Teach Soap

I bought a stick blender today. I'd been hearing about how wonderful they were so I went to Walmart and bought the best one I could find. I came home and tried a recipe that I always use and I'm very comfortable with, Alicia Grosso's basic soap recipe from her Magical Soapmaking book. It's a 2lb recipe. I put the blender in, tapped the bottom so air bubbles would come out before I began. I kept it on the lowest speed because I'm so new to it. This traced in about a minute and a half!!! I poured into my mold and covered. Got curious and peeked an hour later. It was very very hot to the touch and BRICK HARD, ????? How strange. Should I take it out and cut it? Is it ruined? I feel really confused...

Well, I just get too impatient and antsy. Just a couple hours after I unmold it and cut into bars. Crumbly bars that are hot. Was it the stick blender? I am pretty sure the base recipe was the same as always, just different essential oils (which may be my problem?)

You need to use the stick blender off and on. Don't use it the whole time til you reach trace. What I do is stick blend for a minute, then use the stick just to stir, then stick blend some more, stir....
If you are sure that your measuring was accurate, I would say it was the essential oil. Which one did you use and how much per lb.?

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

I had the stick blender in there about a minute. Then stirred and noticed it was already tracing so I quicky added essential oils (and I added too much I see now) 2 3/4tsp jasmine, 2 3/4 orange, 1 1/2 vetiver (teaspoons btw). So, I know I ruined that part but I still don't know how such a small batch traced in a minute. My luck.

What was the temp of your melted oils and the temp of your lye water? I always add any scent to my melted and cooled of oils first. That seems to help me.

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

I wait several days to cut mine.

One minute is too long for me to use a stick blender. By then, my batch would have traced. I tried soaping at hotter temps and at cooler temps, but the temp made little difference... eventually I realized I just can't use the stick blender for more than a few quick pulses. For me, it works best if I pulse 5 times (each pulse in different areas of the pot), then whisk for about 30 seconds- 1 minute, and continue alternating this way until trace. Even doing this, I reach trace in about 5 minutes, but after so many 1 minute batches, 5 minutes feels indulgent!... and the batches all turn out thouroughly mixed. Another thing that has worked for me is hand mixing until my arm feels like it is going to fall off, then using the stick blender just at the end to finish it up.

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Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond. What would I do without your help?
My temps for both were 100 degrees.
I never knew you could add scent that early, neat!
I have sooooooooooo much to learn. I'm going to be doing a lot of practicing and I think pulsing that stick blender is going to make all the difference!

You're welcome beautymaker. I tend to combine the lye water and oils at around 110 degrees. Depending which oils or butters you choose, you don't want them to start solidifying. You could reach a false trace that way and your soap could end up lye heavy, even though all your measurements are accurate.

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