Teach Soap

Fortunately this was a sample. There is no way I would ever try this again.
The oil and lye was nicely warm, not hot. I added the fragrance to the oil, as usual.
A few seconds after I mixed the two, the whole lot set like flan. I have never seen acceleration like this before. The 'flan' became very hot, to the point where I could no longer touch the 1L beaker. I spooned it into the mould, but it continued reacting and began steaming, turning inside a couple of minutes into that typical mashed-potato hot-process stuff.
I honestly don't know how they can sell a fragrance that is so useless.

I'm sorry you had problems with it, but I've used it several times and other than a slight acceleration, it's soaped beautifully.

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

I haven't had a problem like that. How big of a batch were you making? At what temp did you combine your oils and lye water? How much of the fragrance per lb. of soap did you use? Did you use a whisk or a stick blender?

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

I too have used Vanilla Oak (in my quest for the perfect vanilla) and never had any issues with it other than perhaps tracing a little quicker (only in that I can't do smooth swirls, but that's it).

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Let's see...
recipe:

Avocado oil: 30g (7.5%)
Coconut oil: 120g (30%)
Class A shea: 120g (30%)
Sunflower, high oleic: 130g (32.5%)
NaOH: 55.8g, (5% superfat)
Water: 132g
Fragrance: 1/2 oz sample of BB's Vanilla Oak.
oil and lye combined at 45C as usual.

I didn't get a chance to use the stick blender, or any kind of blender ... I poured one into the other, stirred, and the whole lot immediately went into hot gel, semi-solid, wouldn't pour. All I could do was stir it up and spoon it out.
Prior to this I have found that BB's blackberry aroma accelerates trace, but nothing like this.

I plugged your recipe into the calculator & I came out with 152 g of water, not 132. Was that a typo or did you really discount your water by that much?

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Genny

I usually do use a low number for the water content, my bars cure faster and generally harder. Or so it seems. It does mean that trace is very fast and I have had to be very quick when doing things like column pours. I normally use the low number from the MMS calculator, , but in this particular case I used the soapcalc site,

Let's see... recheck ... yes, you're right, soapcalc gives 152g, I used 132g. 13% discount.
But on the MMS calculator, it gives: For the size of fat batch that you are using, we recommend that you use approximately 100 to 150 milliliters of liquid. and my 132g is towards the high end.

I generally find I get to trace in 1 - 3 minutes using the blender in pulses. Do you think I am using too little water? If so, I'm still amazed that a 13% reduction below maximum caused a volcano of 'mashed potato' to erupt from the mould

As I write this, I see that it has cooled down. It smells really nice and it looks good too. There is a real nuisance apart from the acceleration issue, and that is, I have no brown colour, I made some up by mixing others. It came out fine, but repeatability would be a problem. My local supplier here doesn't stock brown.

If you don't have brown coloring, try mixing green and red or use some cocoa powder.

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

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

Do you want me to give it a go in the test labs and see what I can come up with? Try to make the recipe and see how it works for us?

The fragrance is a decent seller and we haven't had any other reports like this. I've been making soap since I was 16 and we test all the fragrances before we add them to the line precisely to help prevent this type of thing.

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Happy Soaping!

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

Anne-Marie - I used Vanilla Oak last night in two seperate batches and had zero problems with it. Luuuuuuuurve how strong the scent is!

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

Okay, couldn't stand not knowing so tested with your recipe. =)

I just made the vanilla oak recipe (posted above) and I added lye water at 113F, stick blended until thin trace, added FO, stick blended approximately 30-45 seconds more, poured at a medium trace. The batch poured perfectly, no hot gelling, no clumps. Courtney and I were talking and it almost sounds like the the FO was added before the lye water? That said, it didn't seem to accelerate at all once I added it to my recipe at thin trace. I'm not sure how in the world or why yours would have acted like that. It makes no sense to me.

But hey, now I have a lovely batch of soap to use when it cures out =)

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Happy Soaping!

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

Thank you for checking this Anne-Marie. It's a great scent.

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