Paint sprayer for confectionary uses

[Trishiad]

My husband has been looking at me funny all week. Even though I've absolutely no idea what exactly he thinks he's going to route, I bought him a new router for Christmas. But, I just got a new chocolate sprayer and he seems to think I've lost my mind. I can't seem to create a relationship with my airbrush so I'm moving on to bigger things.

Homedepo.com has sent me a new CampbellHausfeld paint sprayer. I'm a gonna warm it up, fill it with chocolate, cocoa butter, anything handy and spray stuff!!!

I'll add photos later.

In the meantime, any advice from someone who already has this toy??

[alanamoana]

i have a wagner and love it!

to get that velvety look, spray items which have been frozen. otherwise it just turns into an unattractive glaze.

there is a thread on this subject, but i'm too lazy to link to it!

also, i've never heard of your model, but you should definitely create a little "closet" or some sort of area that's easy to clean. in the restaurant (don't tell the customers) i would line the floor with parchment and put my item on a sheetpan on the parchment and spray it that way. so even if i missed the parchment, it was only on the floor and i didn't have to clean that up! you know what a pain chocolate is to clean. especially when it has had a chance to set up.

[Trishiad]

Ooooh oooh ooooh! Sprayer is FUN! I filled it with colored cocoa butter and sprayed some polycarb molds, changed colors and sprayed some more, tempered some white chocolate and sprayed some more. Almost no overspray, just a bit on the hand holding the mold. So fast, so simple.

Had to be a mom the rest of the day and haven't had a chance to fill and bottom the bonbons. more another day.

fun

[JeanneCake]

i have a wagner and love it!

to get that velvety look, spray items which have been frozen.  otherwise it just turns into an unattractive glaze.

there is a thread on this subject, but i'm too lazy to link to it!

also, i've never heard of your model, but you should definitely create a little "closet" or some sort of area that's easy to clean.  in the restaurant (don't tell the customers) i would line the floor with parchment and put my item on a sheetpan on the parchment and spray it that way.  so even if i missed the parchment, it was only on the floor and i didn't have to clean that up!  you know what a pain chocolate is to clean.  especially when it has had a chance to set up.

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When I was visiting a friend's bakery, she used one of those 3-fold display boards you can get at a craft store to put behind what she was spraying (same set up as you with the lined sheetpan, hers was on the bench). It was a while ago, I don't think she taped parchment paper on the board, but that would keep it cleaner longer.

[andiesenji]

You can also use one of the large translucent storage boxes - the shallow ones that are made to go under a bed -( the largest I have will take a full size sheet pan flat on the bottom) and it is easy to clean and to keep clean, just store it turned upside-down so stuff doesn't fall into it. I used to use one when I airbrushed color onto large cakes or onto a sheet pan full of cupcakes or cookies. I had two low plastic step stools on which I set the box so it was at a level where I didn't have to bend too far.

[Truffle Guy]

You can also use one of the large translucent storage boxes - the shallow ones that are made to go under a bed -( the largest I have will take a full size sheet pan flat on the bottom) and it is easy to clean and to keep clean, just store it turned upside-down so stuff doesn't fall into it.  I used to use one when I airbrushed color onto large cakes or onto a sheet pan full of cupcakes or cookies.  I had two low plastic step stools on which I set the box so it was at a level where I didn't have to bend too far.

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For nice examples of airbrushing check out Norman Love or Chris Elbow's websites. Paul from ChefRubber has been invalueable to me as a resource and coach. I'm still trying to figure it out and I think a more powerful compressor will yield better results but it is a nice tool. The biggest problem I have is changing colors, I have to clean out the airbrush each time. It would be great to have a thread up here on using an airbrush to color molds.

[andiesenji]

I never had any problem with changing colors - I have a Paasche AB Turbine which has an open chamber that is easy to clean, which I used for drawing fine lines, filling small areas.

For large areas, coating the entire top of a cake or a pan full of cupcakes, cookies, etc., I have an Iwata trigger action with several "tanks" which hold different colors. I have one tank filled with grain alcohol(Everclear) which quickly cleans the inner workings in between colors.

Iwata 400

If you are not familiar with the Iwata, you might check them out. This particular one uses very low air pressure - although I have a multi-unit high volume compressor, the Iwata will run on tank pressure alone for well over 30 minutes before the compressor comes back on to build up the pressure in the tank.

Edited January 21, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[Trishiad]

As far as changing colors, I think we're talking about 2 different mediums here. Truffle and I are using colored cocoa butter and chocolate. They are more difficult to clean out of the small tubes and such. The airbrush I have is great for cake decorating but doesn't do well with cocoa butter and I'm pretty sure chocolate would break it.

My new sprayer, on the other hand, ROCKS! I wish I could find my camera right now so I could post some photos. My painted bonbons are shinier than ever and have this fabulous spotted sunset look ( I only have red and yellow cocoa butters hanging around the house). Some have an underlayer of lustre and have this lovely sparkle under the color. It took seconds to color my molds and was so easy that even my 4 year old colored a couple. I need to grab some more colors and refill my supply of plain cocoa butter for more experiments.

I'm wondering now about keeping the saturated color with a dark chocolate shell. Color, then lustre, then white, then chocolate?

[alanamoana]

add the photos! add the photos!

[andiesenji]

I wasn't suggesting airbrush for cocoa butter or chocolate.

I simply suggested the type of plastic box I use for airbrush color to prevent overspray getting on other surfaces should work for your purposes also.