Miller's Homemade Soap Pages:
Miller's Homemade Soap Pages:
Hi! Here's one for the botched batch page(although I think it might turn out in the end!) I was making a batch of your favorite all vegetable soap and all was proceeding smoothly (or so I thought) The lye water was at the toasty warm stage and so were the oils. I started to pour the lye water into the oils and to my horror out plopped a huge cake of undissolved lye! Apparently SOMEONE didn't properly stir the lye and water. Well, after much screaming and wailing and after I had offended my husband's sensibilities, I decided to fish out the undissolved lump. I put it in my scale and it was 9 oz(!) SOOO, I weighed out 9 more oz of lye and dissolved it in about a cup of water (no weighing.. bad girl!) When it had cooled somewhat,(although it was still hotter than "toasty") I added it to the previous oil mix. It went to trace fairly quickly, but it LOOKED fine, beautiful vanilla pudding. I split it into thirds and added various colors and FOs and poured it into 3 pans. My question is what do you think the extra water will do to the batch if anything? I washed the lump of lye down my drain and YES I have learned my lesson about stirring! Also, Red Devil started putting out 18 oz cans in this area and this was my 1st time weighing the lye instead of just using the whole 12 oz can and after I weighed out 12 oz, I weighed out what was left and it was only 2 oz! Now I've heard of new math, but.... Just though people might want to know that 18 oz minus 12 oz doesn't necessarily leave you with 6 oz! Thanks! Julia
Hope your scale is okay... if so that's interesting. I'll pay more attention when I use my 18 ouncers next time.
I'm less concerned about that extra water than what is probably extra lye. Lye holds a lot of moisture and that WET lump will actually be composed of less lye than an equivalent weight of DRY lye. You probably have lye heavy soap unless it's not enough to override your cushion (if you had some superfatting or lye discount). I guess you can see how it is after it cures awhile. If it burns your skin, you can rebatch each and add back in some oil, or just mash it up for use in the laundry.
Hope it's okay! Think you probably do rate being included on the botched batches page... so someone else will learn from your unfortunate experience. Thanks for sharing it.
P.S. - You must have a really CLEAN drain now! :-)
Hi Kathy,
Really enjoy your page, thanks for the great resources.
I am having a bit of a problem with a batch of soap I just made using the zesty calendula recipe. This is only my third batch of soap, the first two being castile soaps that took almost 40 hours to saponify. So I was very surprised when I checked this batch after 24 hours to find it was so hard/brittle that it chipped more than it cut. I followed the recipe (didn't add the optional stearic acid):
Combining the oil and water/lye at 110F. But unfortunately the chipping part isn't my real concern. My problem is this. When I was cutting the soap it was irritating my hands. First it was irritating them, then it was really burning them. I stopped cutting, left the remaining soap in the second mold, and when I washed off the wood cutting board it appears to have burned or stained the wood. The only things that I can think of are burns from the lye or irritation from too much essential oil. The essential oils I used were clary sage in half the batch and sweet orange and eucalyptus in the other (all of the E oils are frontier pure essential oils).
If you have any thoughts on what this might be from, or you think it will resolve itself by waiting please let me know.
Thanks, Kimberly
This sounds like a lye heavy batch. I would recheck yourself on measurements and make sure you did not go overboard on the amount of lye you added. Did you use one of those new lye company containers without noticing it now has 18 oz. instead of 12? I had someone else make that mistake before they caught the fact that they are now bottling it differently. I really need to note this somewhere on the site so people will be aware. When I made this soap... it was rather sticky and softer when cut... was surprised when you said it was brittle and chipped.
If you did get off in the lye amount and can figure out how much too much you added, you can rebatch this soap and add back in the required amount of oils/fats to make it a 5% discounted recipe. Use a lye calculator at Majestic Mountain Sage or something to figure out what you should have used and then subtract what actually went in as far as fat is concerned. Then add back in the difference. I guess you'll have to split this in half since you divided the batch and I don't know if you want to combine the whole thing when you rebatch... unless you think clary sage will blend well with the other one you did.
If for some reason you measured the lye any way other than by weight and could have gotten too much, you will have to guess how much fat you would need to add back and go from there, using a sap chart or online calculator.
I hope you figure this out and can rebatch successfully. If in the end it still seems too strong, you can pulverize the stuff up and wash your clothes with it. Makes dandy laundry soap! ;-)
Dear Kathy,
I just found your site and am appreciating it very much. I'm interested in rebatching right now. I took a class and was sticking to the recipe very closely. It makes an 8 lb batch and includes palm kernel (30 oz), coconut (30 oz) and olive oil(25 oz). I would buy a prepoured bucket of these oils and then use a 12 oz can on lye and 32 oz distilled water. I didn't need to measure anything except the water. I mixed the oils and lye at 92 degrees. Tracing would occur in one hour. Everyone of those turned out. I tried the recipe in Sandy Maine's book (Simple Herbal Recipes) which calls for Crisco (38 oz), coconut(24 oz) and olive oil (24 oz), by the way, I cut the recipe in half and used a scale for the first time. It took an hour to come to trace (mixed at 102 degrees) then I added 1 oz of castor oil and 2 oz of frag. After sitting in the mold all night, pressing down on the soap (still in the mold) it is very soft and I don't think it is hard enough to get out. I don't know if it will harden anymore or if I need to consider rebatching. Thanks for your help, I enjoy reading the other "soapers" problems but didn't see anything about too soft a soap. I am amazed at the number of different recipes used and your ability to address all of them!!Thanks
Hi! This soap may firm up more in the next couple of days, so I wouldn't panic yet. I made that recipe of hers once and thought it was awfully soft. I think it works better if you cut back by an ounce or two on the shortening and cut back the water to the tune of 24 or 28 ounces. That will firm it up a lot more. If using a fragrance oil as opposed to an essential oil for scenting, go with the 28 ounces of water... to avoid too rapid a trace or seizing (hopefully!).
You might try leaving it for another 24 hours and then cut. If it is in individual molds, just leave it until it shrinks away from the sides and then it should come out more easily. If you are going to be cutting this though... you don't want to let it sit for too long ... one or two more days tops is all I would allow.
Great website, I just uncovered and cut my 4th batch, first colored batch, I noticed that it had what I would call little flakes in it. The flakes are not hard, the soap seems fine soft but holds it's shape fine. The recipe has coconut,palm,olive and vegetable oils in it. My question is have you ever seen these in soap before? and could it be lye or just air.
By the way I use a stick blender and I couldn't imagine anyone stirring by hand!!!! Also If you had to much fat in a soap would it be very greasy to touch?
I have another batch that may end up on your botched batches page! Thank you very much and keep up the great work.
Hi! You could either have little lye pockets, or maybe some ash pockets in the soap from pulling too much air in with the stick blender. When using it, be sure to keep it from pulling air above the surface into the soap (watch the angle and don't get it too close to the surface where this will happen). Those little air pockets can cause some ash inside the soap. It won't hurt anything if that's it... just not as cosmetically desirable.
Too much fat in the soap will generally make it more greasy to the touch and softer. See how this batch is after a few more days of drying out. If you have little lye pockets instead of ash, the soap would suffer from a slight "separation" and rebatching would probably even things out. Don't do this too soon though... wait a few days and see if it feels better and firms up without any softness or greasiness to it.
I've been making soap for quite awhile and haven't had problems until recently. My last several batches using two different recipes have ended up with the same results. The problem is that the soap hardens except for a layer on the top which remains mushy. The rest of the bar is somewhat brittle. I've let the batches sit up to a week and they won't dry up. I've been able to reclaim the batches by remelting them in an oven, adding a little oil and immediately repouring into molds. Do you have any clue as to what is happening? Note: both recipes have had good results in the past. I thought it might be a temperature problem but it is still occurring.
Ed hall
I ran this past Rachael to get her input. She thought maybe you weren't stirring/blending until a full enough trace before pouring. Is the soap well traced? That doesn't mean it's like mashed potatoes! ;-) It should go through a silky translucent stage and then get thick enough to leave trails and a good layer on the spoon or stick blender when you lift it out. If it gets grainy too fast when thickening, little bottom heat should smooth it out. Too grainy isn't so good either... not always mixed well enough before losing heat.
I've had batches with a soft layer on top, but it's usually thin and I can just trim it off.
Hope this helps.
I've got a newbie question for you: I tried making just plain white lye soap using this recipe below
I made this batch using Majestic Mountain's lye calculator but my soap acts like it must be super lye heavy. once poured into my molds it took 4 days just to set hard enough to extract in one piece. I gave it a couple more days and I find it has swelled enough to severely break my molds and on top of that, It shatters into powder when I try to cut it. I should mention that when this batch was poured in the molds, I had set aside a small portion of the same batch that was poured in a shallow box about 1/2 inch deep for the purpose of making a fish bait. this was setting up along with the soap I had put in the regular soap molds. It firmed up after 3 days, so I cut it into strips and wrapped it in cellophane and set it aside.
My question is, since these were made from the same batch why did one swell, puff up and ruin molds while the other cured normally? The only thing I could think of was that it had something to do with the availability of fresh air.
Every batch of white lye and castile I've made has done the exact same thing, except for one batch of lye that I boiled for two hours thinking my failures had to do with excess water. (it turned out wonderfully) All my other soaps I make with goat milk or just plain milk and they are great every time. It seems that making soap with water at my house is a curse waiting to happen.
By the way, I am extremely precise with my weights and temps!
Oh honored soap master, free me of this foul curse! =)
Have a great day!,
Steve
I'm only guessing, you understand... but from what you've said, I suspect temperature is at the root of the problem. The soap you boiled was thoroughly heated and blended (thus insuring a more complete saponification) and soaps with milk tend toward overheating... again, heating your soap more than when you make it with water. Why not try using a higher temp... more like 125 - 130 degrees for tallow soap... also you can add another 10 oz. of water or so when making a nearly all tallow soap... it really makes HARD stuff!
As far as the difference in the batches... not sure. Maybe it retained the heat better or maybe the batch was not blended as evenly as it should have been and that one had slightly more fats to lye. I am always surprised as I make soap!
Just as a suggestion... why not make up a recipe using about 1/3 olive or soybean/canola (whatever... but calculate whatever you use) oil along with the tallow/lard combination. Think the soap will be a bit easier to cut. Some coconut makes more lather as well, but you can do it without. If all tallow is what you are striving for, then you will want it to be the way you did it. When I made soap from all animal fats, I liked mixing tallow with lard about half and half... it was a bit easier to cut than all tallow which could tend toward being brittle sometimes.
This is a stab in the dark, but thorough mixing and higher temps might take care of it. Let me know how the next one comes out. You should be able to rebatch this stuff and repour. Texture will be somewhat different, but smoother. Otherwise, you could age it and pulverize it for the laundry... makes great laundry soap!
Kathy, I really loved your site. Wish I had found such a site about 3 or so years ago when I really began making soap and fiddling with herbs and gardening.
I have made soaps for years. Mainly for us. But the kids make it with me and they've sold it for missionary projects and their personal needs. I just started making it again after about a year of not. Been reading alot. I find so many contradictions. I've read Sandy Maine's book and Susan Cavitch's one. I've been using Sandy's oil to water/lye ratios. And I have found that some of my bars have a swirled type ash. Some are worse than others. I've been trying to figure out what caused the problem. Too much lye??? According to Susan's book you'd be only using about 11 oz of lye to the recipes that Sandy has in her book. But then I thought could I possibly have caky lye that has moisture in it a bit and then needs less water in the recipe?? I don't know. The temperatures I stirred the lye/water and the oils together were about 98 to 100 degrees. Some people say use about 100 to 110 degrees. According to Susan this is way to high. But anyway. I thought maybe you might have an idea that would just settle this for me a bit. I've been reading through your site and have found it the most helpful.
I should mention (and maybe this is the problem) In my recipes I use quite a bit of veg shortening. Here is the recipe I had trouble with:
At trace I added 2 1/2 oz of Sweet cakes Apple Jack & Peel. Poured into a rectangular mold and a PVC pipe mold (about 1 foot by 3 in wide). And wrapped these in blankets for 24 hours. They cut fine it wasn't until a week later I really noticed any problems. They were streaky. I love the scent but . . .
I've not had any problems with my Milk soaps. My milk soaps are beautiful they just take a bit longer to cure. So I used distilled water (thinking perhaps it was my hard well water) and still noticed a little problem with the swirly look of ash (to me at least) though not as much.
Well, again, I do appreciate your help if you have time. Please if you don't have time don't worry about it. Your site is a blessing and I can't wait to try Almond joy. I thought I would use 1/2 oz of Choc. frag. from Sweet cakes with some Bitter Almond Ess. Oil and Cocoa powder. I loved the swirled soap you got. Good thing we aren't neighbors - I'd be over begging a bar.
And the blender is the only way to go. Have a beautiful day, now I must get back to work. If you have a thought I would appreciate it. I just know it's probably something I have completely overlooked. God Bless,
-Joan-
Thank you for your nice email! :-) Before I talk about the other things, I wanted to make sure... did you mean bitter almond ESSENTIAL oil or FRAGRANCE oil? I've not had good luck with the essential (it mutates and smells terrible after cure), but the fragrance oil from Sweet Cakes (Bitter Almond) is wonderful. Love that!
You mentioned the hand blender and I suspect you have a problem from a combination of maybe low temps and pulling air into the mix by getting the blender too close to the surface during mixing. This can create ash trails through your soap. Marbling is not unusual in soap that gels and gets really hot in the mold (maybe a little bit too much insulating) but if there is ash through a marbled effect, that's air getting pulled in plus maybe the soap not getting through gel properly. There's a broad range of temps you can use... anywhere from about 95-120 is perfectly acceptable. Your choice might depend on how warm the weather/your room is, whether additives will cool off the soap too quickly, cause overheating, etc. You kind of choose a range that works for what you're doing with the soap.
I posted a recipe based on the Sandy Maine one in one of her books (think I put her name in parenthesis) but I lowered the water content a lot... down to 24 to 26 ounces instead of 32. Liked that better. I'm not a fan of lots of shortening in a recipe but that's just me.
Milk soaps heat up more in the mold, so maybe this is another indicator that you should start with slightly higher temps on your non-milk soaps. Maybe up it by ten degrees or so.
If I were doing this, I would drop the water to about 24-26 ounces and add some coconut oil to the recipe in place of some of the shortening... for hardness and lather. Probably at least 14 oz. worth (what you can get if you buy it in the jars from the health food store or good grocery store). The sap values would have to be recalculated because the sap number for coconut is much higher than for the shortening... it would not be a straight across substitution. If you decide to try that, go to the Majestic Mountain Calculator and plug in the amounts until you get the 12 oz. of lye (or nearly) number in or near the 5% field. You mentioned the difference in the Maine and Cavitch recipes... they might prefer different amounts of superfatting. I like to go with approx. 5% and no more because I like the bars to be hard and non-greasy... also keep longer than ones that are too superfatted. People are different in what they like. When you try recalculating the recipe (if you do it), you can put in your numbers, but add the 14 oz. coconut and start off with about 30 oz. of shortening (you can use the avocado field for that or probably the one for lard) and lower it as needed until it comes out right.
Hope I covered everything you asked... I'm kind of punchy this morning! :-)
Good luck with the next batch!
Talked to Mike at Columbus Foods, (oil supplier) and he said that it ( the really creamy color) may be due to having such green pomace olive and that refined A won't do that so will have to check prices to see if worth it. Had an interesting experience that will pass along. Wanted to make green tea soap. Put it in lye solution to steep and it wasn't green anymore (should have tested for color) but being the only solution I had made up I used it. Used Canolive II recipe, took much longer to trace about double time but after a few seconds of trace added FO, gave it a few swirls with non-running stick blender and BOOM, almost instant concrete! Gees always the last batch of the day. Well, got some of it into molds- sort of. It was like refrigerated frosting by then. The other weird thing was that as I blended it kept getting this orange swirl in it, I am curious to see what it comes out like.
On the last note found very little on crayon color, I can manage it I think but have ordered colorants. My question is don't you have to keep oil temps very hot to keep the wax color liquid? Would that be "too" hot if so? Sorry so long, thanks. I am having a blast making soap and a lot of it is thanks to you.
-Karen-
Sorry I've taken so long to respond! School just started today... maybe it will force me to get more organized!
I had a batch seize like yours did this past week. Had to rebatch mine... hope yours will be okay. I need to update the page and want to add the idea that when you are using FOs, there are some precautions that might ensure a higher rate of success. Some of them are just bad guys, but others can be good or bad depending on temps and water addition. A lot of my recipes are posted with a low water addition rate because I love to have the bars harden quickly during cure time. When using FOs (particularly unknown ones), it's better to use a higher addition rate on the water. I probably still wouldn't go quite as high as Majestic Mountain Sage recommends (unless I'm using lots of tallow or other hard saturated fats), but maybe around 28 to 30 oz. of water for the batch sizes I make. Also... the temperatures around 100-110 probably a good range for FOs. Once in awhile you'll use one that will work at high temps and not low ones, but I'm told that most of the ones Sweet Cakes offers work at lower temps. Who did you get your green tea FO from?
On the wax dyes, if I'm coloring the whole batch, I put the wax color into the melting base oils before ever adding the lye solution. I heat the initial fats up until the wax is melted and mixed in (usually hold back about 24 oz. of oil to add after melting the firm fats). If you are going to swirl, you can put your wax color into a stainless measuring cup with a little bit of oil and melt that together. When the soap is at thin trace, you pour some into the cup and stir that over low heat until all the color is blended. Then it is ready for when you need to do your swirl...either in the mold or in the pot.
I hope this helps give you some idea. You'll get the feel of it yourself as you play with the wax colors. Some are very concentrated and it doesn't take much for a batch...others not so strong. Draw on a white piece of paper with your wax chip to see how saturated the pigment is and guesstimate from there.
I just love your site and have learned tons! I made your Chocolate Mint Soap (with tallow) this afternoon, but used Bitter Almond FO (from Sweet Cakes) instead of the Peppermint called for.This was my first attempt at marbleizing and since I'm relatively new at this, was a bit nervous.The problem is that I realized I added only 1 Tbsp not 1oz (2Tbsp) of the FO after the soap was poured into the mold.Needless to say, I sprinkled the other 1 Tbsp of FO over the top and sort of swirled it in.Will this ruin the soaps ability to mold properly? It's hard around the edges but soft and oozes in the center when I press on it. It's been 8 hours. Is there anything I can do to salvage it or do I have to rebatch it? If I have to do that, is there any way to get the marbleizing effect? How would you suggest I rebatch a large recipe like this? Do I have to shred the entire batch in a few weeks or can I put it in a Dutch Oven with water and melt it in the oven on low heat? How much water and what temp? Even if by some miracle this batch turns out alright, I'm sure I'll eventually have to rebatch, so any information you provide would be greatly appreciated.
I purchased some palm kernel oil and am wondering if this will give me similar lathering qualities as coconut oil. I'm almost out of coconut oil.
By the way, my husband made me a mold like the one on your website. Thanks for the instructions-it works swell! I also learned about using a stick blender from you and am amazed. I'm certain to make more soap than I originally thought because of it.
Your "peach" recipe turned out wonderful and I'm looking forward to making more of your recipes and eventually my own. It might be easier than I think especially with all the information you have provided.
Some friends of ours butchered a cow and gave me the kidney suet. I rendered that and have lovely tallow now. Thanks soo much for your help and advice!
-Sincerely, Gail -
Wait before you decide to rebatch. When it's time to cut, you'll know. If there are a few oozing pockets of fragrance but mostly the soap is okay, I'd leave it. If it's really gross and weird, you might want to rebatch. Check out the suggestions on the rebatching page of the soapy success section of the website. If it's a mess, I'd remelt right away after you cut it and make the decision. For a fresh batch, I try melting it down with no water first and only add as necessary. I do this in a big stainless roaster pan (covered) in an oven that is set at about 225-250 degrees. You might not need to do that. The swirl effect will be gone. If you rebatch, try not to whip a bunch of air into the soap when you stir it... kind of smash it and such.
Follow-up: Thank you for your prompt reply to my dilemma! Miracles still happen- the "Botched Batch" is by far my most favorite!! Except for the top which was a little crusty and easily shaved off, the bars cut easily and look beautiful!!
I am a first time soap maker and yesterday I made soap and put petroleum jelly around the inside of the molds before pouring in the soap mix. I used a variation of the Lavender/rosemary soap recipe I found on your site. I used 32 oz. of lard,9 oz coconut oil,6 oz lye, 16 oz cold water and orange EO. This is a half recipe minus the castor oil.Well I put the soaps in the freezer in Rubbermaid dishes and removed them about 10 hrs later. They were real slimy. I figured it was just the jelly, I tried to wipe some off but my bars still feel real soft and slimy, almost like they are too fatty.They feel real greasy.It has now been about 30 hrs. since I first put the soap in molds and they are still greasy.What could have happened? How do I prevent this next time?
How do I make a hard, greaseless piece of soap for the least amount of money?
Signed no slime at CRIDLONNO@SPAMMICRON.NET
The recipe you used should be okay, although it has very little superfatting without the castor. You could increase the lard by an ounce or two to give more cushion. The mistake you made was freezing this soap after pouring. While people sometimes do this to unmold remelted/rebatched soaps after pour, it's never recommended for cold process soap. The idea with that is to retain heat (insulation or in a warm place) for the first 24 hours to hasten the saponification process. If I understand this correctly, you probably retarded that process by putting your fresh soap into cold temperatures, which is why it would still feel greasy. I would let this sit in a warm environment (just in a warm room of the house) for a few more days and see if it improves. If it doesn't, the soap might benefit from remelting using instructions on the rebatching page and repour into molds after that. Should harden up and at least be soap you can use. Don't do that right away though... with a bit more time, it might set up without cutting it up and remelting.
Next time, follow instructions on the main page as far as insulating the soap after pouring, or at least enough to retain heat for awhile and encourage it to gel in the molds (heat up). It will complete the saponification more readily and yield a nice hard soap with good texture. Never chill freshly made cold process soap! I don't even like freezing the remelted molded soaps either, but lots of people do it.
Good luck on that next batch. Don't give up. I had a whole BUNCH of separated batches before I got the hang of it! You're way ahead of me.
Yesterday was my first time ever making soap. And I used a stick blender.Today, I uncovered the soap to cut it and found a thick black goo around the soap.I used the milk and honey recipe on your web page and instead of using cinnamon oil I used an oil that I had on hand.I added it in when the soap was thick, then I poured. I think I added it too late, if there is such a thing. Please tell me what you think the black goo was.
After 24 hours, I cut into the soap and it is fine. It was not too hard and not too soft, it was just like you described on your page. And I live in Houston and I made the soap outside in the summer heat and left the soap insulated from the start to finish. I uncovered the soap, and found a thick black gel/goo that escaped the plastic wrap and surrounded the soap. The soap has a smell, smells like perm. Right now, it is cut into chunks and drying. The black goo I threw out, what to do next. Please help.
Lost in a Black Goo mess
-Ellena-
Other than the black goo, your batch sounds normal for a fresh milksoap batch. That ammonia smell happens when you use milk in the soap and it will disappear in a couple of days. Don't despair. I don't know what the black stuff was, but you probably did the right think in just trimming it off. I'll ask my friend, Rachael, if she has any theories on what would have turned black (she thought the spicy fragrance oil could have been the culprit). I've had dark brown, but not black. Maybe the heat did something. Milk soaps heat up a lot and insulating a batch in a hot climate was not really necessary. If you make it again, don't insulate that much when the external conditions are so warm... especially with a milk and honey type soap that heats up a lot anyway. There is such a thing as having problems because of TOO much heat as well as too little! :-)
First of all, I'd like to say that you have one of the most comprehensive soapmaking sites around and it has really helped me a lot. I've had successes and this is my first failure.BOO HOO!!! I'm trying to experiment for my own vegetable soap recipe. I made soap using cocoa butter, coconut oil, vegetable shortening, castor oil and beeswax. I only used castor oil and beeswax in minuscule amounts. About 5% combined. Anyway, when I first made it, it didn't harden. I read your advice on botched soaps and decided to remelt it and add more lye. Anyway, I think I made a mistake calculating since it turned out crumbly and caky. When I cut it, it was all wet. And then I found out that it meant too much lye in mixture. I remelted it again and this time I accurately calculated the amount of oils I have to put it. What I forgot to do was cover the pan when it was remelting. I was stirring and stirring and it turned hard on me. It was really a thick mixture. Really bad. I added some water but it didn't help much. In the end, I just put it in the mold. I want to reclaim it because I can't throw it away. It now has about 60 oz of fat in it and I don't want to throw it away since it's a big big waste of money since it's a big big batch for me.What should I do?????
I don't know if the twice reclaimed soap will turn out right this time even if it looks downright horrid. Should I buy some pH papers and test it if it's in the usable range? If it turns out okay, can I just melt it to make clear soap since it's extremely unsightly ? (I've made clear soap before and it turned out well.)
Help!!!!!
===
This is your lucky day. You have received a message from me.
-Belinda Yap-
Hi! Thanks for your nice comments about the site! I appreciate it.
You can remelt this again... don't think it will hurt anything. This time, you might mush or cut it up and sprinkle slightly with water (only a smidge, tossed in)... cover for the night and then put in the oven the next morning. Make sure it's covered (a big porcelain type or stainless roaster pan works pretty good). Oven set for about 225 to 250 degrees works for me. I stir it every so often or mash it with a potato masher to help break it up as it goes. Add just a little water as you go if need be, but not too much. Might take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to finally hit the gel look and be all blended. Put it back in long enough to smooth it as much as possible (which won't be much!) and then pour/mash it into your mold. After that, you can put a layer of saran wrap on top and roll it gently with a pastry roller, or press with a smooth piece of cardboard. This will smooth out the top a little bit and get rid of some of the roughness you are bound to have. After cutting, the bars can be trimmed further to tidy them up.
Good luck! I hope this works out and you have soap in the end. Texture will be different with remelt, but should still be okay if the lye ratio is correct or pretty close.
I made my first batch of soap and it has been an unhappy experience.First, I misunderstood the ratio of 1:3 for water/fats and 1:2 for milk and to make a long story short, ended up putting (roughly) twice as much lye as I should have. Ok.So I grated it and melted it back down, put in some extra water and oils. The mixture was very thick and sort of string looking and that sounded about right, so poured it into a mold and let it sit overnight in a warm place, covered. Now it has separated in places and looks marbled. Will it be safe to use after hardening up the proper amount of time? And why did it marble? Your answer will help me with future rebatching. Thank you very much for your help!!
-Sincerely, Gootzie-
I'll be guessing from your description... but I'm wondering if all your original batch melted enough to get fully blended with the new stuff. If you have soft patches and other ones that are much firmer then you might need to chop all this up and melt one more time (probably don't need any more water) and be sure it gets really mixed well before repouring. You might even take a potato masher to blend and mush it all around periodically while it melts. See how it is in a day or so and if you think improper blending is the problem... remelt. Better than having harsh patches alternated with greasy ones.
Let me know how this comes out and how it seems after another day or so.
Good luck! Hang in there... it will be soap in the end!
Last night I tried a batch with lemon verbena and something quite curious happened.First, it didn't trace well, which in the past hasn't been a problem,.The batches turn out fine.This time I did everything the same, temps were same, same measurements, etc. Same ingredients with the exception of the lemon verbena oil and I added some dry Earl Gray tea powder/leaves thinking that may enhance the scent.I did notice however that the soap wasn't very warm when I wrapped and covered it for the 18 hour period.But when I went to take it out today, yikes! some strange sort of yellow milky product settled on the top of one container and in the other container I got a lot of ash on top. I did stir it with a whisk instead of the wooden spoon that I normally use.
What in tarnation could it be?
Eternally grateful and having spent a lot of $ on the verbena...
-Fran Thomas-
Hi! I don't know if the whisk would make the difference but what you said about temperature may have been a factor. If you think the soap is getting a bit cool while mixing and it doesn't attain that honey-like homogeneous appearance, put a little bottom heat on it for a minute or two while stirring to bring the temps back up and hasten the saponification (I'm assuming you're mixing in a stainless container... if not, this might not work so well!). I've noticed dramatically that I have not had an ashy batch since I switched to using a stick blender. Maybe a touch on the top (and only a touch) is all I ever get. That causes me to think that ash is more common when the mixing is not as complete or the saponification not as advanced at the time of pour. The stick blender really accelerates saponification. You might not want to try using one, but I think you'll be impressed with the results if you do. Even using a hand held mixer (keeping the beaters well below the surface) for part of the mixing time will improve the blending on the soap... but nothing compared to the stick blender!
As long as you don't have a full blown separation and just a bit of ooze on the top, I wouldn't reclaim this unless it has terrible pockets when cut. It will probably cure out okay but you'll have some ash clean-up to do.
I've been perusing your web site today as I am a recent soap making addict. I've made several batches of soap that were successes but my last one has me stumped. Maybe you could help me figure out why this happened to me.
I made a batch with olive oil (24 oz.), coconut oil (24 oz.), vegetable shortening (38 oz.), 32 oz. water, 12 oz. lye. I got a 50 lb. block of this vegetable shortening but it has some ingredient added to prevent foaming when frying stuff. Hmmmm ... it's a name that has at least 18 syllables and that makes me very suspicious. My wonderful mother purchased this for me but I wonder if maybe I should stick to Crisco.
I added an orange/vanilla fragrance oil to half the mixture and sweet orange essential oil to the other half, then swirled the two. It smells WONDERFUL!
However, when I went to unmold the batch, it had "expanded" and looked like the Sahara desert with cracks all over. It has been sitting for several days now and although it's a tad firmer than before, its consistency is that of powder.
I usually use a 12 oz. can of lye which makes measuring real easy (none!) but this batch I measured out the lye from an 18 oz. can. Should I have weighed it?
So ... I believe the culprit to be 1) that vegetable shortening, 2) the sweet orange essential oil, or 3) not enough lye?
ANY suggestions, comments, anything at all would be much appreciated! I am ready for a long weekend of soap making and don't want another bad batch!
Thanks so much.
Schelley Cassidy :-)
Yes... you should always weigh lye (and try to have it dry when you do that so it doesn't weigh in too heavy from absorbing water from the air).
You said it has cracks and looks like powder and\ that makes me think it might be lye heavy... but then you say it's not firm yet? I'm confused! If it's lye heavy, it will tend to be brittle and crumbly in texture. If here's not enough it will tend toward soft and on the greasy side. When you cut it, you'll probably know better. Either way... you can probably reclaim it if you have to by remelting (good-bye swirl) in the oven and restoring either the needed fat or lye (only dissolved in a little water) to make it balanced. See how it is first. Does this powder look like soda ash? The cracks and powder both sound more like brittle and lye heavy.
Tell me more! :-)
The consistency of the soap is very cakelike. Feels very powdery. If I take a clump of the soap and extend the very lightest of pressure to it, it all crumbles apart. It is not brittle (yet).
I really don't even think I could cut it, it would just all crumble.
Caky. That's the best word I can think of to describe this crumbly mess!
> It's lye heavy then. Try to figure out how much lye you actually used. If you can weigh (postal scale is good) what's left in the can (started with 18 oz.) and subtract that from 18, you will know how many ounces you actually used. Calculate your recipe in the Maj. Mtn. Sage calculator online and see what you should have used and how much oil it will take to make up the difference for the amount of excess lye you probably have. You will want about a 5% cushion in your final soap (refigure one of the oils until you get the lye amount you actually used in the 5% field). Then, you will remelt this stuff in a covered roaster pan or something (slow oven), adding the needed oil/fats to make up the difference from what you actually used when you made the recipe. If you need a bit of extra water you can add it, but I'd just start with the soap and oil first. When it's all blended and homogeneous, you can repour it into your mold (this could take from one hour to two). You might want to put some saran over the top and gently roll it smooth with something or press a flat thing down on it, like a piece of cardboard (over the saran)... since rebatch is always a bit rough looking and a PAIN! If you do this right away, it will probably melt down pretty quickly... especially if it's that crumbly.
I'm a bit dense today, so I hope I explained this so that you can decipher it! :-)
Good luck! Let me know how it goes. If you're going to use these 18 oz. cans, you might want to go out to an office supply (like Office Depot) and get yourself a small, inexpensive postal scale. Lots of people go for big expensive scales, but if it's only to measure the lye, a postal scale that goes up to 2 pounds or 5 should do it. You put a container on top of the scale (plastic bowl or an old empty lye canister), notice the mark on the scale and pour until it goes up to the one you want... or in your case, pour it all in and make note of how many ounces are left in the can). Be careful not to drop little pieces around and forget to clean them up... lethal stuff in crystal form!
Later...
Thank you so much for your advice. I haven't rebatched this messy batch of soap yet; however, over the weekend I did make 4 wonderful batches of soap. Not only did I weigh the lye, I started using the stick blender and I must say "hallelujah!" What a time saver! I am thoroughly and completely addicted to soapmaking now ... counting the hours until I can get home and take my soap out of the mold!
I'll let you know how the rebatching goes when I get around to it. Thanks again!
I have really enjoyed this web site and I hope you can help me with my problem.
I have made several batches of soap with great results, but now I am trying to make a clear soap from my batch shavings. So far I have created a strange murky, gelatinous goo that has to be forced into a mold. I could really use some suggestions or a new method or something.
So could I! Welcome to the Disgruntled Rebatcher's Club! I don't know if it gets much better than that and am amazed that some people actually prefer doing their soap this way. I HATE rebatching! :-( Clear soap is not quite rebatching, but similar.
I've not succeeded in getting results any better than yours, but something to make note of... be sure you have your soap covered when it's remelting... if it dries out too much before melting it will do just as you describe. Think that's what I did wrong when I tried it. You have to use enough alcohol to really do a decent job of thinning the soap down... I may have skimped on that also. Boy... I don't know what else to say... I don't have this technique down. Reread the instructions from Rachael on the "How to Make Clear Glycerin Soap" page and see if you're doing everything the way she describes.
Good luck! I decided it wasn't worth the time and effort to me to do this stuff... the other soap really lasts longer in the dish and satisfies. It's all up to the person whether they want to refine this technique. Good luck!
I have made soap successfully before, but these last three batches today something unpleasant has happened--I measure ingredients with great care and joyfulness, everything seems to go well, I get very excited as I stir the lye into the fat and THEN, after stirring awhile, icky little pockets of brownish fluid start appearing in the soap as I stir it, it looks saponified, but what is that fluid and why is it appearing? I tasted a tiny dab and discovered it is lye water. I tried to pour it out before pouring the soap into the molds, but it's in the soap anyway, I can see it through the clear molds, collecting in pockets in the soap. What shall I do? Why, look, I'm weeping with sorrow!
-Gayle B.-
This sounds like a mild separation. You may need to remelt this soap in the oven or crockpot and repour (using the term "pour" loosely!). Were your temps warm enough? If you see this happening in the future, you could try some gentle bottom heat to warm the mass up until all the lye incorporates itself back into the soap. You don't want to pour this stuff off, because then you're losing the lye you need to fully saponify your fats (especially if you have to remelt).
I can just about guarantee that if you get and use a stick blender for your soapmaking, you will not have this problem occur. Give that some thought. It's wonderful! Also... make sure your temps are in the right range before blending your lye into the fats... too cool is not necessarily better. I like to work in the 100-120 range if using FOs and maybe a little cooler with EOs.
Good luck on the next batch and on rebatching this if it's necessary! We've all been there and had a few batches like this along the way... it can be salvaged.
Hi. I really hope you can help me. I make all vegetable oil cold process soaps. I make them with olive, coconut & vegetable oil. Lately I've been getting white swirled batches. It is not lye, but white swirls throughout the entire batch. I make large batches, approx. 17 lbs. of oils. I make 3 batches NO@SPAM a time and 1 or 2 come out with the swirls and the other is fine. It is driving me crazy, not to mention expensive to have so many not right batches. I mix the lye solution & oils at around 100 degrees. Each being the same. I get a very light trace after mixing for approx. 20 mins. with a drill with a mixing adapter attached. I then pour into molds and cover with wood tops and insulate heavily with towels and blankets. Any clues to what I may be doing wrong? Thanks in advance for helping. -Lisa-
Hi! If I were to hazard a guess, I would say your soap is getting too hot. It's summer now and the temps in the house are probably warmer. Has this occurred since the weather warmed up? I would lightly cover the soap until it gels to the corners and then open it up and let cool off (or only put a light piece of cardboard over the top to protect it from things falling into it!). I'll bet other than you not liking the looks of it, it's great soap! :-) Some people think that "grain" effect is a sign of really good soap.
I have had soap turn out like what is pictured on your web site...BTW it has been a long time since I visited and you have done a ton of work! Anyway I think it was the fo I used in the soap and the honey, mine too was a oatmeal milk & honey soap.
Also I wanted to comment on the statement you made about using candle coloring for soaps....I have has soaps curdle and seperate badly due to the candle chips used to try to color the soap.
Just wanted to speak up!
Thanks for a great informative web site!!!! You are doing a great job!!!!!
-Paige-
Thanks! :-) So nice to hear from you.
I think honey is probably the culprit also... but maybe especially when combined with milk?
What kind of candle colors are you using? I've never had a single problem with them. I've just used wax based chips and melt them in with my base oils usually. I'd be interested in what kind you use, where you got them and how you are using them. FOs can cause the problem you described... just haven't heard of candle dyes doing it. More info would be appreciated.
Love the site! I made your recipe for Almond Joy, but substituted peppermint essential oil for the almond FO. It looked great in the mold, but when I tried cutting at 24 hours, I had chunks and layers of the brown falling out of the bars. It appears somewhat grainy where the two different colors meet. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I also made a peppermint candy cane soap swirling red candle dye with some and then swirling. It turned out better, but the red swirls seem much harder and more brittle than the white part. Any basic suggestions for swirling because I really like the finished look.
For now, I think I shall stick to one color until I figure out the problem. Also, can I save this chocolate-peppermint swirl? I'm not sure of the directions for reclaiming soap.
Thanks for any advice-
-Kerrie-
Hi! Glad you liked the site!
I wouldn't reclaim that soap just yet. Mine did a similar thing when I cut it... very irritating. I did my best to hold the pieces together and when it cured, it was really nice. I think my problem with that was waiting too long to do the swirl (too thick a trace). When swirling, you really need to do it at a thinner trace to get a better effect (look at the almond swirl picture on the site as opposed to the almond joy one). If your soap has gotten thicker on you, you can try swirling a little in the pan and then pouring. For thinner soap, swirling in the mold is fine.
I guess your red soap is firmer because of the wax that you added... don't know why else it would be a different texture. If it cut okay, it should all be fine after curing.
This is making me hungry! Think I'll go eat!
I found your website and it has a lot of great info! Now I am hoping you can help me. I made my first batch of soap yesterday and it was a disaster! It was supposed to trace in 90 minutes. Well, 5 hours later, no trace. I tried everything I could think of... I stirred occasionally, I stirred rapidly, I left it alone, I put it in the oven at the lowest temp like the book (The Handmade Soap Book) suggested. The darn thing would not trace! So finally, after 5 hours I gave up. The book said that if you could not wait any longer, just stir it and pour it in the mold. Thismorning I looked at it and there is about 1/4 inch of oil sitting on the top. So there's one batch that didn't work. Now I don't know what to do with it. I was using both a postal scale and a larger scale that you can manually turn back to zero, and both were the same. So I don't think I could have messed the measurements up too bad. But I must have. Do you have any suggestions about how to get it to trace? I would rather not buy the stick blender until I know if I am going to actually enjoy making soap or not, but if you tell me that it is the only way to really make trace happen, then I guess I will. I'd love to hear any suggestions you can offer. I can't give up, because I have spent so much money on the supplies. But I don't want to waste any more of the oils until I get better advice!
Thanks, -Carrie-
P.S. The recipe I was using from the Handmade Soap Book was for peach melba, using vegetable, coconut, and olive oil. I had to heat the coconut oil in the bottle because it is solid. Is there a chance that that's my problem? I didn't melt the entire gallon, just enough for what I needed. My boyfriend said that maybe I was supposed to melt it all because possibly it has different properties and some of the stuff I needed was still solid??? But I figured that oil is oil.
Sounds more like olive oil soap... the description you gave. The stick blender would definitely aid you in never having this problem! You could probably warm all this stuff up in a slow oven and stir periodically (like for a rebatch), but don't add any extra liquid. I turn the oven to about 225 to 250 or so. Put it in a covered roaster pan or whatever (no aluminum). It could take up to an hour and a half to "gel" but will eventually. It should be thick and jelly-like and well blended when you pour it. Not sure what else to suggest... you could try periodically stirring in the mold, but not sure what the end result would be like... might tend to make a lot of ash.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes. In the future, if you want to stick blend, you can pick one up for around $12 to $14 or so (try Walmart). I LOVE my stick blender!
Boy have I made soap that looked like this. It was oatmeal honey as a matter of fact. It really seemed like the honey conglomerated together in the middle towards the bottom. What I had done is put the honey in with the fats in the beginning. Wrong move, I also think cutting the lye a smidge would help. Now I heat my honey and mix in with eo's and additives. It should be interesting what other people have done with this.
-Margaret at Mystic Ect.-
You're the first one to comment on this... thanks! I did that with the honey also, and have done it both ways. I melted it in with base oils the time before and it was fine though. My separation was toward the top of the soap and not the bottom... but I agree that those chains are probably sugars from the honey and not lye... they did not seem caustic at all when I was cutting the soap for remelting.
I sure could use your help! I bought 35 pounds of popping oil, coconut with beta carotene, butter flavoring (???) and soy lechetin(sp). Anyway, I am getting little white spots in all of my soaps, different recipes, different temperatures etc.The problem is, at the same time I started using the popping oil, I also started using a stick blender. I can't figure out if these are air pockets, minerals from the extras in the oil, or what? Can you Help!?!?! Thanks! -Carol-
Probably air getting into the soap when you stick blend it. Be sure to always keep your blender head well below the surface. Blend for a minute, then turn it off and stir a little before blending again. This will help keep some of those white flecks out. I get those sometimes also.
My corn popping oil doesn't have the lecithin, I don't think (I'll have to check the label)... I don't know if it would do anything weird in the soap, but my first guess is the blending technique.
Thanks Kathy,
I have been making smallish batches using the bowl that came with my Kitchen Aid, my batches have been 48 oz fats then the lye/water. I also just used the whipper attachment that came with the Kitchen Aid and got the "spots", just smaller ones. So far four batches in a row have done this. I will try your technique, plus try bigger batches so I can get the blender down there further. TFYH Carol
Hi,
My name is Allan and I have just started making soap at home. The first batch I made was a real success, but after that its been a mess. With the first batch I used
After that I used 4 times the amounts to get a reaction that can only be described as an instant brown curdle as soon as I started to mix the lard with the Water/caustic soda mix.
I used lard because I could not get any chefade.
What's Gone wrong.?
-Allan-
I'm not sure I totally understand, but I think you're saying that you quadrupled the original recipe and then had a problem when you mixed the lard INTO the lye solution? First of all, you generally slowly add the lye solution to the fats, not the other way around. That's a lot of lye for that little bit of fat you're first putting in. I've never done that so can't tell you if I've ever seen what happens.
Is Chefade a vegetable shortening? If so, it probably doesn't have the exact sap value that lard has... the lard probably requires a little more lye to fully saponify. I don't think that caused your problem, but be sure if you substitute, that you run your recipe through the Majestic Mountain Sage lye calculator, or similar thing and make the necessary adjustments in the recipe.
I'm not sure what else could be the problem, but next time... add the lye solution to all the melted fats (they are blended and melted and cooled together first) a little at a time instead of the other way around and see if that helps.
made a batch-about 100 oz with olive, coconut, palm kernel, soy and lard. going great, added a few tsps clove oil. for color, i got real smart-used about 1/2 to 3/4 cup powdered cloves. whoops, when i poured into the moulds i had instant separation with in minutes-tried to recover by remixing but still had problems with fluid pockets in the soap. can only conclude that there is a lot of oil in the powdered cloves which i didn't account for. the recipe was perfectly balanced for fat to lye ratio, about 3% superfatted. needless to say, had to pitch the whole mess because i wasn't sure what caused the problem. thanks for your site-its great!
This looks like candidate letter for botched batches? Sorry about your soap. I think clove oil can be difficult if added in much quantity. I'd feel badly about your pitching your soap, but have a feeling that all that clove powder plus oil could be kind of irritating to the skin. It's something better used in small quantities.
In the future, though... you can almost always reclaim separated soap. Don't toss it out!
Glad you've enjoyed the site!
... Noticed this after the fact... next time you should probably build at least 5% superfatting into your recipe, just to be on the safe side. I don't know if I really adequately identified why your soap might have separated, but with all that powder you added, maybe it cooled off too quickly and didn't get a good blend. Sometimes it's good to apply some low heat underneath it while mixing (I have mine in a stainless steel container) until it looks kind of translucent like melted honey when you stir it. You don't want the fat particles to harden up before it gets saponified by the lye solution.
Clove oil in large amounts I think can contribute to separation also...a little goes a long way.
I have been making soap for quite awhile now and every batch has turned out well except my last two batches. I've recently started to use a stick blender and had no problems with the soap not turning out. My last 2 batches of soap have come out very hard, brittle and slightly chalky looking. When I attempt to cut it, it crumbles. I cannot understand what I have done wrong as the recipe I am using is the same as always. (I use palm oil). Any suggestions?
-Cherie-
It sounds lye heavy for some reason. Are you weighing your lye and oils... have you changed how you do that recently? Could your scale be off or dying? I'm not sure what to tell you, but that's what it sounds like. Is the soap going through a gel stage? If not... it could be kind of crumbly because the saponification is not as complete when you cut. I'm just guessing.
I hope you can figure it out... frustrating. Did you reclaim these or just cut it the best you could and age it? Wire or dental floss will cut this sort of batch without breaking the bars as bad as a knife.
One more thing that could make a difference in your lye to fat ratio... palm oil will often separate in the bucket during storage. It's important to mix it up and get both the hard parts and the oily ones, or you could have a different result in the soap. The harder parts probably require more lye to saponify than the liquid ones and yield a different quality of soap in the end. Is yours getting mixed properly to get both kinds in equal proportion?
I made a batch of soap following a recipe which called for vegetable oil (I used corn), cocoa butter,and tallow. The soap seems normal in every way except that the block has many cracks in it. What would cause this? Please reply!
-BARB-
Tallow and cocoa butter both make really HARD soaps that can almost be brittle if they are used in a high proportion in your recipe. If you do this in the future, you may want to use more unsaturated oils in addition to your hard fats to get a bar that will not be so hard. I've had batches with cracks before. What's really frustrating is when the bar looks great until you use it and then cracks and peels from several layers deep. Hard to describe, but the soap ends up looking pretty weird and any dirt people had on their hands accumulates in those cracks. :-P Having it a tiny bit on the lye heavy side could be part of that also, but I think my cracking bars actually were more on the fat heavy side at the time! Go figure.
Have you tried cutting this yet? It could be really HARD to cut. In the future, cut back a bit on either the tallow or cocoa butter (both in one recipe really adds to the hardness big time) and make sure to use liquid more at the 1:3 ratio instead of the lesser amount I've usually posted on recipes using lots of oils (1:4). Majestic Mountain Sage recommends the 1:3 ratio on the recipes from their lye calculator. Otherwise, cutting the soap can be exhausting! Ask me how I know!
Good luck on the next batch. This one should have nice lathering...cracks and all.
I've just discovered your excellent site, after having just made my second batch of soap this afternoon.
My dear departed first batch was a dismal failure.
Thinking I was oh-so clever and saving the environment (etc etc) I scrounged some used oil from a friend who has a cafe. The oil was the stuff they use in the deep fryers for cooking fish and chips and so on. Well, on the tin it says "Animal Fat" but, well...who knows? (lol)
Anyway, we strained it and cleaned it up and away I went. The oil was a lovely deep golden brown, as only used cooking oil can be, so I figured I was in for some lovely coloured soap.
Using Norma's "Homesteader's soap" recipe, I heated, cooled, mixed and stirred and was surprised to find that almost immediately I mixed the fat and the lye together it thickened up to the point I could barely move the spoon through it.
So much for endless mixing, I thought suspiciously. I practically had to pack it into the mould. It was like sculpturing butter!
Well, I put it in the bottom of an old (dead) refrigerator and packed it around with a heap of rags to keep it toasty warm. It got toasty warm. As a matter of fact, it got VERY toasty warm. I began to worry about spontaneous combustion, and kept my eye on it. The next day I peeked at it -- ERK! The solid and liquid had separated like curds and whey.
Taking into account that it smelt like old chips, I decided the kindest thing (for me) would be to...'dispose' of it.
Anyway, the second batch this afternoon has so far turned out just lovely. This time I used tallow (though the same recipe as the first batch). The only thing was I seemed to have trailings/traces within only a few minutes of stirring.
I think now that maybe I should have kept stirring, but I poured it into the mould. I live in the north of Australia, where it's very hot, and thought perhaps that the air temp might have had something to do with early tracing.
Having just looked through your site, though, I've seen reference to 'false traces', and am now a bit suspicious. It all seemed to easy to be true when I did it!
Anyway, any advice you can give me would be most appreciated!
-Tammie-
Hi! When you cleaned your first batch of "reclaimed" fats from the hot cooker, did you "wash" them with water a couple of times to pull out the impurities? There might have been other stuff still suspended in the oil if you only strained out the chunks but did not boil it with some water. The directions for cleaning rancid or used fats is on the main page in the lye company information.
I'm wondering with your soap setting up so quickly if your temperatures were kind of low. For all tallow soap, your temps should be higher since it has a high melting point. I've forgotten what the lye company suggested, but am thinking around 120 degrees is probably pretty close. The lye solution can be cooler than that but still at least 90 to 100 degrees.
Are you using a stick blender or hand mixing? The stick blender really makes the stuff trace quite quickly, so you might want to turn it off and hand stir periodically to be sure everything has blended well before pouring the soap. Sure saves time though... I LOVE the stick blender! :-)
If the soap starts to thicken with the stick blender, turn it off and stir a bit by hand (I just use my blender like a spoon only turned off) and then blend a bit more, repeat until it starts to get like thickening pudding, but not too thick or pasty. I like it to still be liquid, but coats the blender nicely when you lift it out...a thicker coat than when you started.
Good luck with the next batch! Nice to hear from you.
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page last updated January 11, 2000.
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Questions and Modern Procedures. More can also be learned through the Botched Batches and Soapy Success pages. Many common problems have already been addressed on the site and it's difficult for me to keep up with emails these days and get anything else done. If your question involves my looking up information that you can also research, or going over numbers and recipe calculations, I might not respond if in the middle of a project around our home and garden. I apologize for this, since I've enjoyed my correspondence with people and don't like to ignore emails of any kind. Thanks! :-)