How Do I Create a Candle Batch Sheet That Records Wax Lot, Fragrance Lot, Wick Lot, Temperatures and Timings so I Can Trace Future Failures?

What the sheet has to do: trace both ways

Most batch records are written forwards: what went into this batch. A trace runs the other way. A customer, a stockist or your own shelf check tells you one candle has a problem, and you need to know which batch it came from, what was different about that batch, which other batches share its materials, and how many units are out there. A sheet that only records forwards can't answer the last two questions without hours of searching.

So the template below is built around three links. Candle to batch is the code on the base. Batch to lots is the lot section. Lot to batches is the lot register. Two more links make the evidence physical: batch to retained candles (the retained-sample codes) and batch to burn results (the burn-log ID). Which process fields to include, and why each one earns its line, is the process-information post. This post is the layout and the trace.

The batch sheet, section by section

Two choices in the template are deliberate. Targets and actuals sit side by side, so a batch that missed its target shows it at a glance. And the retained samples are chosen from the middle and the end of the pour order (-15 and -30), so if early and late candles ever differ, you have both. The worked example's SOP reads the oil add at 85°C and pours at 80–85°C. That sits inside the CSI 464 page's "Pour Temperature 80°C – 90°C" and under the 150 g jar page's "Safe for hot pour up to 85°C". Batch B's 78°C add is a departure the sheet makes visible.

Codes that make the trace possible

The batch code is the one field that must survive the sale. It goes on the base of every candle, written or printed, small enough not to spoil the look and permanent enough to outlast a year on someone's shelf. The worked example's code is BRS-261012-B-17: scent (BRS), pour date as YYMMDD (261012), batch letter for that day (B), and the candle's number in the pour order (17). The pour number is optional, but it lets you tell an early candle from a late one without guessing.

Because CSI doesn't publish lot or batch release data, your delivery code is the lot you control. It's worth asking on WhatsApp for the supplier's lot number of what you received and adding it beside your own code, but the trace doesn't depend on it: your code already separates one bag from the next. Nothing on this page implies any CSI batch changed; the trace is there to show whether anything did.

The lot register and the retained-sample shelf

The lot register is a single page, or a tab if you use a spreadsheet: one line per container, added the day it's opened. Each time a batch uses it, that batch code is added to the line. When a complaint points at a batch, the register tells you in a minute which sibling batches shared its oil bottle, wax bag, wick pack and jar carton. Those siblings are your controls.

The retained-sample shelf is the physical half of the trace. Two candles per batch, coded, stored together somewhere cool and stable, out of sun, with lids on. The CSI 464 page's own storage advice, "Store in a cool, dry place. Avoid direct sunlight or moisture.", is a sensible habit for finished candles too (judgement). In the worked example two retained candles are ₹414.27 of materials, 6.7% of a 30-candle batch. How long to keep them is judgement: at least until the last candle from that batch could reasonably still be in a customer's home, which for gifting stock is often many months.

A worked trace: January complaint, October batch

Worked example, set in the future. In January 2027 a gifting client reports that a British Rose candle has "a light oily film on top and a weaker scent than the others". The code on the base is BRS-261012-B-17. Here is the trace, step by step, with what each step can rule in or out.

The exposure is concrete. One candle in the worked example is ₹207.14 in materials (British Rose ₹36.82, CSI 464 ₹70.02, jar ₹94.40, C1 ₹5.90), so batch B's 27 shipped units are ₹5,592.70. Without the sheet, the only safe response would be to suspect every British Rose candle made that season. When complaints aren't one-offs but keep appearing across batches, the tool changes: the defect cross-tab tallies them by lot, operator, day and SKU.

Filling it in without slowing production

The sheet works only if it's filled in at the bench, as things happen: a printed page on a clipboard beside the melter, the probe and scale IDs pre-printed, the lot codes copied from the containers in front of you. Most columns take seconds. Keep the finished sheets in pour-date order, one folder per month, and the lot register in the front of the current folder. A spreadsheet works just as well if someone types the sheets up the same day; the paper original stays.

If you want a check that the system works before you need it, run a mock trace once a quarter. Pick a random candle code from stock, and time how long it takes to reach the sheet, the lots, the siblings and the retained samples. If any step takes more than a few minutes, fix that link. For what to do when production grows and complaints stop being single events, the cluster hub ranks what to investigate first.

Wax, wicks, jars and the oil in the worked example

Four items: the wax, wick, jar and oil the worked example traces, each with what it means for the sheet's lot columns. They are chosen on page statements, pack sizes, price and stock on 26 September 2026. CSI has no batch-variation data, so nothing is ranked on consistency. Load is 8% of total weight: 12 g of oil and 138 g of wax per 150 g candle. If you ever step the load up, the CSI 464 page states up to 10% (15 g), with 9% (13.5 g) as a cautious top rung because the ceiling's basis isn't stated.

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