Running a candle batch
How to start, walk through, and complete a candle batch in Hi Ellie — including the wax top-off reserve, burn-test wick candidates, and the atomic inventory deduction that starts your cure clock.
A batch walks you through a candle recipe step by step, records notes and photos as you go, and — when you finish — draws the wax, fragrance, wick, and vessel you used out of your pantry and starts the cure clock. Here's how it works from start to finish.
Starting a batch
Open the recipe you want to make. Its action bar gives you two ways to start:
| Button | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Start Production Batch | A normal run — you're making candles to cure and sell. |
| Start Test Batch | A burn test — you're comparing wick sizes in the same recipe. |
Tapping either one opens the Start Batch setup screen first — it doesn't create the batch yet. You confirm the details there, and only then does Hi Ellie create the run and take you to the guided walk.
For a production batch, set Number of candles — how many you're pouring in this batch. Hi Ellie scales the recipe to that count and shows a live Wax and Fragrance total, with the per-candle amount underneath, so you can see what the whole batch will use before you commit.
For a test batch, you pick your wicks instead of a count — see Choosing burn-test wicks below.
When you're ready, tap Start production batch (or Start test batch) to create the run and open the walk.
Working through the steps
The walk shows you one step at a time, with a Step 3 of 8 counter so you always know where you are. Each step carries the recipe's instructions — heating the wax, adding fragrance at temperature, pouring — scaled to your batch size.
Work at your own pace:
- Tap Done — next step when you've finished a step and want to advance
- Tap ← Back a step to return to something you want to re-check
- Use the notes field on each step to capture what you noticed — a Notes box invites you to jot "Observations, surprises, things to remember…"
- Add a photo to any step with Add photo (it becomes Change photo once one is attached)
Each step is saved when you tap Done — next step, so your notes and photo for that step are locked in as you go. If you step back to an already-saved step, it stays read-only — its notes and photo are kept as you first recorded them.
There's no timer counting against you. For more on capturing a batch as you make it, see Batch notes, photos and ratings.
The wax top-off reserve
Wax contracts as it cools, and some waxes need a second pour to top off a sunken surface. When your recipe's wax is set to need a top-off, Hi Ellie inflates the wax and fragrance amounts in the batch so you melt enough for both pours.
You'll see this on the wax line of the "before you start" materials, noted as includes ~N% top-off reserve. The amounts you weigh out already account for it — you don't need to add anything by hand.
Weigh your materials before you start. As the materials note puts it: nudge an amount if you used something different — it's what gets deducted when you complete the batch.
Bench Mode
If your hands are going to be busy at the wax pot, tap Walk me through it to hand the walk to Bench Mode. Ellie reads your steps aloud and listens for voice commands, so you can advance, go back, and ask questions without touching the screen.
See Bench Mode for the full walkthrough.
Choosing burn-test wicks
A test batch is how you dial in a wick: you pour the same recipe into one candle per candidate wick and burn them side by side.
On the Start Batch screen for a test batch, pick the wicks you want to compare — pick 2–4, one candle per wick. Hi Ellie pours the same wax, fragrance, and vessel for each and tracks them separately. You can only pick wicks that are already in your pantry, so add the sizes you want to try first — see Wicks.
You can adjust the candidate wicks again on the completion screen before you finish, and the number of candidates is the number of candles in the batch. Once the candles are made, you record how each one burns in the burn-test log.
Abandoning a batch
You can stop a batch at any time with the Abandon this batch option. Abandoning ends the run without touching your pantry — no wax, fragrance, wick, or vessel is deducted, and the batch is recorded as abandoned.
Because abandoning is final, Hi Ellie asks you to confirm before it goes through. It's the safe option if something went wrong mid-pour or you're not confident in your amounts — you can always start a fresh batch.
Completing a batch
When you've worked through the steps, tap Complete the batch. This opens the completion sheet, where finishing does three things at once — it assigns the lot number, starts the cure clock, and updates your pantry.
These fire together, all-or-nothing, and it can't be undone. Read the deduction preview before you confirm — it shows exactly what will come out of your pantry:
- The wax and fragrance you used (including the top-off reserve, if any)
- The colorant, dosed as a share of your wax weight
- One wick and one vessel per candle in the batch
This cannot be undone. Once you confirm, the pantry deductions are permanent and the cure clock starts. If your amounts aren't right, step back and adjust them — or abandon the batch and start again.
The completion sheet also lets you:
- Confirm the cure clock — the cure start defaults to now; nudge it back if you poured earlier. This appears when the recipe has a cure window set.
- Confirm the batch with a quick check — "I checked the batch looks right — color, scent, and fill."
- Add completion notes and a finished-batch photo
When you're ready, tap Complete the batch & assign the lot. Your pantry updates immediately and the batch moves into curing. If Hi Ellie can't convert a measuring unit into your pantry's stock unit for one item, it still logs the item as used and asks you to adjust that stock level by hand.
After completion
The finished batch appears in your recipe's batch history with its lot number, cure status, notes, and photos. Its cure window is now counting down — see Curing your candles for what the cure clock tracks and when a batch is ready.
If an item used in the recipe isn't in your pantry, nothing is deducted for it — only tracked pantry items are updated.
Tips
- Weigh everything before you start. Once the wax is at temperature your window is short; staged materials mean you're not scrambling mid-pour.
- Use the notes field as you go. It's far easier to record what you saw at the bench than to reconstruct it later — and those notes are what make reading a candle recipe's history useful.
- Keep two or more wick sizes on the shelf. A test batch can only compare wicks you actually have, so stock the range you want to dial in before you start.