a hobbyist.  I think this is the place where many of us started.  So I would recommend that you discover whether you want to be more than that--and if you have success and people like what you make, chances are you will want to become more than a hobbyist.  If you make that transition, and depending on where you live, you could look for professional kitchen space (some cities have buildings that have been recycled as startup spaces for new businesses), and then you wouldn't have to worry about accidentally painting your house with colored cocoa butter.

[jauhe]

I appreciate all the advice! I'll read the other threads and do some experimenting and see how things go.

[jauhe]

I thought I'd leave an update. I've been airbrushing outside (in quite hot and humid weather) and immediately bringing the mold back into the air conditioned room, and it seems to be working fine. Maybe it stays a little runny in the molds for longer than it would if spraying cold molds, but it seems to work fine for what I've been doing with it.