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Teach Soap • View topic - Mocha Soap

Teach Soap

Soap Making Recipes, Tips and Tutorials
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 Post subject: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:26 am 

Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:04 am
Posts: 65
I couldn't find a recipe for mocha soap that I liked so I tried to come up with one myself. I made some extra strong coffee, reduced it, then cooled it in the refrigerator. I used:
8 0z Cocoa Butter
8 Oz Coconut Oil
8 Oz Coffee Butter
8 Oz Palm Oil
4.8 Oz lye (6% lye discount)
10.6 Oz strong coffee
2.4 Oz powdered baking cocoa

The hardness is fine, the color and smell are great. The problem is that I have pockets of oil. I have had this happen in other batches and have always been able to solve the problem by rebatching. That is twice as much work though. It would be better to get it right the first time. Any suggestions?


Barbara


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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:30 am 
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Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:14 pm
Posts: 24336
Location: Mistress Of Lather
If it has oil pockets you will need to rebatch. At what temps did you combine all the ingredients? Did you use a stick blender? At what trace did you pour? Did it gel? That's a lot of cocoa for that size batch. It's possible that the cocoa powder sucked up any extra liquid and that's why you have oil pockets. You might also convert the ozs. to grams. It's more accurate for smaller batches. I presume you ran this recipe through a lye calc?

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Irena
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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:22 am 

Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:04 am
Posts: 65
Yes, I'll rebatch it. People I've given soap to like the look of the rebatch soap better than the look of my successful batches. :? I don't have a thermometer that measures the oil temperature so I don't know exactly how hot the oils were. I usually put one of the elements on my electric cook top on the lowest setting to keep the oils melted, so they weren't very hot. I over heated a pot of oil and had it pour out all sides of the pot when I added the lye/water several months ago. Fortunately I was standing back and didn't end up with scalding oil all down my body. The thought of how painful that would have been almost made me sick. It gave me nightmares afterwards, and I have been just barely heating my oils since then.

I used a hand mixer. I don't have a stick blender and don't understand why people prefer them to hand mixers. It seems like people complain so much about burning out stick blenders...I don't know why someone would buy a second stick blender after burning one out - they're designed for mixing drinks, aren't they? Well, that's a topic for another time.

I thought I might have added too much cocoa powder. I get oil pockets often enough that I think I must be doing something else wrong though.

I had a nice heavy trace before I added the cocoa. I stirred the cocoa in quickly and poured the soap into the mold. I didn't have any sign of separation at that time. I didn't know I had oil pockets until I cut the soap.

Where do I get the right type of thermometer?

Thanks.

Barbara


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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:58 am 
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Location: Mistress Of Lather
A stick blender "emulsifies" oils and lye. A hand mixer does not have enough shear to do this. I would like to bet that's where your problem is. As far as the temp of your oils, if you can put your hand on the side of the pot and it's quite warm, but not burning hot you should be ok. I use a laser thermometer for my lotions and it came from Harbour Freight online.

The biggest reason people burn out their stick blenders is because they leave it on the whole time. It is best to turn it on for a while, turn it off and use the stick blender off as a manual hand blender, then turn it back on and repeat til you get trace.

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Irena
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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:31 am 
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Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:14 am
Posts: 6158
Location: Jefferson City, TN

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Linda
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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:06 pm 

Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:04 am
Posts: 65
Hmmm...it sounds like the stick blender might be a good investment then. The "hands on the sides of the pot" is my thermometer. What Irena described is how I check the temp of my oils. A laser thermometer sounds cool enough that I may pick one up anyway. It will come in handy when I fry chicken. I don't fry chicken often enough to buy a thermometer but I always wonder if the oil is hot enough. A laser thermometer will solve two problems.

Nobody has said anything about my mix of oils. I take that to mean that my 8-8-8-8 mix is probably not the problem.

I'll rebatch this soap, which will solve the problem this time. By the time I try this recipe again I'll probably have a good stick blender and really cool laser thermometer.

Barbara


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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:26 pm 

Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:52 pm
Posts: 102
Hey Barb- I'm new to soaping but I tried my first couple batches with a hand mixer trying to make it by and not wanting to invest in equipment and they came out okay but I REALLY notice a differance now that I have a stick blender my trace times are quicker, the mess is less, and the soaps are overall better. I did buy a "used" like new hamilton on amazon for less than $8 and got free shipping because I bought it with a few presents. So you don't need to go all out. It works great and has a whip too which has been great for my little guys butters. I would guess the mixing issue is your problem.


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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:30 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:28 am
Posts: 46
Hi Barbara59, I made soaps for about a year by whisk, before I bought a stick blender. My soaps are far better now, their texture is finer, and they harden better than before. I would never go back to the whisk, it just doesn't make a good enough at blending thoroughly. :lol: :lol: :lol: BarbaraMay


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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:38 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 29, 2011 8:59 pm
Posts: 378
Location: Alberta
@Barbara59 ...

I ran your recipe through a lye calculator (I used the thesage.com one b/c it has coffee butter) and you might have too much lye. The amount you're using right now shows as giving you 0% superfat (i.e. the calc shows you need 4.77 oz of lye for 0% SF ... yikes!)

Please double check my numbers but this might be the problem? Though the large amount of cocoa powder, as Irena suggested, might be interfering with things too. I'd be tempted to make your recipe using a lye calculator and without the cocoa powder (or a very small amount as it doesn't really give any scent from my experience) and see what happens.

PS: So sorry to hear about your "oil spill" incident! That would've scared the heck outta me! I hope you wear a really sturdy apron ;) A good reminder though because sometimes I forget to put mine on!

Karri

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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:04 pm 
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Location: Mistress Of Lather
You're right Karri. It is lye heavy. I just presumed that the recipe was run through a lye calc. For a 7% superfat, I get 4.45 ozs. of lye. 4.8 ozs. of lye is NOT a 6% lye discount. For the coffee you would need between 8 to 12 fluid ounces.

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Irena
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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:15 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 29, 2011 8:59 pm
Posts: 378
Location: Alberta
We solved the Mocha Mystery! Happy dance :D
Karri

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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:39 am 

Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:04 am
Posts: 65
I used the Bramble Berry lye calculator. I double checked and came out with 4.4 oz lye and 10.6 oz liquid. I always write down whatever the lye calculator tells me and keep the card with the batch of soap. I'll check to see if I noted down 4.4 or 4.8 for the lye when I get home tonight. Even if I did use 4.8 instead of 4.4 oz of lye I wouldn't get a 0% lye discount. I don't consider the mystery solved yet.

Barbara


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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:37 am 
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Joined: Sun May 29, 2011 8:59 pm
Posts: 378
Location: Alberta
@Barbara59

Darn! But yeah, something is still odd here because BB's site shows 4.85oz of lye for 6% SF while The Sage shows almost the SAME amount (4.77oz) for 0% SF!

Brambleberry and TheSage must be using different SAP values for coffee butter (or one of the ingredients but I'm thinking the coffee butter because that's a less common ingredient).

Karri

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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:11 am 
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Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:14 am
Posts: 6158
Location: Jefferson City, TN
I always use soapcalc.net for my lye calculator, but they don't have coffee butter listed, so I ran it through the lye calculator on the Soaper's Choice/Columbus Foods site and for 6% SF it said to use 4.452 oz lye. I think it's very interesting that they all have different lye amounts for the same SF %. Weird... :roll:

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



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 Post subject: Re: Mocha Soap
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:11 am 
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Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:14 pm
Posts: 24336
Location: Mistress Of Lather
It must be the coffee butter. Someone aught to email BB and let them know.

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Irena
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