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Mixing speed for lotions & creams, excessive air in a finished lotion, size of mixing bowl.
Sorry for asking 3 questions at once. I haven’t seen posts that cover these 3 topics.I am now using a stand mixer, Sunbeam brand, for domestic use, NOT a professional piece of equipment.When mixing the ingredients for a lotion or cream is it best to start mixing fast, then slower, or slower first, then fast?
Sometimes my lotions are a little more airy than I like, probably due to excessive mixing speed. Any ideas how to get the excess air out? Sometimes gently whamming the jar bottom on a padded table helps, but not always.I do not have professional equipment, so I cannot apply a vacuum to the batch to suck out excess air. The fluffiness of the lotion makes it hard to get it out of a pump bottle. I do not want to use plastic squeeze bottles because there is already too much plastic floating around. Plus the canning jars I use are re-usable & are easily sterilized with home-brew sterilant solutions.My formulae and heat & hold periods are not the problem causing the separation because the formulae worked well when I used a stick blender. I was unhappy with the stick blender because the motor heated up too much AND because it caused fluffiness in my lotions.Can using a rather large bowl for a small amount of lotion cause inadequate mechanical emulsification because the water & oil phases aren’t being brought together well enough in a large bowl? I have found that a 200 gram batch may work out really well, but then when I try to make a 600 gram batch in a large bowl, it separates. I am guessing the bowl was too large? -
2 Replies
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This does not sound like a problem we can help with, other than to suggest different equipment to process your batches with.
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I made 2 batches yesterday, in different mixing vessels. I made the exact same formula so if I had a failure, the mixing would be to blame.
The 200 gram batch was mixed in an IKEA metal measuring cup. I started off mixing at almost maximum speed, then to a more medium speed. Total mix time was 15 minutes with breaks scattered throughout to allow the motor to cool off. I use a split plastic bag over the mixer to keep the splattering from going all over the kitchen AND to try to keep air currents from depositing things I can’t see, into the lotion. NO separation so far
. The 600 gram batch was mixed in the smaller bowl that came with the stand mixer. That was also mixed at very high speed to begin, then to a medium speed. Total mix time was 21 minutes because I feared any less would mean the mechanical emulsion would not have happened. This is also staying emulsified, so far.My most recent lotion failures showed separation within a mere 2 hours, so I think this is a success.So I guess it is very important to use the right-sized mixing vessel for different batch sizes.
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