Teach Soap

Ok. I have now had my first visit from the soap gremlins. They are evil, evil creatures. I decided to try a 3 pound batch today. I have done 5 1 pound batches as of late, with 3 of them being the same recipe, just different FO's. Ok, I know, big mistake. Let's make a change in size and a new FO. And on top of that, one I know accelerates trace. I read over my notes from the previous batch I made using this particular FO and figured I could handle it because the recipe I am using, I have had zero problems with. It works beautifully!. Nope. I currently have a pot with some nice smelling white soap and another bowl with some pretty nice smelling gray soap. What's the problem you ask? I can't get it out of the pots. I have half of it in the mold and the rest is still in the pots because it won't budge. I am not sure what to do. I am half tempted to leave them there and let it gel and then mold it into soap balls or something tomorrow. Would that even work? I figured if I could atleast get it in the mold, then I could rebatch it later but I can't get it in the mold. I did not think the FO would do this. It was not this bad last time but of course it was a different recipe. I would appreciate some quick advice.
Thanks

Update: 2 minutes after posting this, I look at it and it is gelling in the pots. I don't know what to do.

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Haven

It won't even scoop out?
Leaving it in the pot won't hurt it. So if you want, you could leave it in there & then just rebatch it when you're finally able to get it out.

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Genny

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

I've never hot processed before. What should I do?

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Haven

Let it gel in the pot, then glop into your mold.

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

Ok. I went back to it. It was a mix of gelled and hard soap glop. I turned the stove on low, really low, and about killed my arm stirring and stirring and stirring. I did add about 2 ounces of water and it helped to loosen it up some. I got it to look like snot, continued stirring, and stirring and stirring. Then I glopped it into molds. We will see what happens I suppose. I do know that when I went to clean the pot and turned the water on, it lathered up beautifully. I don't know if this is a mix of cp and hp but it is one ugly soap. I still don't know what happened to cause it to do that to me. I used my recipe that I have had success with, combined when both oils and lye were at 120 degrees. Same as I have been doing. Just BAM, soap in a pot! Weird. Thanks for everyone's help. I guess we will find out tomorrow if I saved it or not.

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Haven

If you used a different FO, sounds like it seized then gelled in the pot.

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

It's gotta be the FO. I have used it before and took a look at my notes prior to starting this batch. So I knew it would accelerate trace but I did not expect what I got. We will see. The soap turned out a kind of sea foam grayish green, odd since it started out white and gray but it kind of matches the scent, Salty Mariner. It's a shame that the FO doesnt play nice because I really like it. I wont give up though. I will keep trying until I get it right.

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Haven

I had this happen to me with a large batch. I scrapped it out of the pot and into a crock pot (on high to loosen it up) and silicone cake pan which went into the oven (on 175). 3 hours later I had a zap free soap that lathers really well.

I have used Salty Mariner several times and never had that problem, but I soap cold.

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Dawn