Spraying Chocolate: Equipment, Materials, and Techniques

[keychris]

though I've never managed to mix a green I'm happy with.

 

word... ain't that the truth! Why is a nice vivid dark green so hard to get!

[tanya_simone]

Oh Kerry thankyou for replying! You are one of the members who always answers problems very well and you appear to be very knowledgeable in alot of areas, and so I'm very much appreciative that you took time to help me out

 

I would mainly use my machine for choccy purposes, but for certain occasions (perhaps 3 or 4 times a year) I do make the odd cake, I can always decorate it without spraying though, i was just curious. Rather be safe than sorry

 

If you think the coloured butters are definitely doable then I will give them a go, no harm in trying right? It just put me off a little because I read a few people saying they had trouble in making it correctly and it took numerous attempts before they got it right. 

I was actually curious to ask also whether you could add oil based flavourings to chocolate itself, like I have peppermint oil and possibly orange oil, and I wondered if I could blend them with the choc, then if I wanted two flavours I could have the choc shell as mint or whatever and the inside as a different flavour just to experiment a bit? Or is this a bad idea? Was just a thought!

 

Also - ''so I'll use fruit puree, with the addition of freeze dried fruit powder and perhaps a bit of compound flavouring''  <-- yes! This never even occurred to me either, mixing two of the same flavour but in different states/forms. A puree and a powder sounds a fab idea indeed. I have to admit, a couple of the flavours in the fresh fruit fillings I made didn't have the kick I was hoping for, I had to use white chocolate with them so you could actually taste the flavour inside on the more subtle fruits. If I were to add something like a puree or powder to the mix itself also, it might just give it that bit of oomph that it needs.

 

Again thanks for the advice, since I've been on this site I've been overwhelmed (in a good way of course) with the amount of things I can, and want, to make. The possibilities seem endless! I just have to find the time to do it all in! Wish me luck

[Matthew Kirshner]

One thing you want to remember about airbrushing cocoa butter into chocolates or even into molds is to make sure the cocoa butter is tempered and the airbrush is warm.  One thing I do is hold a handheld hair dryer and wave it around the nozzle head and the base.  Another way to go is to keep the airbrush in-between a heating pad.  By doing this it will not cause the cocoa butter to seized and become cold though spraying. 

[Kerry Beal]

As Matthew says - I tend to keep my airbrushes on a hot plate turned down a little with an Ikea dimmer switch so it's not too hot.

 

You can indeed add essential oils to the chocolate itself for different flavour effects.

[minas6907]

For a time I was wondering the exact same thing. Can you add peppermint oil to dark chocolate and use that chocolate as the exterior on a shell molded bonbon? Somehow I just never wanted to try. I didn't want my molds smelling like peppermint, and I was sort of afraid of the peppermint oil messing with the temper and not have that shine we strive for, but perhaps the latter is not so much of a concern since the amount of oil added is so small. Still, at the very least, it seems like the next few batches of chocolate would have a peppermint scent wether one wanted it or not.

[Kerry Beal]

True - peppermint is the devil!  I do it a lot with fruit oils like orange, lemon and grapefruit.  I'm pretty careful with peppermint because even in a chocolate box it's as invasive as in a garden.

[RobertM]

tanya_Simone - Welcome to eGullet -

If you are the least bit curious about confectionery work I would urge you to take a look at the threads for the previous eGullet Confectionery Conferences - It's a wonderful opportunity to meet, discuss, question, learn from some wonderful and talented people.  The next one will be in May 2015, just outside of Washington DC. 

Bob

[markwightman]

Hi,

 

I found this thread really helpful so thanks to everyone for your observations.  I have just ordered the Krebs hotCHOC LM3.  I'll let you know how I get on with it.

 

-Mark

[markwightman]

Out of interest, has anyone ever tried spraying cocoa butter with a make up airbrush?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/luminess-airbrush-/201202156404

 

If it worked, it would quite a neat little package.

[Susanne Hindle Kher]

Hi,

 

I found this thread really helpful so thanks to everyone for your observations.  I have just ordered the Krebs hotCHOC LM3.  I'll let you know how I get on with it.

 

-Mark

 Please share your experiences once you get it. That's a nice looking gadget!

[egypt803]

Hi

I'm experimenting with spraying cocoa butter to get patterns on chocolate lollies and I was wondering if any experts had any advice for me...

I'm using a badger 250 airbrush and spraying through a stencil onto plastic sheets but when I pour the chocolate behind there is almost always some of the pattern left behind on the sheet.  I'm confident that the chocolate is tempered and am just wondering if anybody knows why this happens and if I could do anything to prevent it and get more consistant results?  Do I need to grease the plastic first to help it release?  It is to do with the temper of the cocoa butter?  I haven't been tempering the cocoa butter - just heating and spraying at approx 40 degrees c as I understood that that would be OK - maybe I'm wrong.

Anyway, like I say any advice would be much appreciated.

I've attached a photo below to show you what's happening....

Many thanks

Katherine

 

[Edward J]

You don't need to temper the choc./cocoa butter for airbrushing, it should be slightly warmer--say around 35-ish.  As the cocoa butter particles fly through the air, they undergo temperature change, motion, and time--all the things needed to temper chocolate.

[Lisa Shock]

Might be the plastic, usually shiny acetate in particular is used.

[egypt803]

Hi.  Thanks both of you for your responses.  I use mylar sheets to spray the cocoa butter on to.  I started using acetate but found mylar to be much sturdier and more scratch resistant and can be reused again and again.  I have had success airbrushing food colouring and it coming off onto the chocolate so I'm hoping that its not the sheets that are the problem

[Baylee Chocolate Lady]

After tempering your chocolate, have you tried raising the temperature slightly? 

[egypt803]

Hi Baylee

Thanks for replying and I'm sorry it took me so long to notice - I don't know why I didn't see it!

I warm the chocolate just enough to make sure its fully liquid with no lumps.  Do you think making it slightly warmer would make a difference for the pattern coming off?

Thanks

Katherine

[Olga]

Hi all!

Its pleasure to be here with such passionate people like you guys. Im new as a member but Ive been reading this forum for quite some time now.

I tried to carefully read all 11 pages of this particular thread but I couldn't find what I was looking for

I recently bought IWATA airbrush (model: Eclipse HP-BCS) which I want to use for spraying Choco molds with cocoa butter, but the problem is I don't have an air compressor yet and I have no idea which one I should get.

We have limited options over here, so could anyone please tell me a bit about how much PSI & H/P it should be?!  Im gonna use it only for few molds at a time as making chocolates is still just a hobby of mine.  

Appreciate any suggestions.

Olga.

[adey73]

I know that Kerry has answered me but I can't find it anywhere....

 

so I still want a compressor for chocolate...

 

is 'oil free' the same as 'maintenance free'?

 

and am I avoiding piston based compressors?  

[docesobremesa]

Hello everyone,

 

Was just researching about spray food guns and ended up here!

By the way loved the dessert posted above, I want to do something similar.

Now, I know this thread is old but can anyone advise me on which is the best spray chocolate gun out there in the market?

[gfron1]

That answer has really evolved over the years. We all have so much more experience, and our  needs have all changed. In my case, I went from a Wagner to the Fuji and now I only use an Badger airbrush. My volume is much less so the previous two are overkill. I loved my Fuji while I had it however. So it really depends on what you're production volume is - a dozen or a hundred.

 

And welcome. Glad you found us.

Edited September 29, 2015 by gfron1 (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Yeah, I agree with Rob. It really comes down to what you're going to be doing with it. I don't need fine line control, I'm not using my sprayer for chocolate molds or fine decorating, so I still use my Wagner. If I'm spraying chocolate, which I don't do near as much of as I used to, it's usually plated dessert items in largish quantities or cakes. If I ever manage to get serious about chocolates, I'm sure I'll want something better suited to that task.

[pastryani]

I've got the red Airmaster compressor and spray gun set from Kopykake. I'vo only ever used it with water-based colors intended specifically for the airbrush gun. The compressor apparently goes up to 30 psi.

I'd really like to try airbrushing with colored cocoa butter, but buying another compressor and airbrush seems a bit redundant. Is it possible to use what I've got to spray cocoa butter, or are there issues with the compressor not being powerful enough and/or the spray gun not handling cocoa butter very well?

Has anyone out there tried this? The last thing I want to do is ruin a perfectly good airbrush gun. Tks.

[pastryani]

Airbrush troubleshooting: so I got a dual action gravity feed 0.5mm airbrush and hooked it up to my Airmaster compressor. I heated the gun and the plain cocoa butter, but when I tried to spray it, nothing came out (I could feel air flow but no cocoa butter) and there were bubbles in the cup. Anyone know what's going on? So frustrating!!

[pastryani]

Hi all - I know people have talked about HVLP spray guns on this thread, but does anyone know the difference between HVLP and LVLP spray guns?  I've looked it up and there seems to be some conflicting info re: the amount of overspray that each results in.  I'm looking for the least amount of overspray possible, but that said, is the "low volume" part of LVLP sufficient to spray out cocoa butter (ie- will it work?)?  Also, does it matter if the internal components are aluminum or do they have to be stainless steel?  What is the optimal nozzle size for cocoa butter and is there a guide available that outlines how to achieve different effects?  (ex- splatter, even coverage, lines, dots, etc)?

 

Operationally, do you wear respirator masks while spraying and/or do you use spray booths?  

 

Sorry for all the questions - I've tried a couple of pen-style airbrushes, each of which have resulted in plumes of cocoa butter in the air, but not so much in the molds.    Thanks.

[ChocoMom]

7 minutes ago, choco.hot said:

Hi there,

Has anyone ever tried an electric gun specifically designed to spray hot chocolate?

 

If you are referring to melted/tempered chocolate that you'd use to flock a cake or whatever, yes. Not a "gun" model, though.  I used a Wagner paint sprayer, thinned the chocolate with liquid coconut oil, and it worked great.