Teach Soap

I am new to making the CP, just graduating from years of MP. I'm so excited! However....wonk, wonk, woooooonk...what went wrong with these batches? Unmolded after 36+ hours and the soap is incredibly soft, you could spoon off a clump from the ends. It's also very oily and the top layer still has a gel phase look to it. I haven't done litmus test yet. Will the soap end up ok after longer curing? Photos attached to my photobucket here



http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p313 ... ic%20fail/

Thanks!

_________________
~Wendy
Onboard the Yellow Suds-Marine

Welcome!
In order to help you troubleshoot, what was your recipe, how much did you superfat?

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

Hi Thanks

Recipe:
1 Pound Batch

6 oz water
2.25 oz Lye (my scale only shows 2.2 or 2.3 so I went with 2.2)
10 oz olive oil
6 oz coconut oil
1 Tablespoon castor oil (woops, added this to other oils instead of right before the pour) ???
15 ml FO (1 batch Grass Stain, 1 Batch Lilac) ... too much???

I used a double cavity silicone loaf mold, covered with plastic and wrapped in a towel. Now that it is out of the mold, it's still a bit slimy but seems to be hardening.

_________________
~Wendy
Onboard the Yellow Suds-Marine

I spoke too soon. It's still really soft.

_________________
~Wendy
Onboard the Yellow Suds-Marine

You need to weight the castor and add it to your total calculation. Castor is a soft oil. Lye is still active at trace, so there is no guarantee that any oil or butter added at trace will end up as your superfat. For such a small recipe, I would convert all your oils/butters into grams for better accuracy. Go put that batch away for a while. Give it a couple of months and then check it out.

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

Your recipe is fine and so is the amount of fo. Normally I would have added .8 oz of scent, you added .5oz , so it may not be a strong scent, or for what you have it may be just right. Either way, your recipe was sound. And you can and should add all the oils at once. You cannot pick what the lye will eat, so you may as well add them all at once (when doing cp).
Anyway, this leaves you with the probability that you didnt really get trace and/or you didnt get your fragrance mixed in well. Usually the oil separating and coming to top means that it wasnt incorporated well.

_________________
Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

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

Here's another thought. Is you olive oil 100% olive? That are some adultarated olive oils out there. Some have soybean oil in them, which would make your soap soft.

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

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

good though Irenea, that certainly would make it soft. But she still has the oil separating issue. Maybe she has two different issues going on.??

_________________
Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Did you use a stick blender?

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

even if she did, I am really thinking she didnt get it mixed well enough, and maybe didnt even get trace. The only time I have really seen that separation is with improper/incomplete emulsification. Maybe she will come back and tell us when the weekend is over.

_________________
Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

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

Thank you so much Irene and Tammy! Your insights will be so helpful moving forward.

I did use a stick blender but feel unsure about what is a good trace to begin the pour. I would definitely say that I was erring on the side of caution and my pour my have been too soon.

My olive oil is a Pomace but sadly that is the extent of the information on the labeling. It is a Wholesale Supplies Plus product. Also, it could be reaching the upper stages of its shelf life.

The recipe is indeed from Alicia Grosso's book. My 3rd & 4th batches are as well, basically the same recipe but in the 2 lb version. I was worried about the 1st two batches we're discussing so I did mix the 2lb recipe batches to a heavier trace. Batch #3 I omitted the castor oil, FO and color. It gelled very nicely and hardened well. This looks right to me. However, batch 4, I added all of those things back in and made sure to mix longer. Even though this last batch is much better than 1 and 2, it is most certainly softer than the "naked" batch and has just a slight oiliness on the surface. Hmmmm

I won't give up! There's only one way to get better at it, keep on doing it!

Thanks again.

_________________
~Wendy
Onboard the Yellow Suds-Marine

_________________
~Wendy
Onboard the Yellow Suds-Marine