Teach Soap

I have a problem. I made about 8 recipes about 2 yrs ago. Then I got busy with life. I just started making soap again.

The last 3 recipes have come out pretty thick. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I realized I may have been mixing at too high a temp so today I made sure to make it as close to 100* as poss. but it was still super thick. I may have been as much as 107*. (I used Berrywine fragrance and oxides for color so I don't think it was that).

Are the temps still too high?

This is a constant problem and it's ruining my soap designs. It happened with soap from my early days but that was when using something with vanilla or strong spices fragrances.

Also I wonder if it had to do with how I mix my colors. The pink aquamarine wasn't showing up so I continue to mix it and wonder if too much stick blender caused it. It just happened so fast.

Are you using a lot of the so called hard oils? How old are they? If you are using a stick blender, I would switch to a stainless steel whisk. The pink might not be suitable for soap. I would switch to another color. I normally soap at around 110 degrees, so your temps sound fine to me.

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

Can you post your recipe?

I can post the exact recipe when I get home. I believe it was a basic soy, palm, and coconut recipe.

To answer soapbuddy- indeed my oils are a bit old. So I was wondering if that was a problem. I hate to have to through oil in the trash so I was trying to use it up.

When I stick blend it, it only reaches a thin trace. It is quite liquidy like buttermilk. Its only after I divide it and add color and fragrance and stick blend from that point that it quickly thickens. I ordered the mini blender to mix the colors. And I read that the oxides and aquamarines do better to be mixed with water rather than oil, so that may help. I don't believe that it was the fragrance itself. I read the reviews on it and other people don't have any problem.

So many factors....

The Recipe is-
12.5 % sunflower
8.3% olive oil
25% palm
20% soy
4.1% shea butter
29% coconut

6.9oz lye
16.09 oz water

Are you stick blending the colors and fragrance into the soap batter? If so, that could be the problem. Unless I am looking for a thicker trace, I don't mix them in using the stick blender. I usually use a spoon or a whisk.

_________________
~Kelly~

Also, unless my math is wrong (totally possible!), then your recipe only adds up to 98.9%. Where is the other 1.1%?

_________________
~Kelly~

Kelly- I wasn't completely accurate with my numbers. There is a few .17 and .83 left out. I was just giving a general idea. But good job!! Ya, I stick blended only because I couldn't get the oxide to break up and the pink wasn't showing up. It stayed clumped and didn't mix.

In a few days I will get the min battery blender and I will buy a few fresh oils and try again. I'm getting married soon and we are trying to save our pennies, that's why I was trying to use up the old oils I had and didn't want to spend the $10 on the blender (you should see the price tag on my bramble berry wish list-lol).

Thanks for your help!

Ah. I pre-mix my colors in either oil or water (depending on what kind of colorant it is) before I add it to the soap batter. That way the clumps are worked out before I add them. The mini mixer is a life-saver for this! I guess you could try sifting the colorants before adding them if you don't have the mixer, but I've never tried that myself. Maybe someone else has a better idea.

I'll bet my Bramble Berry wish list is just as pricey!

_________________
~Kelly~

So my only other question or concern is- how much colorant do you use, since its such a gamble as to how dark it will be. I generally go lighter then add more. If I use say 3 Tbls of water and some colorant, add it to the batter realize its not dark enough, use 3 more Tbls of water and darker colorant, with these now 6Tbls of added water mess up my recipe?

Those extra tablespoons won't mess up your recipe.

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

I'm going to point my finger at the 29% coconut here. With the palm, coconut and shea, you have 58% of fast-tracing oils. Maybe drop your coconut down to 20% and add that 9% to the olive oil you use.

It is possible your oils have gone rancid. Smell them. Do they smell harsh and sour, like stomach acid?

The way it was explained to me is that when oils go rancid, they break down into different components. One of those components is stearic acid. In my case, it's rancid mango butter. It was causing my soap to speed up trace, almost seize, when I used it at 10%. So what I'm doing is using it at 5% until it's gone. At 5%, I have no problems.

Some of the soap I made with the rancid mango butter at 10% is a year old. No DOS. It's unscented soap, and I detect no rancid smell.

Your problem could also be from the palm oil. Did you thoroughly melt it and mix it before measuring it out? If not, you may have gotten too much stearic acid in your batch of soap.

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

ljm- Yes, I did melt if completely. Good idea though.
dixiedragon- No, the oils didn't smell bad, but I'm thinking it had to be that they were old. It broke my heart, but I just threw them out. They had to be at least a year old if not more. Again- they didn't smell bad, but...can't think of any thing else it could be.
Thanks for your help.

So I got my mini mixer. Any suggestion which attachment to use to mix my oxides with water?

I mix oxides in a little bit of oil with an Aerolatte frother.

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