Teach Soap

A batch of soap I made was somewhat crumbly when I took it out of the mold about 30 hours after pouring it. Any thoughts on what caused this?

The soap contains cocoa butter (10%). I used flat beer for the liquid, and added at trace honey and lemongrass, lime, and orange essential oils. The soap was at a thick trace when I poured it--it thickened up very fast. With the lye amount I used, it ended up being about 6.5% superfat.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I know you used honey, but did it gel? Sometimes when a batch doesn't gel, the edges can be a little crumbly.

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

Oh yes, it gelled. It got so hot that the gelling interior pushed up on the top of the soap. I uncovered it after about 12 hours because of the extreme heat.

I wouldn't describe the crumbly texture as just on the edges. All the cut sides--through the middle--are crumbly. I used a pvc pipe mold for this.

Oh! It overheated. I don't insulate my PVC molds at all and some of them still gel anyway. If it won't hold its shape when cut, crumble it up and add it to another batch. Or if it was just a small batch, I would start over.

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

Thanks for your expertise on this. It will hold its shape when cut (just some crumblies from where the knife hit it), so I assume that this is a texture issue and that the soap is safe to use. I just wanted to make sure that the crumblies weren't due to some problem with too alkaline a pH.

I read an online critique of a soap-making book--the "all re-batch" one, can't remember the name, but it seems to be infamous--that had one of the author's pictures in it. The photographed soap was crumbly when cut just like this batch and I recall the commenter saying something about this being bad due to lye. But my memory could be all wrong, too.

It is so nice to have this resource for us newbies! Thanks again.

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

From what I have read, there has been an instance or two where the soap didnt zap, yet it tested lye heavy. While the zap is usually a good indication, if you are in the least bit unsure, I would do a ph test on it. Like the valley girl, you want to be for sure, for sure, when giving your soap away or selling it.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

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