Would old ingredients make my lotion emulsion separate?

[Guachi]

Hello everyone!
I just made a batch of Winter Hand Cream using Susan’s recipe from swiftycraftymonkey. I’ve been making this recipe for eight years, and never had a problem. This time everything was fine until I added the Germall, perfume, and cyclomethicone in the cool down phase. It separated immediately. I reheated it to 70C, added more BTMS50 to emulsify the lotion. Again everything was fine until I waited for cooldown and added the final ingredients. Separated again immediately.

Could it be because my ingredients are several years old? The main change this time was using broccoli seed oil instead of dimethicone as a lubricant. Somehow I doubt my Germall preservative could go bad… perhaps my Black Pepper perfume oil caused it to separate? Thanks!

 

[AliOop]

I've not experienced separation when using older ingredients, but I've also not used Germall that was beyond the recommended use-by date, nor black pepper perfume oil. The one thing I do note is that I always heat to at least 170ºF, which would be 77ºC, because I was taught that not heating it to that temperature could result in separation.