When do you pour???

Hi, all! I'm sorry I've been more of an asker than an answerer lately, but I'm relatively new to bath and body. I've made a few lotions and I seem to have a recurring problem. My lotion thickens before I get it into a bottle. It's not super thick like a cream and, in fact, I'm fine with the thickness, I just don't understand the concept of when you're supposed to pour. Let me explain.

Last night, I made a nice hand lotion. I mixed well with a stick blender for about 3 minutes (right after I combined the oil and water phase). I let it rest for a while, mixed again for a minute or so and repeated until it was cool enough to add the other ingredients (actually, it was plenty cool - like about 100 degrees). I added the cool down phase and mixed again for a minute. I let it sit some more and mixed again for a minute. It was still liquidy. I let it sit again for a while and repeated, but this time, the minute the stick blender hit it it went immediately from liquid to thick lotion.

My main issue is that it's hard to get into a bottle at that point. Am I supposed to stop mixing once I've mixed in my cool down phase? Will the lotion get thick on it's own, without further mixing? Will it be the same thick lotion that I got by mixing or will it be slightly less thick? I'm just new, so it's hard to know. When are you supposed to pour?

Incidentally, it was one of swiftcraftymonkey's recipes, so I trust the recipe itself and like I said, the lotion is fine - I just need to understand about the timing of the pour. Thanks!!

I don't have a lot of experience in lotion making but I have made several batches and when mine is in the cool down phase and I add the Germaben and FO, I hit it a little with the stick blender until I feel everything is thoroughly incorporated and immediately pour into my containers. It is still quite fluid when I pour. By the following day it has thickened considerably.

My experience of this is that as it cools down it gets thick and by about 100 degrees that's as thick as it's going to get. I pipe mine in using a sandwich bag. I spoon the lotion into the bag and then pop a little hole in the bottom with the tip of a knife and then pipe it into the bottles. The more you get the feel for it, the easier it is. First time I made lotion I wasted so much because I was rubbish at piping, now I get most of it in the bottle haha

I use swiftcraftymonkey's basic lotion recipe for my lotions at the moment, if you read close to the end of the tutorial she's got some tips for bottling it. If it's malibu you can use a funnel and suck the lotion in kinda, but for a regular bottle, need to pipe. Hope that helps, feels like I wrote too much

PS I think she also mentions that she personally doesn't like pouring while it's still hot/warm and liquid because of the condensation.

Yes, I remember reading that she likes to let it cool for several hours before pouring. I guess I'll just experiment and try mixing only one time after adding the cool down ingredient. Then, I'll let it sit for a while to cool, but not mix anymore.

As for the temperature thing, I feel like even well below 100 degrees, it was still liquid. Then that final blast with the stick blender turned it instantly to thick. That's why I'm wondering if you have to blend it to get the thickness. I'll keep experimenting!

I laughed when I read the comment about losing a lot of the lotion trying to pipe it. I am not very good at piping either! I lost a ton of product in the process, so I'm thinking pouring will be the way to go for me, if at all possible.

Yes, I think that's the experiment I need to do. I'll make this same exact recipe and try:

1. Pouring it right after I've mixed in the cool down ingredients
2. Stop mixing, but still let it cool in the container before pouring

I had one thin facial lotion that separated (albeit slightly, but still, separation is separation). Since then, I'm wary of not mixing enough. I'll find the balance and for whom it may concern, I'll post results.

The good thing is, I really love the lotion, so I don't mind making a bunch and sharing with friends and family.

I also spoon it into a ziplock bag and pipe it into my bottles. I have found this to keep condensation out of the bottles and separation from occurring before the lotion is totally set.

I came across this today: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... scratch-2/ and thought about this topic ^_^

In step 6 she talks about microwaving a little to thin the lotion again so it's pourable. Maybe you can try that? I guess you have to be really careful to keep the temperature low then because the preservative is already in. I'm not persuaded myself, the piping seems less fuss to me but I thought I should link it here

the other option is to pump it into your bottles: get an 'industrial' pump (for gallons, with a good spring system in it) and you can pump from your pot/bowl straight into your bottles (the nozzle of your pump would be inside the bottle)
This is the method we use quite often during workshops.

I pour when it's still liquid. I leave the lids off and put them in the fridge to cool off. Then I put the lids on. If you put the lids on while the lotion or cream is still warm, condensation will form on the lids and that condensation has no preservative and can ruin your cream/lotion.