Lotion Help

[hmlove1218]

A little over a month ago, I made a batch of lotion adapted from a recipe in Smart Lotionmaking. I split it up into two jars to test the recipe for spoilage. One jar is the control, and one I used. Now, the control jar, which was sealed up and untouched, is developing little black dots on the lid and in a small spot on the lotion's surface. The used lotion is forming dew inside the jar. Could you help me troubleshoot?

Oil Phase:

30g shea
30g almond oil
9g cetyl alcohol
23g ewax
1g vitamin e​

Water Phase:

351 oz aloe vera gel
3g liquid germall plus
3g fragrance oil​

 

[lsg]

Here are some ideas I came up with. Was the lotion cooled to room temperature before you sealed the container? Condensation will form on the inside of the container and lid, if the product is not cooled to at least room temp. before putting the lid on the container. How old was your preservative? What temperature was the lotion mixture when you added the preservative. With Liquid Germall Plus, the temp. of mixture should be 122*F or lower before adding the the preservative.

 

[hmlove1218]

The jars were cooled to RT before I closed them.
I had just received my preservative, so I would assume it was fresh unless it was old stock.
I didn't think to write down the temp, but I know it wasn't hot. It was at the most a warm bath temperature.

 

[lsg]

Was the aloe vera gel homemade or a commercial product? That is the only other thing I can think of.

 

[hmlove1218]

It was commercial and also pretty new

 

[Aline]

You need to add the preservative (also the fragrance and vitamin E) after you have made the lotion and it has cooled to under 120F. Adding Liquid Germall Plus at above 122°F (50°C) can compromise the preservative effects.......

 

[DeeAnna]

"...351 oz aloe vera gel..."

Should that be 351 g perhaps?

Your recipe (assuming 351 g) looks fine. I'm guessing the dew and contamination issues may be errors in your procedure. It's hard to know exactly what, so I'll throw out some ideas.

Condensation should not be forming in a properly emulsified product under normal room-temperature storage conditions. Is it possible the emulsion is breaking down?

I have had mold form in properly preserved lotion when I reused containers that I thought I had cleaned and sanitized well enough. Learned my lesson.

You are using a large quantity of aloe in this recipe. It may be possible the Germall Plus preservative is interacting with the preservative or other ingredients in the aloe gel, if it's a commercial product.

 

[hmlove1218]

Good eye DeeAnna! Yes, it should be 351g of aloe. I had considered that perhaps the emulsion was breaking, but considering it's only 1 of the 2 jars, I wasn't sure. The jars were brand new that I sanitized with 91 isopropyl alcohol. Could it be that perhaps they got contaminated while cooling down when the containers were open?

 

[hmlove1218]

You need to add the preservative (also the fragrance and vitamin E) after you have made the lotion and it has cooled to under 120F. Adding Liquid Germall Plus at above 122°F (50°C) can compromise the preservative effects.......

I did add the fragrance and preservative after allowing it to cool some. I added the vitamin e to the oil phase because the book told me to ha.

 

[DeeAnna]

I suppose that could be the problem. Hard to say. I usually cover my bottles with a tissue or paper towel when they're cooling down to minimize that chance.

 

[lsg]

hmlove1218, I use alcohol to sterilize all of my equipment also. I use the heat and hold method for my all of my ingredients except the essential or fragrance oils and the preservative.

 

[hmlove1218]

I did that as well. I'm really starting to think that perhaps it was contaminated somehow as it cooled in the containers

 

[VanessaP]

You need to properly take the temperature of your product if you're going to be using a preservative with such a low temperature threshold. Adding it at a "warm bath" temp isn't accurate. Your warm bath may be 130 and to me it may be 110. Use that thermometer. Also, aloe vera gel may very well have its own preservative in it, however, the more botanicals you use in a lotion, the hard it becomes to preserve. But seeing as how the jar that hasn't been opened is the issue, your preservative was deactivated and the lotion was still warm enough to create a bit of condensation. Thermometers are very very important.

 

[hmlove1218]

I find it odd that the condensation didn't form until weeks after I made the lotion, though. If it had formed that next day, I'd agree that it was too warm when I closed the jars. However, it's been over a month since I made it and the condensation just formed last week

 

[bodhi]

was it more humid where you live than usual last week?

 

[hmlove1218]

Not really. It's actually been cooling off some the past week

 

[FGOriold]

My guess is the aloe vera being a botanical and more difficult to preserve when added to a lotion was too much for your preservative system. Botanicals and proteins are very hard to preserve in products and should be used sparingly.