Air pockets in Body Butter

gofastonit · Sep 17, 2016

Can anyone help me with this. My body butter whips ups and looks great at the beginning. After a week or two it seems to develop air pockets. Is it from my whipping process? I use a hand mixer with regular beaters for a couple of minutes after skin forms in the refrigerator. Am I not whipping enough? Should I be using a whisk attachment or stick blender instead?

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. Mango Butter
1 tbsp. Grape seed Oil
1 tbsp. Shea Butter
2 tbsp. Coconut Oil
.25tbsp. Bees wax
.25tsp Cornstarch

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

HappyGoNaturally · Sep 17, 2016

Is it common to cool the mixed ingredients in the refrigerator? I would think that could make air pockets form, esp. with the beeswax.

gofastonit · Sep 17, 2016

Most things I have read say to cool it refrigerator until the top solidifies a little. The mixture is still mostly liquid when I whip it for the first time.

HappyGoNaturally · Sep 17, 2016

I'm guessing that the culprit here is probably going to be the beeswax, in what way, I'm not sure. If it's fully melted and blended, it shouldn't create a problem, but I'm wondering if it's cooling too fast -- beeswax, for instance, in candles, must be cooled very slowly.

doriettefarm · Sep 17, 2016

I would ditch the beeswax and triple the amount of solid butters you're currently using. I don't really consider coconut a solid oil because it gets melty at a much lower temp than butters. Most of the recipes I've seen use around 70-80% butters with the remainder being a liquid oil.

shunt2011 · Sep 17, 2016

I agree with doriette. I use 75% butters and the rest liquid oils like Meadowfoam, argan etc. with a bit of Coconut. Also making such a small amount is likely causing the mixture get too warm with beating it. I mix mine in an ice bath until it's the consistency I like.

gofastonit · Sep 17, 2016

Thank you for all the input. I will try dropping the bees wax and upping the butters. If I were to use some 92 deg. coconut oil would you consider that in the 70-80 pereent butter or not?