Hot Process soap blunder - help? ~with photos~!

[itsy]

This will be my third batch of soap and first hot process soap. The first two I made were CP and turned out fine. I followed duration instructions on a website. I used my crock pot.

My ingredients were run through a lye calculator. I used Almond Oil, Coconut Oil, Grapeseed Oil and Olive oil. I used my stick blender and did everything like I did for CP. I then put it in the crock on high and let it cook for 20 minutes. I stirred it at about 16 minutes and then let it cook two more. At that point, I turned the crock off. I then mixed it up with my spoon and added in Spearmint EO, Sage EO, and Teatree EO. It smells awesome. I also added in some crushed dry sage.

At that beautiful moment, it looked like this:




Then, I put the camera down and looked at the pot and right before my eyes, it separated. I stirred it up quickly and put it into my pringles can, which was pretty silly at that point. And now it looks like this:


Now what do I do? Is it all wasted? I have a feeling that it got too hot and that I cooked it for too long. Any help would be MUCH appreciated. I'm sad about this batch because I really loved it until it split.

 

[itsy]

I have decided to pour it back into the crock and stir the heck out of it. I'll take photos and update. Wish me luck!

 

[itsy]

Okkkk...... That was interesting. The magic of science.

I poured the separated mess back into the crock and stirred it like crazy. It started to seize up quickly.





I spooned this now thick mixture into the Pringles can. There are likely tons of air bubbles and pockets. If this sets, the soap is going to end up being very crumbly, me thinks. Maybe it would be good as the guts in felted soap??



I washed my hands off and am pleased with the lather and menthol-like feeling from the EO's. I suppose we'll see what happens once I cut it tomorrow....or the day after.

 

[hispoptart]

I have never made soap, sure hope it works out for you though.

 

[evenstargirl]

Hi Itsy! I've just been making soap for a few weeks, but I'm in love. I really like how easy the hot process is in the crock pot. I'm not sure why that would have seized.... Weird!

Did you let it sit on the crock on low for a couple of hours? What I do:
Melt oils in crock pot. Add lye/water combo. Bring to trace. Leave on low for two - three hours or until ph strips register between 4 and 8. The soap at this point will look like mashed potatoes. Then add in additives and fragrances/essential oils. Pour into molds.

I just made a batch tonight with chocolate and cinnamon using hot process. I made a batch yesterday with honey and black spice chai tea. I just love it. What's your favorite recipe so far? My favorite uses olive oil and coconut oil. I've found I don't do well with fragrances -- my skin starts itching like CRAZY.

 

[Morgaine]

You did the right thing in putting it back in the crock. What happened was it dried out. When it starts to like that, add a little water to it. It's still going to be good soap, just not too pretty, lol. It might be crumbly where the soap didn't get packed in really tight. If you are really unhappy with it, you can shred it up and rebatch it.

 

[itsy]

Thank you guys!

Here's a photo of the finished soap. We haven't used it yet. I think we're going to give it a couple more days to get just a little harder. It's decently hard now as it is, but I'd like to wait. The spearmint really overpowered the other two fragrances, but it is QUITE lovely. I have a feeling that this is going to be the type of bar that you have to keep away from sensitive parts of your body, though. When I washed my hands with some of the "leftovers" in the pot, they got cool from the mentol-like EO's.



Evenstar - it's quite addicting! I just started, too...and I really like it. I keep making up my own recipes. I've been making both hot and cold process now.

I haven't tried leaving my crock on for that long and just letting it sit there. I put it on high and I stir it every five minutes until I feel it's the right consistency I'm not testing for PH, so I suppose I should be letting my HP sit for 1-2 weeks before using it. I plan on doing that anyway because I want the bars to be harder.

I made two more batches today of my own recipe. This first one is coffee with coffee grinds and raw Balinese cacao powder.




And this one is a mixture of honey and dark brown sugar. I'll show a few photos so you can see how that batch progressed as I stirred it/cooked it and added in the sweets:







And now the best part. Look what happened after I added the honey and brown sugar! I'm sure it will get darker once it cools, but it's so awesome.



Both batches smell great! There were no extra fragrances or essential oils added.

 

[Morgaine]

Hey, that looks really good! Better than some of my rebatches, lol. Glad you were able to save it

 

[itsy]

Thank you! It means a lot to me that a soap pro like you would say that, Morgaine!

I cut the other two batches today and I actually had less airbubbles in the "flub" batch than in these two. I don't love a Pringles container for HP soap. Just too much room to have air pockets in this vertical mold. I need to either make a horizontal wooden mold or buy one.

I'll show photos of the other two bars tomorrow. They still came out pretty good, but a couple of the bars on the end in both batches have air pockets making them out of round.

 

[Morgaine]

See if you can find a dowl that is the same size as the can and use that to press the soap down. I also hear that sodium lactact(that does not look spelled right) can make for an easier pour. Can't wait to see the next ones!