# When Soap goes BAD...omg



## AutismArtisan (Nov 24, 2014)

I have made recipe many times, I am still scratching my head? 

What went wrong? 

1		Olive Oil	                50.00	1.000	16.00	453.59
2		Coconut Oil, 76 deg	20.00	0.400	  6.40	181.44
3		Almond Oil, sweet	12.00	0.240	  3.84        108.86
4		Avocado Oil	        10.00	0.200	  3.20	  90.72
5		Castor Oil	                  8.00	0.160	  2.56	  72.57
 	 	Totals	               100.00

                      Pounds	Ounces	Grams
Water	        0.760	12.16	344.73
Lye - NaOH	0.275	4.40	        124.62

Oils	                2.000	32.00	907.18
Fragrance	        0.063	1.00	          28.35

Additives-1.5oz organic Honey diluted seperately with portioned water from above, Almond Milk, again made with portioned water & finely ground oats.

Added Lye Water to oils at 100, brought to trace, added Honey water, then 190 micron strained Almond milk. Total water content 345gms. Combined Fragrance well, to total recipe....Divided into two batches,  added oats to batch 1, mixed well with spatula , then waited for thickening in batch 2. Then topped base in loaf mold, textured surface added embeds. Sprinkled extra oats for decoration. 

Left 24hrs. 

Result see images, MP embeds melted, oil standing on surface of loaf. Unmolded, strong ammonia smell and all sides of loaf oily, underneath grainy, oily and burnt particles in oil. 

Loaf soft spongy, but nice two tone caramel colour with oats in base. 

Weather: UK very cold outside, humid,  22C in home. 

See images 

Thank you in advance.


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## AutismArtisan (Nov 24, 2014)

*Additional images*

Actual recipe via SoapCalc


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## AutismArtisan (Nov 24, 2014)

More images


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## AutismArtisan (Nov 24, 2014)

One more


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## shunt2011 (Nov 24, 2014)

It looks like it overheated probably from the honey and milk. I usually use 1 tsp PPO when using honey.  When using honey or milks soap can heat up pretty quickly and generally don't require any insulation.  Probably best to rebatch it.


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## AutismArtisan (Nov 25, 2014)

Thanks, not taking a chance. Prepping for disposal. Kitty litter etc. 

I have not seen too many images of Soaping upsets. Even on search engines. 

Are folk afraid of what others will say? 

This is my first ever 'Bad Soap', its PH is 9-10. 

Just looks really bad, sadly. Still smells ok, if Ammonia smell goes? 

Re-making today. Its a cold day, and not using wooden loaf mold. 

Any suggestions on recipe or techniques?


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## Susie (Nov 25, 2014)

The pH is fine for a 2 day old soap.  And the ammonia smell does fade.  It just got overheated.  I would probably toss it also, as I don't know how you could ever get the burned bits of oatmeal out.


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## lionprincess00 (Nov 25, 2014)

The almond milk most likely gave the ammonia scent. Milks can do that, but it fades. The honey most use at 1 tsp or 1 tbs ppo. You had 2 pounds and used 1.5 oz which is 3 tablespoons. Finally you have no real hard oils or butters other than CO, so it being mushy/soft longer than average is normal.
The honey probably overheated the soap. It's best to keep an eye on it and pop into the fridge or freezer if you notice it superheating. I freeze all my milk and or honey soaps.
If you do the zap test and it doesn't zap, it should be fine, So long as it doesn't _smell_ burned. Then I don't know if you can rebatch that scent out.
It's probably just overheated. your recipe worked out perfect in soap calc.

Oh, you used full water I should mention, so that also attributed to a soft soap. It will need much longer to harden up because of this coupled with no hard oils or butters.


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## lionprincess00 (Nov 25, 2014)

Ah, suggestions.
Freeze milk or honey soaps 24 hours, fridge 12-24 hours, and expect it to zap up to 2 days later (cold slows saponofication).

Your recipe will work fine, but it will take several days to unmold. Maybe pull out 30% of soft oils from olive and add in palm, tallow, or lard in its place. It will help with the hardening (right now you're using 80% soft oils, and co melts at 76 degrees...so not super hard).

Good luck with it!


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## shunt2011 (Nov 25, 2014)

I'll be honest, I had that happen twice and just threw them away myself.   And going forward just soap cool and either watch it or as lionprincess said put it in the fridge or freezer to avoid gel.  I gel all my soaps but watch those with extra sugars closely.


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## seven (Nov 25, 2014)

you need to put this soap in the ugly soap thread


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## green soap (Nov 25, 2014)

This happened to me but it was even worse, since the soap smelled burnt.  There was nothing I could do, the only soap that ever ended up in the trash right away (other than soap with dOS but this takes a bit longer...).

This is how I make my honey oatmeal soaps now:  I dissolve the honey I want to use in the measured weight of water.  Freeze it in ice cube trays, and dissolve the lye in it while still frozen.  Stir it constantly, the mix will turn yellow, maybe orange, but it will not burn.  I add the ground oatmeal at trace.  I have not had any problem since I have been doing it this way.  The soap ends up a tan color, very fitting for an oatmeal soap.


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## AutismArtisan (Nov 25, 2014)

Thank you, for Ugly Soap thread link.... Wasn't aware of it.

Ipad App, is not the easiest app to use...especially when nearly every topic has word 'Soap' in it. 

Single word searches, rarely result in topics that are relevant.


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## AutismArtisan (Nov 25, 2014)

For this recipe, on top of freezing honey solution and Almond Milk......I am also considering adding oats to water/liquid to reduce the absorbing of existing. 

As been reading a lot on additional ingredients absorbing oils, liquids in soap making and distorting recipe.....causing oils to separate etc. 

Has anyone tried this?


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