Soap Makers Help!

[chiknwhisperer]

How old were they when you put them in the tub?
DH told me no becasue of how messy they are, but how can I say no to those faces

DH does not know yet lol. He will be home in a couple hours with our oldest son from a scouting trip. I told the other 3 boys to be quiet

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Dang! I have officially messed up my first batch. I just cut the vanilla batch I made yesterday. It looks like I didn't mix it well enough after adding the fragrance. There is a section of the batch that got unmixed fragrance and has pockets where fragrance is seeping out. I know I'm going to have to rebatch it. I wonder if I need to do the entire batch even though I don't see evidence of this problem everywhere. The minute I started cutting into it, it just seemed wrong. Rather than being dark like I expected, it looks like smoked cheese, with a darker crust and lighter inside. Ugh!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Get out the food processor and a big pot!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
Get out the food processor and a big pot!

So wadda I do? How do I go about this little project?

 

[ninjapoodles]

Ask 10 people, you'll get 10 replies. But I do it the "easy" way, just in a non-reactive pot on the stovetop.

Shred it up in the food processor, throw it in the pot on medium heat and start it to melting. As it melts down, it will lose moisture, so you may have to keep an eye on it and add in water (or whatever) as needed. The consistency you're looking for is like whipped potatoes. Have a mold ready, as well as something you can use to press the soap down into the mold. It won't really be "pourable," but when it's all melted through and stirrable, just add some more fragrance and any other additives quickly, then scoop it into the mold and IMMEDIATELY smoosh it down, HARD, or you'll have air pockets. I actually usually take my mold and slam it down on the counter a few times, then press like crazy--I mean like with all my strength.

The plus is that this stuff is ready to go just as soon as it's cool, as far as unmolding. Cure time is dramatically reduced, too. Since your soap is fresh, you won't have to add much, if any extra liquid.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Thanks Ninja. Wanna come over and do it for me?

Ugh. What a pain. I'm not sure I have time to pull this off before I leave for church so I may have to wait until tomorrow to do this.

I measured very carefully, so I'm certain that it's not an issue of the recipe. There could be some issues with tracing. While tracing the soap yesterday, the stick blender decided to break, ejecting the shaft from the motor unit right into the soap. I managed to get it back in and had to hold it into place while working. All that excitement was part of the reason that I forgot to do the pull out of the soap I wanted to leave white.

Hang on and I'll take a few pictures of the mess.

 

[MissPrissy]

I have a set of heavy bricks wrapped in a few layers of foil and then slide them into a plastic baggie to add weight to the tops of the molds if I have to rebatch. Sometimes you just have too much money in a batch to throw it out without trying to salvage something.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Here's a picture of the problem soap.

First, note how the soap has a rind. It's not completely dark as one would expect from a vanilla.

The soap on the left looks mostly normal but the one on the right has pockets. You can literally dump fragrance out of it.

Edited to add: The white color at the top was my attempt to put some fresh white color in after I had forgotten to do the swirl like I had planned.

 

[MissPrissy]

I mayhave missed it but what oils did you use.

It is very common for basic lard soap to form a skin or a rind. That is why they used to wash it a few times before it started soaping.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

hee hee. I used a LOT of oils. It's the same recipe I used for the last batch I made (Grapefruit) that turned out fine. (see photo on msg #1730) Here's what it had, in order of percentages:

Coconut
Olive
Crisco
Rice Bran
Castor
Palm Kernel
Grapeseed
Palm
Sweet Almond