Teach Soap

I made my first batch of cold process soap. I've put the ingredients below. It was a small 2 pound batch. It traced really quickly; within 2 minutes with my stick blender. Everything looked good. I poured it into a 1/2 gallon milk carton. 24 hours later I peeled off the carton. There was a 1 inch thick portion on the bottom that is lighter in color than the rest of the soap. There was no oil or water in the carton. Just solid soap block. Any idea what happened or what this bottom layer might be?
Can I rebatch the soap and use it?

Recipe:

water 12 oz
lye 4.5 oz

olive oil pomace 15 oz
palm kernel oil 5
shea butter 3 oz
coconut oil 5 oz
castor oil 2.2 oz

Hi hutch! I ran your recipe thru soapcalc.net and it looks like you did a 0% superfat. If you were doing a 5% superfat your lye should have been 4.25 oz. The lighter layer on the bottom could be where your soap didn't gel all the way. Did you test it for zap? Not having any extra fats in the soap could cause it to be lye heavy and if it doesn't zap, it will probably be a harsh soap. You could rebatch and add a couple more ounces of olive oil.

You also have over 7% castor oil, which can sometimes make your soap soft. Most people stay at 5% or below. Hope this helps!

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I used SoapCalc to get the numbers. It said super fat/discount is 5% and water is 38%. When I typed up the post I rounded some of the numbers but did exact measurements with my scale.. exact numbers below. What is Zap?

water 12.16 oz
lye 4.513 oz
olive oil pomace 15.36 oz
palm kernel oil 5.44 oz
shea butter 3.2 oz
coconut oil, 76 degree 5.44 oz
castor oil 2.56

Zap is when parts or all of your soap still have lye in it. It is not safe to use and could burn your skin. Dampen your finger. Smear that finger across your soap. then touch that finger to your tongue. You would definitely know if it zaps. Have some fruit juice handy in case, to rinse your mouth out with.
I would recalculate your recipe for a higher superfat; like 7%. The smaller the batch, the more chance of a mistake. The lighter portion is most likely part of the soap where it didn't gel.

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

Try to use measurements of grams too, it is a bit more accurate for smaller batches

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist