Teach Soap

I am in process of mixing my first batch of soap. It has been an hour of mixing so far, and no trace. I have been doing by hand, and with the hand mixer thingy. Hamilton Beach, but it was getting overheated. So, back to hand mixing.
I am using the recipe from the "Everything Soapmaking Book"

6oz distilled water
2.25 oz lye
10 oz olive oil
6 oz coconut oil
1 Tb castor oil

The ingredients do not seem to be combining, and saponifying. Suggestions? How long do I keep stirring before I give up on it. ?

Thanks in advance.

I've never tried mixing by hand, so I'm not sure how long it should take. Sorry I'm not much help!

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www.facebook.com/Semplice-Naturals

My stick blender just seems like it is getting too hot. So, I am back to hand mixing for the moment, and doing research online about tracing.

Alright...my first patch finally traced. I put it in the mold. Now to wait...

That's the first recipe I ever used and it makes a great soap.

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

Hi Linda. This is my first ever batch, and I wanted as simple as possible. I knew olive oil takes a while to trace, but I never read how long. I got my stuff all cleaned up, the soap is in the mold...and I have to run to town. I was hoping I could make a batch and get it completed before I had to leave. If it didn't trace, I would have just had to postpone my errands.

A lot depends of the type of olive oil (pomace usually traces faster) and the temp of your oils and lye. I was all set to hand blend mine and after about 15 minutes I went and got the stick blender! I think it traces about 5 minutes after that.

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

I think the lye cooled off too much....as it was a very small amount. I ended up reheating the mixture in a pan of hot water, back to 110F, and it still took forever. That's okay, as long as it did trace eventually.

You really should get yourself a stick blender. Sometimes you can find them in thrift stores for cheap. I would convert that castor oil into weight instead of TBS. And just so you know, there is no need to add any oil or butter at trace. That is an old wife's tale. At trace, the lye is still very active and it will take whatever it wants. There is no guarantee that any particular oils or butter will end up as your superfat. So add everything right up front and don't forget to calculate it into your recipe via a soap calculator.

At what temp did you combine your oils and lye? If the oils get too cold, you can end up with oils that won't saponify. Your soap could end up with lye pockets. Get yourself a thermometer. They are not expensive.

Here is your recipe with percentages. I estimated your castor at 0.1 oz.

Castor Oil 0.1oz 0.62%
Coconut Oil 6oz 37.27%
Olive Oil 10oz 62.11%
Total Weight 16.1
For that size batch, you can use 4 to 6 fluid ounces of water (or liquid)
2.3 ozs. of lye for a 7% superfat (2.25 oz. of lye is at 9% superfat)

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

I have one. I just forgot what it was called. I had never heard them called "stick blender" before ......and I had one back in the 80's.

It traced okay, after I used the stick blender mercilessly. It was getting hot in my hand, and I could smell the "new" getting hot.

The recipe said it would trace in 20 minutes. it didn't. I am just new and green to this whole process. Thanks for your help and input everybody

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

I did burn out a stick blender, although it was not new. Probably from the 80's as well. Now I will usually stick blend for 1 min and stir with the stick blender for the next minute. I continue like this until trace, although I have never had a difficult time reaching trace!

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Mine is a brand new Hamilton Beach. I just didn't have a clue what a "stick blender" was, and had to look it up. The one I had in the 80's, was called a "Wand", and I don't remember the brand name.

This is what I had!...it was pretty neat too. It was a Bamix

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-DAILY-ITALY ... _1042wt_68

48 hours later....I checked it to see about unmolding it. It still feels soft and squishy on top. Did I read somewhere that castille soaps take longer to harden? I don't want to rush it, and make a mess.