Teach Soap

Hello everyone. I'm confused about a batch that I made yesterday. I was trying to make a insect repelling CP batch using a blend of EOs. I got the recipe from Susan Cavitch's Soapmaker's Companion book. This is only the second batch of soap that I have tried that uses castor oil, and it is the very first batch that I have tried using EOs. I think this is related to the castor oil because the first time I used castor oil the batch was somewhat lumpy and never did harden all the way.

This batch already seems to be quite hard though( I just cut it today) but it has dark yellow lumps in it. I went ahead and butcherd the loaf of soap so I could cut through and examine the lumps. The ph test came up fine(9.0 everywhere) ...I took a picture but I cant figure out how to load it..
here is the recipe I used:

338g distilled water
136g lye
210g olive oil
57g castor oil
302g coconut oil
340g palm oil
57g shea butter

plus ... 3 tsp lemongrass EO, 3/4 tsp thyme, peppermint, and hungarian lavender EOs all added at a very light trace
I was soaping right at about 100 F and using a stick blender. Everything seemed fine until I started pouring it into the mold. It was lumpy .Today I have a batch of lemony yellow soap with darker yellow globs.
I am beginning to hate all recipes with castor oil ....what am I doing wrong?? will rebatching fix this batch? I would greatly appreciate any help...thank you so much.. sorry so long

Oh goodness! Please don't get discouraged! I use castor oil in quite a few recipes and I've also used Susan Cavitch recipes (but used an Essential Oil Blend from Bramble Berry instead of the EOs that were recommended in that particular recipe).

I have never experienced problems in using Castor Oil. I'd be more suspicious of the EOs...

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HEAVENLY SCENT SOAPS

My guess would also be the EO's. I use castor in all of my recipes and have not had a clumping problem.

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Haven

I'm not an experienced soaper. I also use castor oil in all of my batches and haven't had a problem with it. I would suspect something else.

thank you for all the responses so far...hmm..well...the first time I used castor oil in a recipe I used an FO that was new to me, then this second time I used all EOs (which were also new to me) I bought all of the EOs from Bramble Berry except for the white thyme EO, which I purchased at snowdrift farm.
I'm not sure what to think. I thought EOs were supposed to be easier to soap with than FOs(less sensitive) ?

At what temp did you combine the oils and lye? It could be stearic that didn't get dissolved or cooled off too fast. I also use castor oil in every batch, but I don't go any higher than 5%.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

hello soapbuddy....I combined them both at about 100F The batch came to light trace within a few minutes with the stick blender, then I added the EOs and hand stirred for a couple minutes. It looked okay in the soap pan but then when I poured it in the mold there were big lumps just like what happened the last time I tried a castor oil recipe
I'm just confused...so thank you so much for any help..btw pls forgive my igorance here but what do you mean by 'stearic that didn't get dissolved' ??

Some soapmaking oils have natural stearic acid, which needs a higher temp to completely dissolve. Here are some examples:

Avocado oil has Stearic at 1.5%
Babasu oil has Stearic at 3.5%
Canola has Stearic 2%
Coconut has Stearic 1-4%
Cocoa Butter has Stearic 31-38%
Grapeseed has Stearic 3-6%
Lard has Stearic 13-14%
Mango Butter has Stearic 26-57%
Olive has Stearic 3-5%
Palm has Stearic 4-5%
Palm Kernel has Stearic 3%
Soybean has Stearic 4-6%
Tallow has Stearic 19-25%

The higher the stearic acid content the higher heat is needed to completely melt. If you are using soapmaking oils that have a lot of stearic acid, you need to soap at a higher temp like 110 degrees.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

wow...thank you for the information soapbuddy. That is very helpful. I was not aware of stearic acid being an issue with the oils. So, that is probably the problem with my soap then. Do you know if the undissolved stearic acid would make the soap unsafe? I'm figuring that I will try to rebatch the soap but I'm just wondering.
I want to take your advice on the stearic acid obviously but will the EOs perform the same with the higher temps? I am new to EOs. I want to avoid the lumps but I dont want to run into any other problems either. Thank you so much

Undissolved stearic acid would make the soap safe if you superfatted at around 5%. You don't want your soap to be lye heavy. Yes, you can rebatch if you like.

Essential oils have different flash points, so it would depend which ones you use.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thank you so much

You're welcome!

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.