Teach Soap

Hi, I made a test batch of soap on Tues. After unmolding, I was shocked to find it crumbled on the first two slices when I cut it. The center of the bar was more stable, but there were small pinprick-sized bubbles all through the soap.
Here is the recipe.
1.5 oz Sweet almond, 1.5 Avocado, 1 oz. Jojoba, 2 oz Shea, and 4 oz each of Coconut, Lard, Olive, and Palm.
Water was 7.3 oz and lye was 2.95oz, superfat at 5%.
Essential oils were lemongrass, fir needle and geranium.

I'd post a pic, but can't figure out how....

Anyway, thank you!

My last question was answered superbly by you all. Thanks for your help!

You really don't need that many oils unless you are using up what you have. Do you have an accurate scale that measures to the third decimal point? At what temp did you combine your oils and lye? Did you use a stick blender? Did you use a tall and narrow container so you don't whip up air bubbles into it? How much of the lemongrass, fir needle and geranium did you use and did you weigh them? What kind of a mold did you use? Did the soap gel?

Almond Oil, Sweet 1.5oz 6.67%
Avocado Oil 1.5oz 6.67%
Coconut Oil 4oz 17.78%
Jojoba Oil 1.5oz 6.67%
Olive Oil 4oz 17.78%
Palm Oil 4oz 17.78%
Shea Butter 2oz 8.89%
Lard 4oz 17.78%
Total Weight 22.5 ozs.

7.3 ozs. of water is fine.
For me, 2.95 ozs. of lye would be 7.5% superfat.

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

Thanks for the response. I used this recipe from a friend who raved about the soap it made. I soaped at 115 for both. My scale only does the to the tenth of an ounce. I used a stick blender with a tall container, measuring about nine inches high by five. I used one dropper of each EO. I had a small box made from a Chai Tea box. I do think the soap gelled (it looks that way).

I just ran the recipe through the MMS calculator again. My percentages came out differently than yours. That's weird. Could that be the problem? The SF range puts it close to six, but with my scale only telling me I put in 2.9 oz, the SF could be anywhere. Grrr.

If your scale only goes the to the tenth of an ounce, convert it to grams for better accuracy. The smaller the batch, the more accurate you need to be. What size dropper did you use?
0.5 oz. on a digital scale is about 14.7 milliliters or 14.1 grams. Your temp looks fine. I normally soap at about 110 degrees. Was the batter still thin when you poured?

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

I would say it was medium trace. Definitely could see lines on the top of my "pudding" and it had that sound to it. I will switch to grams. So probably the problem is a bit of inaccuracy due to the size of batch?

I would try a thinner trace; more like "thin gravy" then "pudding". If you see lines on top that don't sink back in, that's a full trace.
Here is a thought.... If it was only the ends which were crumbly and the inside of the soap was ok, it's possible that you got a partial gel.
Pinprick-sized bubbles could be from your stick blender, or your soap tried to overheat.

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

I must be getting full trace all the time. Thought the gravy look was false trace. So what is false trace?

I am really hoping the inside bars are great. At the price of all those oils....

Thanks for your responses.

False trace is when you stop stirring/stick blending and some of the oils and lye separate.

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