Spraying Chocolate: Equipment, Materials, and Techniques

[Serj]

Going back to spraying cabinets---

At work I have discovered speed rack covers as an excellent make-shift alternative. Imagine a very large garbage bag. Cut off the end that is sealed and then cut down one side of the bag, resulting in a very large plastic square. Tape to the wall above a work surface (i prefer in a corner), so that it covers both the work surface, the top of the area below the work surface, and the wall area above the work surface. Spray away. When you're done, roll it up and throw it away. Very little cleaning required. Perhaps not the most cost effective way of doing it, but hey, it works well.

[mrose]

I can't quite seem to find which gun you purchased?

←

Here is my new baby.The GT-X2.

Oh yeah, the question was raised earlier about warm air from the turbine. I didn't find it warm at all and the colours I sprayed dried quickly.

←

Kerry

You certainly get all the neat toys to play with.

[cmflick]

I have a couple of questions about spraying chocolate and/or cocoa butter and temper. Does the cocoa butter that you mix with chcolate for spraying need to be tempered? I have cocoa butter that I bought from a cosmetic supply company (labeled food grade), that I don't think is tempered. I also noticed that in a post above, Kerry said that she wanted her chocolate/cocoa butter mix to spray to be at 50C, which is obviously not going to be tempered. Does this mean that you don't need to have tempered chocolate or cocoa butter to spray?

I got my first airbrush last month and having been playing around with spraying colored cocoa butters. I've been careful about not overheating the cocoa butters as I didn't want to get them out of temper. This has lead to annoying clogging of the airbrush. Do I really need to worry about the temper of the cocoa butters?

[Kerry Beal]

I have a couple of questions about spraying chocolate and/or cocoa butter and temper.  Does the cocoa butter that you mix with chcolate for spraying need to be tempered?  I have cocoa butter that I bought from a cosmetic supply company (labeled food grade), that I don't think is tempered.  I  also noticed that in a post above, Kerry said that she wanted her chocolate/cocoa butter mix to spray to be at 50C, which is obviously not going to be tempered.  Does this mean that  you don't need to have tempered chocolate or cocoa butter to spray? 

I got my first airbrush last month and having been playing around with spraying colored cocoa butters.  I've been careful about not overheating the cocoa butters as I didn't want to get them out of temper.  This has lead to annoying clogging of the airbrush.  Do I really need to worry about the temper of the cocoa butters?

←

I know this issue has been raised before. I never bother to temper, just heat then cool to the thickness I like the look of (especially for screen printing). Most times I'm probably around 30º or so when I spray.

[gap]

The guidelines I had at school were for ~34 degrees for spraying coloured cocoa butter and not fussed about tempering it first

[Kerry Beal]

I can't quite seem to find which gun you purchased?

←

Here is my new baby.The GT-X2.

Oh yeah, the question was raised earlier about warm air from the turbine. I didn't find it warm at all and the colours I sprayed dried quickly.

←

Kerry

You certainly get all the neat toys to play with.

←

I do like my kitchen toys. No real Christmas presents for the kitchen this year - except what I got for myself.

[John DePaula]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out. Kerry's results are most impressive. How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood. Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10! What a deal!

[mostlylana]

Wow Kerry - you're my hero - you're such a do-er! I am aptly named 'Lana' as backwards it spells '----'... and that's me. My husband keeps wanting to set up the guns and compressor and experiment but I can't until I understand everything! I'm getting there... It will happen...

I am so impressed with your results Kerry. Now I'm wishing I got that system. My gun has more gauges and regulators it seems. Can you control the cup pressure and air pressure to your gun separately? I can on mine but I need to find out what the max pressure on the cup is. The guys at the tool place scared me by saying too much pressure could blow up my cup! All of this talk about blowing up is unnerving. Cups blowing up with too much pressure, houses blowing up with compressors. Geez!

What kind of system are you getting John? The one shown at JB Prince?

[John DePaula]

Wow Kerry - you're my hero - you're such a do-er!  I am aptly named 'Lana' as backwards it spells '----'... and that's me.  My husband keeps wanting to set up the guns and compressor and experiment but I can't until I understand everything!  I'm getting there...  It will happen...

I am so impressed with your results Kerry.  Now I'm wishing I got that system.  My gun has more gauges and regulators it seems.  Can you control the cup pressure and air pressure to your gun separately?  I can on mine but I need to find out what the max pressure on the cup is.  The guys at the tool place scared me by saying too much pressure could blow up my cup!  All of this talk about blowing up is unnerving.  Cups blowing up with too much pressure, houses blowing up with compressors.  Geez!

What kind of system are you getting John?  The one shown at JB Prince?

←

Kerry is amazing. She hears about a technique and BAM!, there she is experimenting with it. I admire her. Me, I seem to take forever to get going...

I ended up getting the same system that Kerry bought: the Fuji Q4 Pro system + the Gravity feed pressurized gun. Also, got a set of the little bottles for different colors but sounds like it's so easy to change colors, may not be necessary.

[Kerry Beal]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out.  Kerry's results are most impressive.  How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood.  Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10!  What a deal!

←

Here's how they look.

Lana - hubby says the pressure on the cup is not independently adjustable from the gun. The only knob I played with was the incoming air pressure from the turbine.

[John DePaula]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out.  Kerry's results are most impressive.  How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood.  Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10!  What a deal!

←

Here's how they look.

Lana - hubby says the pressure on the cup is not independently adjustable from the gun. The only knob I played with was the incoming air pressure from the turbine.

←

Well, those look pretty good. The splatter effect is great! Are they as shiny as they look? Did you just use the molds at room-temp or did you warm them up a bit?

[Kerry Beal]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out.  Kerry's results are most impressive.  How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood.  Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10!  What a deal!

←

Here's how they look.

Lana - hubby says the pressure on the cup is not independently adjustable from the gun. The only knob I played with was the incoming air pressure from the turbine.

←

Well, those look pretty good. The splatter effect is great! Are they as shiny as they look? Did you just use the molds at room-temp or did you warm them up a bit?

←

The pink and silver ones are even shinier than they appear in the picture. The molds were room temperature.

[Kerry Beal]

Check out the difference with these ones. This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour.

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

[patris]

Check out the difference with these ones.  This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour. 

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

←

Are you saying there's something inferior about them? Because I think they're gorgeous.

You've also got me coveting that rectangular mold. Hanging around with you is dangerous.

[John DePaula]

Check out the difference with these ones.  This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour. 

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

←

I think those look fantastic, Kerry. When you mentioned that you got a different effect if you didn't wait for the first splatters to dry, I thought it might be really cool. Is it possible to just spray air? I'm wondering how it would be to lay down some splatters and then hit it lightly with just compressed air...

[Kerry Beal]

Yup, you could do that - just spray with air to get them to spread out like this. I'm not really thinking they are inferior - just different. They kind of remind me of old bricks.

The downside of this little rectangular mold - it's hard to get a thin layer in it for a filled chocolate, so it would probably be best as a solid chocolate.

[mostlylana]

Chocolatiers start your engines! I just fired up my compressor for the first time today. After just a little screaming on my part everything went quite well. The house didn't blow up - I was glad of that. I am now completely outfitted for my guns and I am almost finished making my spray tent to drape over my stove fan. I plan to try my guns tomorrow. You'll probably hear me squealing in most parts of Canada and the States when that happens! I'll keep you posted!

[Kerry Beal]

Chocolatiers start your engines!  I just fired up my compressor for the first time today.  After just a little screaming on my part everything went quite well.  The house didn't blow up - I was glad of that.  I am now completely outfitted for my guns and I am almost finished making my spray tent to drape over my stove fan.  I plan to try my guns tomorrow.  You'll probably hear me squealing in most parts of Canada and the States when that happens!  I'll keep you posted!

←

I'm looking forward to seeing how your spray tent works.

[John DePaula]

←

Anyone know where to find molds like Debondt uses? Large egg, hinged double mold. I think it's a spinner. The ones on JKV don't look like they're doubles.

Edited January 22, 2009 by John DePaula (log)

[John DePaula]

I'm in love with this new Fuji spray gun!  For the first time airbrushing I finished without coloured hair or blowing blue snot.  Minimal aerosol, and can be made less by turning down the volume of air.

I made up chocolate with 30% extra cocoa butter, then used it to spray a frozen boot.  I screwed up a bit - the chocolate was supposed to be 50º C when I sprayed it - but it was around 30º.  I think the suede look would have been better with the temperature right.  And of course it doesn't help that I've now got finger prints on it. 

...

I then took the same mixture, turned the air pressure right down until the chocolate sputtered out of the needle - perfect splatter!  It was a simple matter to dump out what was left in the container - wipe with a paper towel - heat with the heat gun - wipe once more - then blow the air through until no more colour came out of the needle.  Then I added a coloured cocoa butter and sprayed.

...

This gun will not allow you to do a thin line (but I don't think any spray gun or airbrush will).  The unit we got is the Q4 turbine - Q for quiet - it still makes a fair amount of noise, but it's not at the ear splitting frequencies of my compressor, so it's a whole lot easier to tolerate.  I think the extra $200 for the quieter turbine is money well spent.  I'm going to keep the 6 foot flexible hose and the attachment with the air control valve in my stuff - and let hubby get another one - because it was covered in coloured cocoa butter fingerprints when I was done.  This way I don't have to worry about food safety issues because we are sharing the turbine.

←

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot. He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

Edited January 22, 2009 by John DePaula (log)

[Kerry Beal]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

←

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

[John DePaula]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

←

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

←

No, this won't work in the gravity-feed pressure pot; only the regular one. My system came with a regular pot (the one your hubby is going to use to paint the house) but I also ordered the gravity feed gun which, apparently, is having an extended stay at US Customs...

[Kerry Beal]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

←

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

←

No, this won't work in the gravity-feed pressure pot; only the regular one. My system came with a regular pot (the one your hubby is going to use to paint the house) but I also ordered the gravity feed gun which, apparently, is having an extended stay at US Customs...

←

So do you just line the can with a plastic bag then screw it in place?

Sorry to hear about the delay in customs - must be difficult waiting.

[John DePaula]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

←

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

←

No, this won't work in the gravity-feed pressure pot; only the regular one. My system came with a regular pot (the one your hubby is going to use to paint the house) but I also ordered the gravity feed gun which, apparently, is having an extended stay at US Customs...

←

So do you just line the can with a plastic bag then screw it in place?

Sorry to hear about the delay in customs - must be difficult waiting.

←

I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like you could take a bag of melted chocolate and let the top of the bag flop over the rim of the pot, then secure the top and you're good to go.

I had been waiting for the gravity gun but decided to go forward with what I have - the basic Q4 system. I washed everything out today and am waiting for it all to dry out. Seems to make a nice strong mist, at least with water.

Kerry, have you tried the No. 4 tip yet, or are you only using the No. 6?

[Kerry Beal]

I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like you could take a bag of melted chocolate and let the top of the bag flop over the rim of the pot, then secure the top and you're good to go.

I had been waiting for the gravity gun but decided to go forward with what I have - the basic Q4 system.  I washed everything out today and am waiting for it all to dry out.  Seems to make a nice strong mist, at least with water. 

Kerry, have you tried the No. 4 tip yet, or are you only using the No. 6?

←

I only got the No 6.