Katy and I recently hopped on Facebook to do a live video and talk about scaling your batches of lotion. We were both nervous at first, but luckily we were very surprised by how much fun it was.
Today, I’ll show you how to take the math of a recipe and scale your recipes into larger batches. Ready? Grab a notebook or a spreadsheet and follow along!
Now, where did I get inspiration for this recipe? I actually dug way back into the archives to find this recipe. The Body Cream Recipe was first released in October of 2009 because of a conversation I had with a reader about the Body Cream Base sample that she had received with an order she had placed. Since she wanted to make a cream just like it, I formulated (with help back then) that recipe.
Finished jars of the Facebook Live body cream after being scented.
In the original recipe blog post, you can actually see that I only released a recipe in grams. So, how did I convert the recipe into percentages and are percentages necessary for scaling your batches?
While percentages aren’t absolutely necessary, it does make scaling a recipe easier than saying, “I need to make a batch that is 2.75 times larger than my normal batch.” (I’ve got an old blog post about percentages too.) I love percentages because they help save my sanity.
To find the percentages of my recipe, I pulled up my favorite spreadsheet program and made few columns. The first column is for the ingredient name and the second column is for the weights of the ingredients used. At the bottom of the second column, I set a formula that allows me to get the total of all the numbers in the column. From that point, I can set up my spreadsheet to crunch the math for me automagically with a few formulas.
| Ingredient Name Citric Acid Hydrovance Dimethicone Stearic Acid Emulsifying Wax Sunflower Oil Shea Butter, Refined water Chamomile Extract Comfrey Leaves Extract Liquid Germall Plus Rooibos Tea Fragrance OilTotals |
Weight (grams) 1.3 15 24.5 20 25 95 5 330 2.5 2.5 2.6 5.2528.6(@sum=B2:B12 as an example) |
1st Calculation 1.3 / 528.6 15 / 528.6 24.5 / 528.6 20 / 528.6 25 / 528.6 95 / 528.6 5 / 528.6 330 / 528.6 2.5 / 528.6 2.5 / 528.6 2.6 / 528.6 5.2 / 528.6 |
2nd Calculation 0.002459 * 100 0.028376 * 100 0.046348 * 100 0.037835 * 100 0.047294 * 100 0.179720 * 100 0.009458 * 100 0.624290 * 100 0.004729 * 100 0.004729 * 100 0.004918 * 100 0.009837 * 100 |
Final Percentage 0.2459% 2.8376% 4.63488% 3.78357% 4.72947% 17.9720% 0.94589% 62.4290% 0.47294% 0.47294% 0.49186% 0.98373% |
After looking at the final calculations of the percentages, I have to admit that I groaned and said “Screw it. Let’s adjust the recipe to have easier numbers.” Who wouldn’t prefer whole numbers? So after some adjusting, I came up with the recipe below.
Here’s the adjusted recipe in percentages.
62.25% Water
18% Sunflower Oil
5% Emulsifying Wax
5% Dimethicone
3% Stearic Acid
3% Hydrovance
1% Shea Butter, Refined
1% Chamomile Extract
1% Calendula Extract
0.5% Liquid Germall Plus
0.25% Vitamin E Natural
Don’t those numbers look a lot less intimidating? I think so! Now the next question you might have is probably, “Ok, Andee. I now have percentages, but how do I scale this batch size?” Great question! This is my favorite part of the math we use!
Decide how big (or small) of a batch you want to make and multiply that final batch size by the percentage of each ingredient. Let me show you!
| Ingredient Name Water Sunflower Oil Emulsifying Wax Dimethicone Stearic Acid Hydrovance Shea Butter, Refined Chamomile Extract Calendula Extract Liquid Germall Plus Vitamin E NaturalTotals |
Percentage 62.25% 18% 5% 5% 3% 3% 1% 1% 1% 0.5% 0.25%100% |
8 ounces weight 8*62.25% OR 8*.6225 = 4.98 8*18% OR 8*.18 = 1.44 8*5% OR 8*.05 = 0.4 8*5% OR 8*.05 = 0.4 8*3% OR 8*.03 = 0.24 8*3% OR 8*.03 = 0.24 8*1% OR 8*.01 = 0.08 8*1% OR 8*.01 = 0.08 8*1% OR 8*.01 = 0.08 8*0.5% OR 8*.005 = 0.04 8*0.25% OR 8*.0025 = 0.028 ounces |
80 ounces weight 80*62.25% OR 8*.6225 = 49.8 80*18% OR 8*.18 = 14.4 80*5% OR 8*.05 = 4 80*5% OR 8*.05 = 4 80*3% OR 8*.03 = 2.4 80*3% OR 8*.03 = 2.4 80*1% OR 8*.01 = 0.8 80*1% OR 8*.01 = 0.8 80*1% OR 8*.01 = 0.8 80*0.5% OR 8*.005 = 0.4 80*0.25% OR 8*.0025 = 0.280 ounces |
1000 grams weight 1000*62.25% OR 8*.6225 = 622.5 1000*18% OR 8*.18 = 180 1000*5% OR 8*.05 = 50 1000*5% OR 8*.05 = 50 1000*3% OR 8*.03 = 30 1000*3% OR 8*.03 = 30 1000*1% OR 8*.01 = 10 1000*1% OR 8*.01 = 10 1000*1% OR 8*.01 = 10 1000*0.5% OR 8*.005 = 5 1000*0.25% OR 8*.0025 = 2.51000 grams |
Whew! See? That looks complicated, but it really isn’t!
If you made it all the way to the bottom, you are now a scaling genius and you can make any batch size you want or need!
To celebrate this amazing batch, we divided it into three parts and scented each part with a different springtime fragrance. We chose Lemon Cookie, Honey Buns, and Crocus! Request a sample with your next order!
Have more questions? Let us know and we’ll help find the answers!
