Stevia in Lip Balm?

[kasilofchrisn]

Could you perhaps infuse some hops into an oil?
I infuse alaskan fireweed flowers and rose petals into sweet almond oil that I then turn into lip balms.
I add vitamin E oil and peppermint EO into the recipe.
I'm guessing very little if any of the flowers flavor carries over but other good properties of them seem to.
No rancidity or other noticeable issues over a year after the balms being made.

 

[HoppyCosmetics]

Could you perhaps infuse some hops into an oil?
I infuse alaskan fireweed flowers and rose petals into sweet almond oil that I then turn into lip balms.
I add vitamin E oil and peppermint EO into the recipe.
I'm guessing very little if any of the flowers flavor carries over but other good properties of them seem to.
No rancidity or other noticeable issues over a year after the balms being made.

I thought about crushing hop pellets into an oil, but not sure how it would turn out or if it will colour the lip balm green. Maybe you could tell me how i could infuse dried hop cones into sweet almond oil?

 

[kasilofchrisn]

just for the record let me throw this out there and that is that I don't drink alcohol and the actual smell of beer turns my stomach so I certainly would not want to use hops myself.
But it's your lip balm, not mine and since you asked I'll explain things.
First I had to do some investigating into whether or not hops is okay to leave on your skin.
And apparently it's very good for your skin. So you're okay there.
You always need to verify that a plant is okay to leave on your skin before using for something like this.
To infuse an oil is very simple.
Honestly I would prefer to use whole hops instead of hop pellets but I guess you've got to use what you've got.
If using pellets you're going to want to crush them up a bit first in a mortar and pestle. You need to expose the oil to the hops and the pellets in their compact form are not going to do that very well.
Once they're crushed you're going to want to place them into a canning jar and fill it 2/3 to 3/4 full.
Then you're going to fill the jar nearly full of your chosen oil and attach the lid and ring.
For a lip balm I prefer sweet almond oil because it's less greasy on your lips and works well in a lip balm.
Now you have two options: to hot infuse it or cold infuse it.
For a cold infusion you going to put the jar on the shelf somewhere where you have easy access to it and flip the jar once or twice a day for a minimum of 6 weeks. At this point your oil is infused and you will strain out your hops completely from the oil. Your oil is now ready to use.
To make a hot infusion you will take your jar of oil with the hops in it and place it in a crock pot. Now put water in the crock pot until you are approximately halfway up the level of your jar.
Turn the crock pot to the low setting and let it infuse for a minimum of 4 hours or, as I do, leave it overnight.
Once it is done remove it from the water allow it to cool and then strain out your hops.
You now have hot infused oil that is ready to use.
Like I said using raw hops is going to give you a much better infusion than using the hop pellets but if all you can get is the pellets then be sure to crush them up well first to expose as much of the hops to the oil as possible.
Good luck with your lip balms they are fun to make and a very useful product.
If you don't have one I recommend getting a lip balm filling tray as that is the easiest and most simplest way to fill a bunch of tubes.
I have a friend who designs and prints all of my labels if I buy the blanks. You can buy label blanks for lip balms online at places like Amazon etc.
That way you can add a list of ingredients so people will know what's in your lip balms and you can have your logo on it and all that kind of thing.
My lip balms have a picture of the flowers I used on the label and you can easily do that for your hop infused lip balms as well.

 

[HoppyCosmetics]

What people don't understand is that beer related cosmetics don't smell like alcohol, so you won't smell like you've just walked out a brewery! And even if beer is used in soap making, the alcohol is boiled off. The end product wouldn't smell much like beer either, unless you added a beer fragrance oil. In non-alcoholic beers, the smell is sweet and grainy because of the natural sugars that come out of the barley during brewing.

As for hops, they are natural and don't smell like beer either, they should smell kind of piney in their natural state. And like you said, it can be good for the skin, aswell as barley in beer can also be good for the skin.

I homebrew myself, so i have whole hops aswell as hop pellets, so i'd be able to infuse either.

Thanks for the tips, and i didnt realise that sweet almond oil was less greasy, so that's good to know. And i think i'll try infusing the hops the cold way, even though it takes a longer time. I recently bought the lip balm filling tray and empty tubes. Ive also bought some oils/butters, and beeswax. I got blank labels with the millards set i bought from amazon, but im not exactly sure how to print on them. Im from Scotland, so i think if i could find a company that could do it for me, that would be easier.

 

[earlene]

My (no-added-fragrance) beer soap definitely smells of hops for quite a long time. It may be my sensitive nose, of course, but the smell of hops definitely persists. No, it's not the smell of ETOH, but that's not what matters. And it is not what I would call pleasant for someone who feels sickened by the smell of beer. Even if hops doesn't smell like beer per se, it is what I do associate the smell with, so in that sense it is reminiscent of beer. And because scent is closely related to memory (for me, and for many people) my brain links the smell to beer. Many strains of hops also smell like marijuana (they are in the same Cannabacae family) because they share some of the same chemical makeup (terpenoids or terpenes). What I am saying by this is that not all hops necessarily smell pleasantly piney.

In any case, if the scent of beer nauseates someone and they have a sensitive nose and associate the odor of hops with beer, then I would suggest it is quite possible having that scent near their nose in a lip balm would quiote likely be unpleasant for them.

What people don't understand is that beer related cosmetics don't smell like alcohol, so you won't smell like you've just walked out a brewery! And even if beer is used in soap making, the alcohol is boiled off. The end product wouldn't smell much like beer either, unless you added a beer fragrance oil. In non-alcoholic beers, the smell is sweet and grainy because of the natural sugars that come out of the barley during brewing.

As for hops, they are natural and don't smell like beer either, they should smell kind of piney in their natural state. And like you said, it can be good for the skin, aswell as barley in beer can also be good for the skin.

I homebrew myself, so i have whole hops aswell as hop pellets, so i'd be able to infuse either.

Thanks for the tips, and i didnt realise that sweet almond oil was less greasy, so that's good to know. And i think i'll try infusing the hops the cold way, even though it takes a longer time. I recently bought the lip balm filling tray and empty tubes. Ive also bought some oils/butters, and beeswax. I got blank labels with the millards set i bought from amazon, but im not exactly sure how to print on them. Im from Scotland, so i think if i could find a company that could do it for me, that would be easier.

 

[HoppyCosmetics]

Most people can't smell or taste the hops in a commercial lager unless they drink an IPA or an overly hopped craft beer. People usually associate the smell of beer with a savoury alcohol smell. It also depends on which beer you're using in your beer soap for it to smell really hoppy for a long time. If you used a non-alcoholic budweiser, i doubt you'd smell anything at all, because the beer to drink is bland.

No strains of hops smell like marijuana even if it is a close relative. I brew with hop pellets and whole hops. Dried whole hops smell floral at most. Virtually all pellets are maybe pungent, but smell resinous and piney or floral. Its only when you brew with them that impart the real aromas and flavours, like citrus, tropical, spicy, floral, etc.

I get that beer isn't for everyone, and neither is using hops in a lip balm, but it depends on what type of beer you use, how much hops you use, and wither or not you add another essential oil, like peppermint.

 

[earlene]

No strains of hops smell like marijuana even if it is a close relative. I brew with hop pellets and whole hops. Dried whole hops smell floral at most. Virtually all pellets are maybe pungent, but smell resinous and piney or floral. Its only when you brew with them that impart the real aromas and flavours, like citrus, tropical, spicy, floral, etc.

Well, maybe that is true where you live in Scotland, but you won't convince some brewers and growers, who say otherwise. Here is just one example of discussions on the topic. Oddly, the Sierra Nevada Beer Company's beer is one such beer that is discussed in that link.

Good luck with your lip balm.

 

[HoppyCosmetics]

Well, maybe that is true where you live in Scotland, but you won't convince some brewers and growers, who say otherwise. Here is just one example of discussions on the topic. Oddly, the Sierra Nevada Beer Company's beer is one such beer that is discussed in that link.

Good luck with your lip balm.

Im not trying to argue with you or tell you that you're wrong, but i read the forum posts on your link above and they say that the already brewed sierra nevada can smell like weed. That's usually classed as a dank aroma or taste. Whole hops does look alot like marijuana buds though. The hops i get in Scotland are imported from other countries, like the czech hops Saaz. Sierra Nevada is one of the companies that made a hops & mint lip balm. It's still available on their website. Ive not tried it yet.