chocolate spray gun

Although I have no experience spraying choc. I'm certain the brand your looking for is Wagner. It's in the $40 to $50 dollar price range, last I heard.

We spray at work frequently, using the Wagner sprayer. For the spray, we melt equal quantities by weight of chocolate (white, dark or milk) and cocoa butter over a double boiler. Strain through chinois into the paint receptacle, screw everything on and spray. It makes a phenomenal noise. I have one very important piece of advice. Find a huge carbdboard box (we use ones for mini refrigerators), tape up any openings, leaving only one side for putting your dessert in. Then we set this box on a surface, put whatever it is that we are spraying (already on parchment in a sheet pan) into the box and spray into the box. This way you won't have a horrendous clean up job. Trust me on this one. Sometimes we even cover the floor with paper. Any stray spray is slippery (even on rubber mats). The big boss still doesn't completely trust me to do this job by myself. But I found out what my problem is. Hold the sprayer far enough away from whatever it is that you are spraying so that you get a nice and velvety effect (what the boss wants). If you hold the sprayer too close like I have a tendency to do, you get a slick surface that is not all that dramatic. Spray with an even hand on one side at a time. Give the object(s) you are spraying a quarter turn every few strokes for an evenly sprayed surface. During clean up, I suggest you put all the parts of the sprayer into a large bowl and personally wash by hand. Any part loss will result in your not being able to use the sprayer again. The most important piece is this tiny little spring thing that fits into the nozzle. It's what makes the sprayer spray. I actually get more nervous about washing the parts than spraying desserts. If I don't do as good a job as the boss wants, he usually encourages me to do better next time. But if I lose anything, the boss will lose his temper. Not good. Finally, the leftover chocolate coating can be poured into a dry container and saved for the next time. Just chop up finely and remelt over double boiler. Oh, and save the box. We keep ours on the top shelf of the walk-in with huge warnings not to throw away.

Have fun. The actual spray job takes less time than it did reading my post.

Oh, I forgot. When you go to buy your sprayer, also buy an extension cord. The cord on the sprayer is too short. The extansion cord will allow you wider range of motion. Very important in keeping nice steady sweeps when spraying.

issac, do you just mean like a spray bottle? I tried it once with coloring paste thinned with a lot of alcohol and put it into a very fine mister instead of using an air brush. It didn't come out even at all. I had rolled out gumpaste and cut flower shapes that I was going to stagger on the sides of a tiered cake. I needed them to be a very bright aqua and handpainting was getting to be tedious. Anyhow, they were pretty small so I thought the mister would get an even coat, or at least an even two or three coats, but it was pretty pointless. Being that alcohol is much thinner than melted chocolate and cocoa butter, I'm guessing it wouldn't work...?

the person that informed you of the Wagner sprayer is right. I use one at work to spray chocolate on desserts. It works good you just have to use lube on the piston before you use it and use a cleaner lube on it after.

We call these spray guns an air brush hence the term air brushing, you only need to use fat soluable coco butter you can buy it ready coloured or use powdered colours but make sure the butter is warm first and heat your air brush uo eather with a hairdryer or hold it over a heat source but be carefull.. if you dont heat them both up you will find that the butter when it cools will clog up your air brush.

Also buy a heating pad, you can use it to wrap the head of the painter while doing other things, it will help keep the tip and internals from clogging up.

Great tips here. Love the heating pad tip!

 

For the paint sprayer gun, we've used as 50/50 tempered chocolate/cocoa butter mixture. For the velvety texture, we place the items to be sprayed in the fridge/freezer first and spray the surface when it is cool - versus the eggshell textured finish if the item is at room temperature and the sprayer is closer. And make sure to filter the chocolate to catch any lumps (there always are!). I agree with the thorough washing after.

 

I love using the airbrush too (a Kopycake) for smaller quantities.

I know about Chocolate Sprayer Machine - This high volume, low pressure chocolate spray machine is ideal for coating chocolate molds, pastries, desserts, etc.

 

need a builder

Chef, I know your going to think this is wild but if you go and that is if they have it in your City Harbor Tools, honestly they sell a small air compressor and if you will talk with the sales clerk at least the one i had was very knowledgeable and even recommended a nozzle for me that worked for icing and choc late.and the Price is dramatically lower then the supply warehouses by as much as $200.00 dollars.

 

In fact I was in Colorado Springs and priced one at Bed Bath and beyond and it was #99.00 for the compressor alone.

 

So I wish you luck and hope you get what you are looking for.

What method would you use to achieve this finish on a pastry, and can you still use the Wagner to achieve this coating?

 

Yes you can

honestly they sell a small air compressor and if you will talk with the sales clerk at least the one i had was very knowledgeable and even recommended a nozzle for me that worked for icing and choc late.and the Price is dramatically lower then the supply warehouses by as much as $200.00 dollars.very high. _______________________________________________________________________________ kanyakumari | Kanyakumari Photos | Kanyakumari Tourism

If you want to spray chocolate, you are better using a certified food safe gun like the Krebs LM45 electric food gun.  Most people don't stop to think that paint guns are not built from food standard materials or in hygenic environments.

We use a black and decker spray gun.  It has an adjustable front nozzle so you can actually get varying degrees of smoothness.  We use colored cocoa butter, melted in a microwave, and strained through a chinois.  The product you are spraying, should be frozen, or at the very least, extremely cold.  The spray gun is easily disassembled, and cleaned after each use.  Been using the same one for a few years now and have only had to replace one part on it.  It's extremely easy to get parts for it as well.

Hmm...have any of you ever attempted to use a spray texture gun for spraying food

products like this? I never have, but have used them extensiveley in contruction trades.

They're hopper/gravity driven, they have brass tips, and can texture down to an almost smooth

"orange peel" etc. The thinner the mixture, the smoother the texture.

Also dont see any reason they wouldnt be food safe..... all parts are brass and alluminum,

nothing corrosive or rustable.

 

NTSelf: I really need to try it sometime.

 

-Meez

@Pastry Passion    

Krebs used to produce the B&D paint guns also ;-)  (And Bosch). 

You may have one with a removable screw which suggests it is not a modern cheap paint gun made in China- they don't allow you to seperate the electrical components so that the rest can go into the dishwasher.   In terms of nozzles, in addition to the amount of power, you can get different finishes and areas of spraying based upon the nozzle size and shape.

 

@Meezenplaz

The krebs food gun doesn't work on gravity- rather they use electric to spray even very thick materials like jam, chocolate, egg etc. Very powerful.

Apart from quality, the main issues with chinese mass produced electric paint guns is that the container and other plastic components are not food grade. This is why sometimes you get that plastic taste on croissants etc. 

 

 

At the end of the day, whatever works for you, works for you. It just seemed prudent to point out that there are choices today for spraying food materials that don't require the pastry brush, cheap paint gun, or expensive compressed air solution.