Cleaning Shea Butter

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Does anyone know if we can clean shea butter' I'm thinking of melting it & straining the small particle's out, I thought I read Shea butter is temperamental to heating' I'd be heating twice' once to clean & again when I use it. Would this cause more steric spots to occur? or would it be best to heat & strain w/ every batch?. Your Experience & Knowhow Is Greatly Appreciated
Thx My fellow Soapers.

 

[AliOop]

By "cleaning," do you mean fixing the graininess? If your shea butter has gone grainy before using it, melt it slowly and completely, then quickly pour it into a container (no straining needed) and put it in the fridge or freezer.

Freezer works best for me. Don't take it out until it has completely cooled all the way to the center. Store somewhere that it will not get temperature fluctuations.

You will need to repeat that process if you will be melting the shea again to mix with other ingredients. Melt completely and slowly, then cool quickly.

You could also choose to do a cold-whipped shea with no pre-melting, as long as your other ingredients don't require melting, e.g., soft oils, EOs, etc.

 

[dixiedragon]

If there is actually debris in it, I'd melt it down with water and let it slowly cool to room temp and separate, then put it in the fridge. Just like rendering tallow or lard. This is assuming the debris is mixed in and not merely on the outside where it can be scraped off.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Im wanting to strain the shea butter cause it has bugs & particles in it' not unusual for raw shea butter. Thank you in answering both questions, much appreciated Dear .

If there is actually debris in it, I'd melt it down with water and let it slowly cool to room temp and separate, then put it in the fridge. Just like rendering tallow or lard. This is assuming the debris is mixed in and not merely on the outside where it can be scraped off.

Yes the shea butter has debris throughout' only seen after its melted. I haven't rendered lard or tallow' interesting & the water wont cause shea butter to go rancid though only a tiny amount would be left on it?

 

[dixiedragon]

You melt the butter in a roughly same amount of water. Stir it around really well. then let it sit at room temp to slowly separate. You want it to saparete slowly no debris or water gets trapped in the shea butter. When it has reached room temp, put it in the fridge (or outside if it's cold where you are). When the shea butter is a solid cake on the top, lift it out. wipe the bottom of the cake clean and blot it dry. Toss the water.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

You melt the butter in a roughly same amount of water. Stir it around really well. then let it sit at room temp to slowly separate. You want it to saparete slowly no debris or water gets trapped in the shea butter. When it has reached room temp, put it in the fridge (or outside if it's cold where you are). When the shea butter is a solid cake on the top, lift it out. wipe the bottom of the cake clean and blot it dry. Toss the water.

Ok sounds easy enough' Thank you for your directions. I really appreciate it

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Also, whether making something like lip balm or even soap, I don't melt the shea with the other oils. Instead, I add it to the other oils after they're melted and it melts at a lower temp.

To "temper" shea butter to. prevent "grainyness, melt it down then cool it quickly, either putting it in a ice bath or the freezer. BTW, once melted, I pour the batch into 1 oz. round cavity molds; freeze it for an hour; pop the disks out and store them in a ZipLoc in the freezer until needed.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Also, whether making something like lip balm or even soap, I don't melt the shea with the other oils. Instead, I add it to the other oils after they're melted and it melts at a lower temp.

To "temper" shea butter to. prevent "grainyness, melt it down then cool it quickly, either putting it in a ice bath or the freezer. BTW, once melted, I pour the batch into 1 oz. round cavity molds; freeze it for an hour; pop the disks out and store them in a ZipLoc in the freezer until needed.

Thank you' this will really help.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Another Question' How do I avoid shea butter from leaving a graininess in my CP soap? would putting it in the freezer right after a poor help? or is their a stabilizer I could use to prevent it? I love using Shea but don't like the aesthetic effect in my soap. Thx my Fellow Soapers.

 

[GemstonePony]

I use Shea regularly, and I've never had it cause graininess in my soap. Do you mean stearic spots?
ETA: I'll sometimes get grainy soap with high-palm/low stearic FA soap, and with soap that actually wasn't quite emulsified, but was close enough to hold together anyways.

 

[Guspuppy]

Are you getting grainy in your soap? I made a 100% shea soap as an experiment and it is smooth. I washed it just now to remove ash but it's fine.
Also! It lathered today!! Feels really nice too. A few more months and it might be a nice soap! (I made it nov 18)

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Are you getting grainy in your soap? I made a 100% shea soap as an experiment and it is smooth. I washed it just now to remove ash but it's fine.
Also! It lathered today!! Feels really nice too. A few more months and it might be a nice soap! (I made it nov 18) View attachment 54433

Beautiful soap!.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I use Shea regularly, and I've never had it cause graininess in my soap. Do you mean stearic spots?
ETA: I'll sometimes get grainy soap with high-palm/low stearic FA soap, and with soap that actually wasn't quite emulsified, but was close enough to hold together anyways.

Yes the steric spots in soap. when I used the shea butter I got much more steric spots. This is the same Shea butter I need to Melt down & Clean due to it being raw & grainy plus particles in it. I wonder if that plays a roll in steric spots? Oh I wanna say the shea smells good w/ a tinge of smokiness scent, It's not rancid.

 

[GemstonePony]

Melt it down with your oils until it's absolutely clear, keep it above 100°f. Stir it before you begin soaping. The lye water can be cooler than the oil, but the oil needs to start warm.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Melt it down with your oils until it's absolutely clear, keep it above 100°f. Stir it before you begin soaping. The lye water can be cooler than the oil, but the oil needs to start warm.

Ok I'll try that, Thank You appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

 

[Arimara]

Another Question' How do I avoid shea butter from leaving a graininess in my CP soap? would putting it in the freezer right after a poor help? or is their a stabilizer I could use to prevent it? I love using Shea but don't like the aesthetic effect in my soap. Thx my Fellow Soapers.

I have never had that happen. Maybe the shea butter has some purities that needs to be tempered out?

 

[GemstonePony]

I have never had that happen. Maybe the shea butter has some purities that needs to be tempered out?

Tempering doesn't remove impurities, though, it just keeps similar FAs from clumping together. And that would be solved by melting.

 

[Arimara]

Tempering doesn't remove impurities, though, it just keeps similar FAs from clumping together. And that would be solved by melting.

I meant bugs, grit and bits of shell.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Up date on tempering & cleaning Raw Shea Butter. I thought I'd try all of your expert advise' & use kinda a smorgasbord approach.
I wanted to see if I should Render all 5 lbs of shea butter or just melt it down strain & freeze. Having the two issues graininess & specks wondering which method would be best? thinking if debris wasn't that bad I could just melt it down filter & freeze.

First Test I Cleaned the shea butter ( rendering ) cooled tell I could lift it out of water & dab dry, in doing so I noticed on the bottom part of the shea it had this sludge oily in texture & it didn't solidify, I wiped it off then remelted it in a double broiler low heat then filtered it through a cheesecloth which set in a mesh strainer, I poured it in ice cube trays put it in the freezer to cool it dow quickly.

Test 2 Melted SB in a double broiler strained same way as first batch then put it in freezer.

Results are in: In both test The Shea Butter looks Smooth' Creamy same Color' however the Shea that was cleaned has less of a smoky scent. I probably should take the extra time & clean the rest of it, picture is the yucky sledge I wiped off. I'm excited to test it out tomorrow along w/ Raw Potato Juice' which I also prepared and froze today. Thank you Friends for your help & input. .

 

[AliOop]

Wow look at all that stuff! Thank you for sharing your process and results!