Advice preparing base for aftershave

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BayBoy

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Hey there,

I'm running into a bit of a conundrum with regard to how I should prepare my product's base. I'm looking for a bit of wisdom here as my base requires a six week steep. So I'd like to maybe make as good an assumption as posssible the first time round (we'll, actually it's now the second time round).

My base formula:
- 50% Everclear
- 25% distilled water
- 25% witch hazel

Sounds simple enough right?

My base however requires steeping organics in 50/50 water/alcohol for six weeks first. So I'm not sure how best to introduce the witch hazel in the right proportion. If I add it after the steep, it will dilute the formula (alcohol will be less than 50%).

The easiest solution (no pun intended) would be to steep the organics with the alcohol and 25/25 water/witch hazel. But I'm not sure if that shortcut poses any issues. I can't for example find out what percentage of commercial witch hazel is water, and even so I'd be adding more alcohol to the mix than I want. Plus I don't know what effect if any the witch hazel might have on the steeping process.

Any thoughts? Would love some input!

Cheers

Having given this some more thought, if I use 3oz base per 4oz bottle and add 1oz witch hazel at the end, I get 37.5% abv + 14/4% alcohol from the witch hazel giving me approx 40 ABV - which I believe is sufficient for my needs.

Still curious as to anyone's though though.
 
Use half the total alcohol along with all of the water for your steep (equal amounts of each). Then add the other half of the alcohol and all of the witch hazel to finish your product (and again, equal amounts of each).
 
Doesn't that in the end give me the same result? The only difference being less
 
Hi Kittish,

It took me a few days to understand your approach. Makes total sense to me now!! Smart.
 
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