Soap Makers Help!

[MissPrissy]

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What happened to your chocolate soap? Did I miss a post? Show us a photo.

 

[cheeptrick]

Morgaine...this is how I soap when I do not gel. I discount the water...and soap very cool. I have found that when I use ingredients that 'heat' the soap like honey, oatmeal, milk...I use this method. It really works better and the soap comes out so lovely. I prevent the gel by cooling it down with stirring during the 'heating' up phase of the gel.

I did a 'dump' soap the last week...I put in coconut, palm, olive, safflower, canola, jojoba, avocado, sunflower, and vegetable oil. IT was the best soap I have ever made...I did let this one gel but discounted the water and set out for trace at 70 degrees!! I've used it two weeks into the cure and it is honestly the best soap I have ever made. It traced very nicely and I used did a 50/50 fragrance and essential oil blend. I think I'm going to save this one for ME.

 

[Morgaine]

I tried it this weekend when I made a 4 # batch of Castile. I made a 45% lye solution and forced gell in the oven. Soap was rock hard the next day! I did soap warmer than normal, around 110 instead of 100, but I think the two combined really helped the soap trace in a decent amount of time for pure olive oil.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I'll get a picture up real soon of both soaps. The top of the chocolate was ashy looking and when I tested it it burned like crazy. I read the trouble shooting section of the TSC and it said that I should throw it out. I was hoping to rebatch it. What do you think? Should I give it a try? I'll post pics and you can all tell me what you think I should do with it.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I know this is really pic heavy, sorry about that. This is all but 2 that I took.

 

[Morgaine]

I think you definately could rebatch it, but you need to know how much oil you need to add. Do you know why it became lye heavy? If you do not know, you can keep rebatching it until you have no zap left, adding a little bit of oil each time. I will look and see if I can find any other info.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

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That would be great if you could find more info. I'm not sure why it became lye heavy. I took notes on it and everything. I don't know.

 

[Morgaine]

Is this the first time you've made this recipe? It looks wonderful. What did you use for the dark color part? Did it trace completly? Does it feel oily to the touch? What was your superfat %?

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I have used made it before just in smaller batches. I use cocoa powder and bakers chocolate. It has always turned turned out before and I ran it throw the MMS lye calc as well.

 

[Morgaine]

Do you think that you used the wrong amount of lye? If you rebatch, it will not look as pretty as it does now, it will melt into one color. Here is what I'm thinking and you should maybe wait to hear from more experienced soapers before you do it. I would rebatch, adding 5% more oils until you get no zap. Then I would shred the rebatched soap into chunks or curls and make a confetti soap.

How old is the soap? Did you fully gell? If you did not gell, it takes longer for the saponification process to happen and your soap will still have some zap to it even after a few days.