Question regarding making perfume in large quantities

[AdrienLeroy]

Hello all, I am a new school perfumer. I have been blending for 6-7 months now, and it has been a hell of a ride. Fortunately, my hard work has paid off; I have created some scents my family and friends enjoy.

Now that this is going well, I want to produce my perfume in large quantities rather than one at a time. However, I need clarification as to where to start.

I wish to implement two methods, but I need some insight on whether they are the correct way to produce in large quantities.

I plan to work with 64 oz or 32 oz Boston round bottles. Using this, I plan to produce either around 32 oz or 64 oz of finished fragrance in one sitting.

Method 1
Get a large beaker. Place all raw materials into this beaker, including materials that need to be prediluted (such as Galaxolide, which I cannot use neat). Then, pour this beaker into the large container, and add alcohol on top. By the end of this, the larger container will be completely filled with the finished fragrance.

Method 2
Gather a bunch of 50ml beakers. For each single aroma chemical / raw material / EO / component that goes into perfume, I weigh it in its own separate beaker. I then pour that beaker into the large container. Then, I add alcohol on top. By the end of this, the larger container will be completely filled with the finished fragrance.

Which method is better? Method 1 utilizes one beaker for raw materials, while method 2 utilizes a separate beaker for every raw material. Or will they both work out fine?

Another question I have is if my production formula calls for, say, 5 grams of Orange EO, and I pour 5 grams of Orange EO into a beaker (using method 2) and then pour it into the larger container, some Orange EO will be inevitably be left behind in the beaker. How can I avoid this, or is the amount so small that it is negligible?

But what if it is only 100 mg of Orange EO? Obviously, this will stick mostly to the beaker. Could I add 10 g of ethanol on top so that the amount of Orange EO left is negligible when poured into the larger container? Or is there a better way to do this?

Is this the correct way to produce a lot of perfume at home? Or is there a much better way?

I have a Bonvosin Scale with a max capacity of 500 g. 99% of my aromachemicals are sourced from Perfumer's Apprentice.

Also, is it a good idea to filter perfumes?

Any help would be appreciated; thank you so much.

 

[Solua Botanica]

Here's how I do it. Just mix all the materials neat in a smaller bottle so you won't max out your scale.
This is your concentrate, let mature for a while. I do 6 weeks, sometimes more.
Then use your large bottle and mix the concentrate with alcohol to your desired %. Let mature again for a shorter while, I do 1 month.
Considering you have a 500gr. scale, you can measure one beaker of alcohol at a time and pour it in your big bottle.
Filtration: If your mix shows some precipitates or reactions like crystals,waxes,deposits,etc... then you should definitely filter it.
I use qualitative filter paper with a buchner funnel. But you don't need to be fancy about it, two or three coffee filters will work.
I just like the fact that good filters can be bought in different pore sizes and are acid free.

 

[rococo]

I work in batches using a beaker that won’t max out my scale when filled. Measure in the concentrate and ethanol, stir (magnetic stirrers really are nice and basic ones are cheap!) and pour off into the larger container. After this matures for quite some time I filter — I’m not sure whether it’s better to filter sooner but I do think it’s usually worth filtering if you’ve used resins or natural materials

 

[RomanB]

Please consider my comment to be only a suggestion.

1. Split all your formulas into: (A) main composition, (B) trace elements composition and (C) tinctures and solutions. Such approach solves numerous problems:
First, you can use different scales for different parts. Having a precise 10kg scales is far more expensive than having separate 500 g scales and 10kg scales with lesser precision.
Second, you can work with hardly-soluble and viscous materials on a water bath without affecting the whole composition - while they may be viscous and slowly dissolving at room temperature, at +50 C they will be much more manageable. You don't have to use only neutral solvents ethanol or IPM to dissolve them, some parts of your perfume like phenylethyl alcohol could act as solvents too.

2. Age compositions without alcohol first. Your perfumery materials react with each other and water is detrimental for those processes. Ethanol always contains water, so you really want to introduce it only after some reactions will take place. After mixing your compositions, tinctures and solutions with alcohol, you'll have to filter the resulting mixture after some time. Doing this separately in many little vessels will lead to large losses and expenses.

 

[David Ruskin]

Make the amount of concentrate you will need for the amount of finished product. Let us say 1 kilo of concentrate. Take a suitably large container add your 1 kilo of concentrate, add 4 kilos of diluent (ethanol?), you will have 5 kilos of fragrance at a 20.0% dilution.

Keep it simple.

 

[NarcisoM]

I have never made a large batch yet, but the method David explained seems to me the way to go. And, if you´re concernded about some little amount of material that can be left behind in the beaker, do the maths for one more bottle.

 

[RSG]

RE: material clinging to the walls. When you do it Davids' way there is really only one bottle to rinse. But when you are doing small batches, trials, separating materials you might have 3 for example. The material loss can be measurable. I like to save my bottles until time to add the ethanol and after weighing the ethanol use it as a rinse on the concentrate container.

 

[pkiler]

Use your scale, get a 4oz bottle, or 8oz bottle.
make 120g or 250g of your concentrate in that bottle, and you won't max out your scale.
Then dilute to your preferred percentage in a large bottle, let it sit, and bottle, and disseminate.