Teach Soap

Hello-
Yesterday and today I made CP batches using a recipe I've used several times before. I've always got a quick trace with it, but for some reason these two times I couldn't get it to trace after 45 minutes of stirring so just poured it anyways. Yesterday's batch hardened up fine, and I'm waiting to see about today's. What could keep the soap from tracing? I soaped with both the oils and lye water at 115. The only difference in ingredients is a new brand of lye, but it is 100% lye. The rest of the recipe is:
-15 oz water
-6.3 oz lye
-20 oz coconut oil
-6 oz palm oil
-14 oz olive oil
I really want to practice swirling, but it's hard to do with runny soap! Any ideas are appreciated! Thanks!
Lisa

Did you use a stick blender? At what temp did you combine the oils and lye?

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

Sorry- this was meant to be in the CP forum!
Anyways, I didn't use a stick blender, just old-fashioned stirring. I mixed my oils and lye water at 115 degrees.
Thanks!

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

Thanks Saopbuddy! A stick blender is definately on the list!
But do you know why I would have such a hard time reaching trace with the same recipe when normally I get it in about 10 minutes? Could the lye have anything to do with it?

The most recent batch has set in the mold for over 24 hours and is still a little soft, with a wet look to the top. Is it taking longer to set up because I poured before it reached trace, or could something elso be wrong?
Thanks again!

It's possible that you reached false trace. I would give it a couple of days and if the substance on top doesn't absorb back in, you could rebatch. Is it possible that you mismeasured? Is your scale accurate?

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

Different fragrance oils can give you a faster trace than others. You didn't mention one in your ingredients above. Did you use one the last 2 times you made this recipe?

Aside from not using a stick blender that's all I can think of. And that's what made me even think of the fragrance oil because you didn't use a stick blender and still got it trace quickly. Hope this helps and good luck with your next batch and hopefully this one will turn out amazing!

Lisa

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Thanks!
Lisa

http://www.MySpaSecrets.Etsy.com

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Thanks Everybody! The wetness on the soap seems to be drying, and it passed the zap test today, so I think it will be good to go. It wasn't my FO that affected things because I always wait until light trace to add any scent. My scale isn't so great, so maybe something got mismeasured. Even though it didn't turn out anything like I was expecting, it still looks pretty good. That's the story of most of my batches . Now I have an excuse to buy a stick blender and upgrade my scale! Thanks!
Lisa