Lyndsay Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I make body butter all the time. Lately it has been messing up every 5 or so times I make it. Im so frustrated/...help please!waterstearic acidewaxshea buttercocoa butteroilsgermabintiny bit of cornstarchafter mixing the water (boiling) in with everything else, I blend. Today (and some times in the past) it is the consistency of cottage cheese. Any ideas of how I can save this batch??? tia!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 put it in a bowl and warm it all back up in the microwave in 1 minute spurts. once its warmed up enough, start whipping it again. i have had to do this a few times cuz my butters/oils cooled too much before i added the hot water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Oh awesome. Going to do it now. I SO hope it works!! tytytyty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 let me know how it works for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 I heated it in microwave and blended it. It worked perfect, I was so excited! Then, as I was blending...it turned back to cottage cheese.So I remelted it and blended it again...this time not blending it as long. I walked away for apx 2 mins, then came back and it was starting to look like c.cheese again. I stuck it in the fridge for a few mins and that didn't help. I noticed that the butter on the blender sticks is alot harder than it should be.I dont get it. I really don't think I made a mistake with the ingredients. Im so frustrated b/c Im out of cocoa butter now...any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 what is the amounnt of the ingredients you used ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 Ok now it is freaking harder than it should be. UGH!Ive made this so many times and it is it usually good.Going from memory here:15oz water boiled for 15 mins1.5oz shea butter..75 oz cocoa butterusually .75 oz mango butter but I ran out so I add half shea and half cocoa, but this has worked for me in the past. Im thinking I may have left out a bit of shea...could I melt it and add the shea you think? this *could* be the problem1.5oz stearic1.5oz ewax.3 germabin.3 corn starch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 Well I added more shea and now ...it's waxy. Dangit, Im so frustrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 hmmmm this is what i use19.2 oz water7.68 oz butters1.92 ewax1.92 stearic.64 cornstarch.64 fo.32 preservativeall in ounces.maybe try getting it warmed up again to where its almost all liquid, get it blended so nothing is seperating then put it right in the freezer for 10 minutes or so till it starts to get firm then whip it. im not sure why else it wouldnt be working. maybe try adding an ounce or two of hot water to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 i am sure this is stupid for me to even ask but you did melt the butters and ewax and stearic before you added the water to it right ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) Jeez...I forogt to add the oils in my recipe to you. I add 7.5oz oils.Yep I did melt everything before addng the water.I left the body butter out to see what it would look like. I need to take a pic b/c it looks kind of like a brain. Not like body butter though. haOk I do have more cocoa butter I found in my hidden stash ... question.Im out of mango butter, do you think I could sub it for almond butter? Ive never used almond butter before so I know nothing about it.Thanks for your help with this. I hate wasting ingredients and not even learning why. Edited March 12, 2010 by Lyndsay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 i would think almond butter would be ok. people use all kinds of butters for the body butters. if you decided to i would melt the butter first and warm up everything in the bowl again add the butter to it then start whipping. once its blended i would put it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes take it out blend it again put it back in the freezer ect ect. hopefully that will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 i would think almond butter would be ok. people use all kinds of butters for the body butters. if you decided to i would melt the butter first and warm up everything in the bowl again add the butter to it then start whipping. once its blended i would put it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes take it out blend it again put it back in the freezer ect ect. hopefully that will work.You are awesome, you dont know how much I appreciate your responses.So are you recommending I melt the butters separate, then melt the ewax and stearic by themselves, then out them together (on the stove) with oils .... then mix in my water .... blend ... put in freezer ... take out and whip more?Just trying to clarify so I dont waste more ingredients! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 if you are planning on starting over, i would melt the butters, oils, ewax and stearic together while boiling the water seperatly. then allow them to cool a little before adding together. when you add them together blend well then put in the freezer for a few minutes. take back out and blend keep doing this. once it is cool then add your cornstarch and fo and preservative ( dont make it too cool ) keep doing the freezer method until it reaches the consistancy you want it. if you are just adding the new butter to the old batch to try to save it i would melt it down by itself, and also remelt the old batch in the microwave like you did last night. then combine them them and blend well then start with the freezer/blending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 if you are planning on starting over, i would melt the butters, oils, ewax and stearic together while boiling the water seperatly. then allow them to cool a little before adding together. when you add them together blend well then put in the freezer for a few minutes. take back out and blend keep doing this. once it is cool then add your cornstarch and fo and preservative ( dont make it too cool ) keep doing the freezer method until it reaches the consistancy you want it. if you are just adding the new butter to the old batch to try to save it i would melt it down by itself, and also remelt the old batch in the microwave like you did last night. then combine them them and blend well then start with the freezer/blendingThank you! I am going to do this in a few hours, when my toddler is napping. I think I am just going to start over. I dont want to waste the mess in a bowl that I have now though. Im thinking I may add beeswax to it and us it for my feet. (Im thinking beeswax b/c its a sloppy mess right now) I wonder if this would make it waxy though. Ahhh I still have SO much to learn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 BTW, here is my wonderfully messed up body butterIt was hard...now its WET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 maybe just keep trying to blend it together and putting it in the freezer then blending ect ect.i would start over too just incase it cant be fixed you'd hate to waste more butters if it cant be fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuminousBoutique Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 thats really odd. its like the oil is seperating from the waxes, which are keeping the butter stable. I dont use any corn starch in my body butter, could it potentially be the corn starch? strange. I wouldnt put anything else in it, honestly.. it might just be a loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 are you perhaps overmixing and breaking the emulsion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Dee* Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 are you perhaps overmixing and breaking the emulsion?ohhhh i never thought about that! if thats the case could she add a bit more ewax to it to straighten it back out ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridith Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 BTW, here is my wonderfully messed up body butterIt was hard...now its WETI had that happen once. I kept working with it and it kept going to cottage cheese. I finally got mad and threw the stuff out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 14, 2010 Author Share Posted March 14, 2010 I actually did add some e-wax to it and its now waxy as crap! It's still in the bowl, simply bc I am interested to see what is going to happen to it.I havent made my next batch yet. In fact, Im about to in a few mins. I will let ya know how it works out!Oh and I dont think I am over mixing it...I mean, technically I could be but Im mixing it the same as I always do. Ok off to play ... and hope... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndsay Posted March 14, 2010 Author Share Posted March 14, 2010 Im so upset. And confused.My body butter was PERFECT. I was thrilled. It felt and looked wonderful. Then I added cornstarch and mixed for a sec. Still perfect. Then I added the Germaben. In fact, I only added half of what it called for (.3oz) and thats what did it. It now looks like this:The germ. is not old. My body butter has worked perfect SO many times with the same germ. Why is it doing this??? Someone please... tell me the magical secret so I can make my body butter again.Im bummed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 try a different preservative? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBE Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 Not sure if this was asked yet.... Are you mixing the oil portion and water portion at the same temps (or around the same temps)? Usually when one is cooler than the other, you get separation like this after you add FO and perservative. (in my experience). I had trouble one time when I changed preservatives. Everytime I would add it, my stuff would separate. (I want to say it was Optiphen that did this). I had to chunk that particular preservative in the trash and go back to a preservative that worked for me. Another thing... how big of a batch are you making? I know I have trouble with separation making really huge batches... I rather make a few smaller batches and everything go smooth then make a huge batch and run into problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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