Teach Soap

I did a batch of soap last night, 48oz oils. Olive Castor Palm and Coconut . I used tea tree and rosemary essential oils. I usually just have it sent to the 5% superfat on SoapCalc. I was supposed to do 6.9 for my lye... and somehow I wrote 6.7 Today, my soap is still really really soft, usually by now, I am able to cut... this is the texture of margarine. Will that 0.2 lye loss cause my soap to never harden? Sounds like my superfat would be extra high now, right?

Can I wait an see, or is this something I should rebatch sooner than later? It looks and smells to die for, just softer. I don't NEED the mold, so I can let it sit longer if there is a chance it would harden.

Took the sides off my mold, crazy soft, holds shape... just, but thought more air might help it dry out easier. Tell me there is hope. the scent is out of this world.

It should be fine. What was your original superfat? If your original superfat was 5%, then your superfat with your lye mistake will still be well within the safe zone.

I recently had a seriously lye glitch - a significant portion of my lye settled onto the bottom of my pitcher and formed a lye cake, rather than dissolving in the water. I didn't realize that until I had poured the lye water into the soap batter. I added a bit more lye to some water and added it to the soap batter. So my soap had extra water as well as being low on lye. What happened was I had quite a bit of extra oil on top of my soap. I poured that off, and the soap underneath has firmed up. So I think you will be fine.

5% superfat should not give you a soft soap. Have you made this recipe before? Are you using a lot of soft oils? Is it possible that your olive oil is adulterated? Did the soap gel? If it didn't, ungelled soap can start out soft/er.

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

It went through a partial gel (I dont insulate/force gel, never had an issue with soft soap before) and its fully cut now, and very very soft. When I cut it, it was more like soft butter/margerine, barly held shape... now its like half solid butter... the normal texture when I cut my soap.

It is the same recipe I always use, equal with olive, coconut and palm, then 5% castor.

I am starting to think I got too much water in it as well... the shrinkage in less than 2 days is noticeable. I did use a new scale for the water... tested it out today, its .4oz off from my normal scale. It has now been fixed.

Overall I THINK it will work out,more positive... I have a fan on it now just to help with drying it out... and I do know, even if hard, will still take awhile to cure.

I would give it more time to cure then.

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

I have 2 soaps, that are 2 months or more old and still soft, they clean and lather great, but just are NOT hardening. I know I superfatted too high with them, they were trials. I'll keep them for personal use. But this soap, it seems to be doing better, especially since the addition of the fan.

I've done 10, 12 and 15% SF with recipes similar to yours, they took a little longer to unmold, but were never as soft and what you described! Are you sure it was only 0.2 oz of lye missed? Mine were all cured about a week and a half longer than the cure for my normal (8% SF) batches.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

They are hardening completly normal now. Just weirdly soft to start. Pretty sure on the lye error.

Excited that they are firming up perfectly. Almost to the point I could drop it without a dent. They still look... more creamy (butter like) in texture than my other soaps, but they are curing normal