Looking for recommendations for large bath bomb batches and drying advice

[Thornandthimble]

Hi!

For those of you that make bath bombs, do you use a kitchen aid for large batches or simply a large bucket to mix in?

My recipe is solid, but I'm also looking for a solution for drying. Does bubble wrap or egg crate foam work best to dry on? I've found that bubble wrap can still cause a flat bottom and I'm trying to avoid that.

Thanks!

 

[TBandCW]

The only time I tried a large batch it didn't turn out. I went back to only doing small batches.

 

[Saponomancer]

I use my stand mixer! and I haven't tried it yet but I see the foam egg crate recommended a lot.

 

[Thornandthimble]

Yeah, I've tried large batches (as in just tripling/ quadrupling my recipe). But yeah they end up only yielding 1/2 because the rest crumble. I wonder if it's just drying out too fast? Or maybe the water/ witch hazel evaporates and leaves not enough of a bond? Super frustrating... I'm thinking I'll try another large batch and use more wet ingredients and see if that helps?

My husband has a bunch of sound proofing foam which is basically just like the egg crate stuff so I might steal some.

Thanks guys!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

People won't really be able to say what to keep an eye on or to try (e.g. more wet ingredients will help) without knowing your recipe

 

[Thornandthimble]

Thanks EG, I know that. That's not really the nature of my question though. My question was simply for recommendations. As in what (if anything) is done differently when creating a large batch.

I think I nailed it though! They're drying (on bubble wrap) now :mrgreen:

Recipe:

500g BS
250g CA
250g Spa Salts
60g SLSA
100g kaolin
4.5 ml. EO
3.5 tbsp almond oil
1 tsp colorant

 

[Viore]

I used some sound proofing foam to dry a batch of bath bombs, and it left deep dimples in the bombs. Now I use mattress foam from Walmart, cut down to the size I need. It has "rolling hills" instead of steep mountains of foam. Double it over and it works perfectly for drying bombs!

When I doubled my recipe, I did notice it was harder to get the perfect bath bomb. Some were too dry, others were too wet. I think the wetting agent (water or alcohol or witch hazel) is to blame, so just keep tinkering with your larger recipe!

 

[soap1daze]

I find the bubble wrap works so well for drying bath bombs. I have some large bubble wrap and some small for different bombs. Have fun! Show us some pics! We all love pics I think!

 

[Thornandthimble]

Thank you Viore! Yeah the foam wasn't great, left dimples and took out large chunks. I'll try resizing it to see if it helps. The pourous nature of the foam seems to get stuck easily to my bombs.

I've been tinkering with the recipe. It's been relatively successful but sometimes one or two that seem really wet. I use a kitchen aid mixer so i guess I'm not mixing for long enough on the big batches?

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

I make bath bomb batches with about 120 ounces of dry ingredients (for the life of me I can only remember the weight of the dry ingredients- go figure). I mix at first with a bowl and then then with my hands- no mixer. I don't have many problems with that batch size partially drying out- with a few caveats. 1) I scoop from one part of the bowl at a time while I'm molding so the mixture isn't constantly being stirred to avoid excess evaporation. 2) once I mix my wet and dry ingredients, I start molding with no breaks or pauses. 3) I keep a spritzer with alcohol handy for the odd time the last section of the bowl needs a bit more moisture.

Why avoid flat bottoms?