Teach Soap

I haven't been on here for awhile because I had some failed batches and gave up. But I never really gave up on wanting to make soap so I tried again hoping for some Valentines soap. I tried a simple recipe to start over. For a 2lb batch
Castor 5% 45 grams
Coconut 15% 136 grams
Olive oil 40% 363 grams
Palm oil 40% 363 grams

and
Lye 124 grams
water 344 grams
That was on Thurs evening. I split into 3 parts. One was colored gold no fragrance and poured into a smal flat mold for furture use. One was colored pink no fragrance and poured into small heart mold to use later as additives in other soap. The last I colored brown and added Turkish Mocha from BB and poured into cupcake molds. I looked at them last night they were soft. The cupcakes unmolded but did Zap. The small hearts wouldn't unmold at all. It just cumbled and did Zap as well. Was it too early to try?? I do have to say it is cooler in the garage and basement where I soap. Can they be saved ?? Should I let them go awhile??
I am so diappointed. Wish I could get a handle on this. They would be such lovely gifts for my family.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I don't want to give up.

Rhonda

Since it was a small batch of soap that you made even smaller by separating it, the soaps most likely didn't generate enough heat to gel. Ungelled soap takes longer to harden up and for all the lye to be inactive. Sometimes up to a week.
So, I'd wait a day or more & then check for zap again.

Also, before you split up your batter, are you positive that you had reached trace, even a light trace?

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Genny

It sounds to me like you didn't reach a true trace. What temp did you soap at?

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

At 110 degrees. I don't mind so much wasting all the materials if I felt like I was learning from it. I so wish there was someone around me who made soap too. Oh well I guess I will have to keep plugging along.

For my own learning as well - isn't the lye solution rather weak? Unless my math is wrong, I get 26.49% lye solution. Looking back at my early batches, when I went by the SoapCalc default "newbie" lye strength, the lowest I have is 27.2%. And despite being a 3 lb batch, made in the summer, gelled - they were soft for quite a while.

Should I make larger batches?? Are they easier to work with?? I din't think that splitting it into smaller amts would have any consequences. Learned something .. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Rhonda

For unscented batches and normally tracing recipes, you can discount your water. I don't think BB Mocha accelerates trace, so you would be safe discounting your water for that batch as well.

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

Rhonda, where in PA are you? I'm kind of between Philly and Atlantic City NJ. If you're close enough you could come down here for a weekend and we could play around in the workshop (once it's 100% done of course).

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Heather
WOW what a generous offer. I could think of nothing I would love more that to make some soap with you and pick your brain. i am north of Pittsburgh. I love road trips. So once you get your workshop finised we'll talk. I can't help but feel it would be so much fun to work with someone.

Rhonda

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Just a small update... The cupcake bottoms are no longer "zapping". They are a gorgeous shade of chocolate brown. Can't wait to make strawberry frosting for them. I heard strawberry can accelerate trace???? Is this true??
The small hearts are no longer "zapping" either. They are really soft still though. At least they are coming out of the mold in one piece.
Just wondering ... Are M&P embeds or CP embeds better in CP soap??
Can't wait til they are finished and hopefully posta pics.
Thanks for the help.
Rhonda

MP embeds can melt in CP if the soap gels. If you're not going to gel, they should work just fine.

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