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Basic advice needed about my recipe + adding ingredients during “the cool down phase,” please . . .
Hi, all.
Below is what I think I’m going with for my next adventure:
Phase A
7% almond oil
7% olive oil unsaponifiables
4% tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate
3% cetyl alcohol
1% sorbitan stearatePhase B
5% glycerin
3% niacinamide
1% green tea extract
64.5% water
0.3% xanthan gum
0.2% sodium phytatePhase C
3% acetyl glucosamine
1% Euxyl K903-1- For the water phase (Phase
, I assume I dissolve the green tea powder, sodium phytate, and niacinamide into the water, disperse the xanthan gum in glycerin separately, and then combine the glycerin mixture with the water-based concoction?-2- I know a number of ingredients, such as preservatives or acetyl glucosamine, are recommended to be added during the cool down phase.
Can I simply add the acetyl glucosamine toward the end (in powder form) after the emulsion has formed, or must it first be dissolved in water? Separately, if I am worried about the almond oil being sensitive to heat, would I also be able to add this into cool down, or are there risks to adding too many ingredients at cool down?
Thank you.
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6 Replies
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I always subtract a couple of grams of water from the water phase and use it to dissolve powder ingredients that need to be added in cool down. I’ve seen people just add powder directly into the cool down but it is not something I would do.
I wouldn’t add almond oil in the cool down because your cool down phase would be too large and your emulsion would likely break. In my experience, cool down needs to be ~5% total.
Instead of switching almond oil to the cool down, limit how much heat you are using to begin with. Personally I don’t believe that heat and hold is necessary at all, so in most cases I’m heating to 150-160 for only 5 minutes or so, just long enough for the solid ingredients to melt and the powder ingredients to dissolve.
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Also I don’t think Sorbitan Stearate is a complete emulsifer.
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Reconfigured as below:
Phase A
7% almond oil
7% olive oil unsaponifiables
3% cetyl alcohol
1% sorbitan stearatePhase B
64.5% water
5% glycerin
0.3% xanthan gum
3% niacinamide
0.2% sodium phytatePhase C
1% green tea extract
4% tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate
3% acetyl glucosamine
1% Euxyl K903Would recommend using a green tea liquid extract instead of the powder. If you prefer the powder, you might want to make it into a liquid and ensure that it’s not grainy. Yes, slurry the glycerin & xanthan.
If you are concerned about the almond oil, perhaps don’t heat & hold. If you prefer to heat & hold, perhaps you can add it before emulsification.
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Good advice — thank you.
-1- I will not heat and hold. I would plan to bring Phase A and B up to 150-160 degrees F, I think it is, and then bring them down, as you say.
-2- I think you are correct that sorbitan stearate is not a complete emulsifier, but I believe when combined with cetyl alcohol, it is?
-3- Is the tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate heat sensitive? I noticed you put that into cool down?
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You can check the formulation guidelines, personally I prefer to add vitamin c types during the cool down. Some derivatives can withstand short periods of heating but there’s not much point in heating them really.
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Thank you. It would just mean that I would thus be adding about 8% of the recipe at cool down, and that sounds a bit high based on Emma’s suggestion. Any thoughts on that point, or there is no clear answer?
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