Teach Soap

I've never had my soap seize on me but today was the first. One minute it was fine and the next minute it was like mixing cement. Had to dash for my mold. Hope it turnes out ok. It was GM that I used powdered milk with half the water in the recipe. The other half I mixed with the lye water. I soap at about 110 degrees. Never saw anything trace that fast. no fragrance. Any ideas what went wrong (oh wise ones) the recipe was palm oil, olive oil, coconut oil, and caster oil. I've been making this same recipe for 3 years now and this is the first time I've seen that happen.

Did the powdered milk have any additives? Next time it seizes, let it go to gel in the pot. When it's completely gelled, make sure that it's mixed well, then glop it into your mold.

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

no additives, it was organic GM from Wegmans.

Did you maybe get a new bottle of olive oil? You could add 1 tsp. of liquid lecithin PPO to help slow down trace.

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

Let it gel?? I thought it would turn into cement right in the soap pot. I figured if it wasn't going to be soap maybe I could patch the driveway with it. do you think it will be alright?

If it seizes let it gel in the pot.

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

I did open a new bottle of olive oil but it was the same stuff I've been useing all summer. I've noticed trace faster since I've been useing palm oil instead of tallow. Can't get tallow in the summer from my farmer.

I kinda of freaked out when it happened and did the whole dash for the mold thing. I didnt realize how fast it can get hard ( boy that sounds naughty)

If you can't get tallow, have you tried lard? Also check your bottle of olive oil. If the oil is pooled from few different sources, it could likely be misbranded. Not all olive producing countries are truthful about the actual oil they produce or how.

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

I made 2 diffrent soaps minutes after the GM and they were fine. Had to be somthing with the GM

I have not tried lard but I would use it , Thats what my grandmother used for making soap.

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

Did both batches seize? The water/lye/oil one and the organic GM/lye/oil one?

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

no just the GM one. And I've made GM since and it was fine. I must have done somthing wrong, but it's all been good since.