Soap Makers Help!

[DanLeaAnn7]

I just finished my second batch of soap - the first looked good, and was what I expected, but the second batch is WEIRD !! I used water for the liquid, then tallow, olive oil, coconut oil and castor oil - It took longer to trace than my first batch, maybe ten minutes, then I poured it in to a box mold. Checked on it later and it seemed VERY soft. I cut it after 12 hours and it seems very rubbery. Soft, way softer than my first batch, though my first batch was a milk soap. And the soap is yellowy opaque, the color of olive oil, I thought it would be white....I did not use any fragrance - any thoughts, even today, 2 days after I made it - it still seems rubbery. I did put the recipe thru soapcalc - and I used the lye and water the recipe called for. It doesn't zap the tongue - figure i will wait it out - just seems so dramatically different than my first batch. Is it any good ??? thanks in advance, lea

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

lea,
Give the recipes of your first and 2nd batches. (include all oils, lye, liquid, fragrances)

I generally do not unmold my soaps for 24 + hours.

 

[Morgaine]

I'm on my fifth batch and ran into a problem yesterday. After I added the fragrance, it curdled. I worked it with the stick blender until it was pretty much mixed again and poured into my loaf mold. I have been covering the top of the soap with saran wrap before insulating it. It gelled and has set but there is a thin layer of oil has formed on the top. I will be cutting it in a couple hours when I get home. Should I go ahead and melt it back down and re-pour it? Or will it be alright?

How much oil? Is it just slick or is there standing oil? If it's just a film do like MLF said and let it sit for a couple more days. If there is standing oil, go ahead and chop it up to melt.

 

[Morgaine]

I agree with Cyndi on this one. It could be that you used softer oils this batch. How much castor did you use?

I'm the opposite of Cyndi, I get mine out of the mold sometimes in less than 4 hours. But we use different types of molds and I usually do a steep water discount.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Without knowing the complete soap recipe, it is so very hard to give advice on what to do with your recipes.

The molds I use are Kelsei molds, so it doesn't matter if I leave them in the molds longer ... all the soap is already in bars without me cutting it.

Since I use nothing but 100% Raw Jersey milk in my soaps, I use between a 32%-35% lye solution (i.e. 25%-28% water to oil).. It is harder to do a steep lye saturation when making a 100% milk soap.

That and I'm an 'old fashion' soaper that even with a liquid discount, I still wait 4-6 weeks before wrapping the soap to sell,

For all good purposes, we need the complete recipe to help you with your difficulties.

 

[bockbock2008]

How much oil? Is it just slick or is there standing oil? If it's just a film do like MLF said and let it sit for a couple more days. If there is standing oil, go ahead and chop it up to melt.

I poured off about 4 oz. of oil and cut it before I saw a later post saying to wait another 12-24 hours. It set up and cut just fine. The inside is not uniform but kinda splotchy. Here is the recipe I used and super fatted 7% (I'm still learning here so be nice, but I'm thinking maybe this, the superfatting that high for my experience level, that may have caused my excess oil)

coconut oil 24.96 oz
Palm oil 24.96 oz
Olive Oil Pom. 27.84 oz
Castor Oil 5.76 oz
grapeseed oil 7.68 oz
walnut oil 4.8 oz
fragrance 3.5 oz
water 36.38 oz
lye 13.229 oz

Poured with oils at 105 deg and lye/water mix at 100 deg

 

[DanLeaAnn7]

Cindi and Morgaine, Here is the recipe of my soft, rubbery feeling, olive oil colored soap that I made Sunday and cut about 16 hours later.

Basic soap
Tallow 30% (19.2 oz)
Olive Oil 40% (25.6 oz)
Coconut Oil 25% (16 oz)
Castor Oil 5% (3.2 oz)
water as a % of oil weight 38% (water 24.3 oz, Lye 9 oz)
super fat/discount 5%
no fragrance or anything else

I mixed with a stick blender, all looked good, traced in about ten minutes, was still soft though, then poured into box mold, did not gel to my limited knowledge, was still very soft the next morning, but went ahead and cut it, was yellowy the color of olive oil, and rubbery feeling, even tonight when i press on the soap it leaves an indentation. Put my tongue to it all it did not zap - is it OK ? I plan to just let it sit and see if it hardens, but so far it doesn't show any signs of getting harder..... thanks in advance,

Oh yes, here is the grocery store milk soap I made (with 1% milk)

coconut oil 8% (2.4 oz)
Olive Oil 6% (1.8 oz)
Tallow 86% (26.4 oz)
water as a % of oil weight 38%
super fat/discount 5%
milk (11.6 oz)
Lye (4.2 oz)
Lavender essential oil 2 oz
2 T ground oatmeal

This batch turned out pretty well I think, I cut it about 12 hours after making it, it is hard and smells wonderful and doesn't look opaque, kind of a very light tan color. No zap on the tongue. any thoughts ???? thanks again, Lea

 

[ChicksterJo]

I have superfatted at 7% with no problems...but I had not used that many different oils on even my fifth batch lol. I was only using 3, maybe up to 4. And I have been making 33 oz. batches..well, except for the last couple ones where I made 48 oz. batches.

When I have had soft soap I just left it in the mold for an extra day or two. I have had that odd batch where the soap was still soft (i.e. left an indentation where my finger was), but I left it in and waited, and it cut fine. A little soft even when cutting but they hardened up within a month.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

I poured off about 4 oz. of oil and cut it before I saw a later post saying to wait another 12-24 hours. It set up and cut just fine. The inside is not uniform but kinda splotchy. Here is the recipe I used and super fatted 7% (I'm still learning here so be nice, but I'm thinking maybe this, the superfatting that high for my experience level, that may have caused my excess oil)

coconut oil 24.96 oz
Palm oil 24.96 oz
Olive Oil Pom. 27.84 oz
Castor Oil 5.76 oz
grapeseed oil 7.68 oz
walnut oil 4.8 oz
fragrance 3.5 oz
water 36.38 oz
lye 13.229 oz

Poured with oils at 105 deg and lye/water mix at 100 deg

Recipe is looking good.... until you poured off 4 oz of oil. Your SF is between 5-7%, I superfat 6% using milk, so you are within the range.

I question the Palm oil ... was it stirred before you weighed it out?? Where did you get it from and in what quantity? Palm oil separates so easily, especially in the winter.

Since you poured out 4 oz of oil (I suspect oil + FO), I'd rebatch in a large non-reactive roaster (9 lb of oil is too much for a standard crock pot) and add about 3 oz of oil and 1 oz of FO back to the batch.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Cindi and Morgaine, Here is the recipe of my soft, rubbery feeling, olive oil colored soap that I made Sunday and cut about 16 hours later.

Basic soap
Tallow 30% (19.2 oz)
Olive Oil 40% (25.6 oz)
Coconut Oil 25% (16 oz)
Castor Oil 5% (3.2 oz)
water as a % of oil weight 38% (water 24.3 oz, Lye 9 oz)
super fat/discount 5%
no fragrance or anything else

You're good to go with both batches. The milk soap you made had a very high percentage of Tallow, which hardens the bar more quickly. The batch above has a high percentage of Olive oil, which takes longer to saponify.

You really need to learn how various oils react in trace and then set up. Such as lard (not tallow, i.e. rendered beef fat, but rendered pork fat) is slow to trace but quick to set up. You may want to try some single oil soaps to see how they react by themselves. Then pair them up, and then add another oil or two. It took me two years of making soaps this way to come up with the recipe I have been using for over 9 years .... even though I still experiment with single oils and substitute oils in my base recipe.

With your 38% water to oils (Thank You for listing it this way!) you will want to wait a full 6 weeks for this soap to be good enough to sell. Yes, it is sage to use before then, but it will be better at 6 weeks than it is tomorrow ... and it will be better at 12 weeks than it will be at 6 weeks.

If you are comfortable with your soap making, you should try reducing the liquid % of oil weight down to 30 ... or even 25