Am I Doing Something Wrong?

[dibbles]

forgive me for my ignorance as I’m still learning

No worries - you are trying things and asking questions. That is exactly what you should be doing.

the recipe I’m using from Brambleberry already provides the amount of oils, lye and liquid needed based on the batch size.

Just making sure you do know how to use a soap.calculator. If you don't, I really believe it is important to learn. Even though Bramble Berry is reliable and has the staff to proof read and proof read again before publishing recipes, mistakes can happen.

I’m using a 5 pound mold

Do you have a smaller mold, or anything you could use as a mold (like a sturdy box) to make smaller batches. 5 pounds is a lot of soap and if you aren't happy with your result or something goes wrong, it can be a big waste of ingredients or leave you with a lot of soap to use up that you don't really like.

I’m assuming my lye concentration is around 31%

According to soapcalc.net it is closer to 30%

 

[DeeAnna]

If the edges are gooey but the center of the loaf is firm, then my guess is your use of the refrigerator is the problem. The edges chill down, saponify slower, and stay softer.

Unless you're trying to make milk soap which should stay as cool as possible to keep the color light, I don't see the point of putting soap in the fridge. And even if you are making milk soap, I still question the use of the fridge. There are a lot of people who have come here to complain they put soap in the fridge but the soap still got hot enough to gel. Problem is stagnant (not moving) air is a poor conductor of heat, even if it's refrigerator or freezer cold. Air that is moving is much more efficient at cooling, even if it's at room temperature.

Raising the molded soap on a cookie cooking rack or soup cans and training a fan to blow room temperature air over, under, and around the mold is an easy, reliable way to cool soap in the mold. Just a thought to keep in mind for another day.

I also cringe when people talk about putting saponifying soap in the fridge or freezer from the issue of safety. One of the adamant "get you fired if you ignore this" rule is never put stuff that's hazardous (aka saponifying soap) in a refrigerator or freezer intended for food storage.

I agree with Dibbles -- if you're still learning or if you're trying a recipe that's new to you, it's always smart to make a smaller batch (I do 16 oz fats / 500 g fats).

It's also wise to doublecheck every recipe, no matter how reputable the source, by entering it into a soap recipe c@lculator and verifying the numbers are correct. Even if you're not up to making your own recipes from scratch, checking recipes from others is a good thing.

 

[Relle]

There is no video there I can see. First of all, as I said, I always have covered mine and never had any issues and 6 hrs is not enough to leave it in the frig, mine is in there about 15 hrs. When I take it out I leave it 2- 3 days, probably best to let it sit for a while, have no idea what has gone wrong, I only work in grams so of no help about the 30 ounces of FO added.

So I just saw your response and I tried the fridge method but I think I probably did something wrong AGAIN . Per research I did, I put it in the fridge (not freezer) uncovered for 6 hours. I read that you should leave it uncovered to allow the heat to escape. I made the soap on Tuesday evening and just unmolded it and it’s kinda soft and kinda gooey looking on the sides. I used the same recipe that I mentioned earlier in the thread with 3 oz’s of fragrance. What could I have possibly done wrong? Did I unmold it too soon? I literally just unmolded it about 20 mins ago. Is the soap still usable? Please see video and advise.
View attachment 67805

 

[DeeAnna]

Maybe just post photos unless a video is needed to show a technique or something else that can only be shown if it's a "moving picture"?

I don't mean to be a wet blanket on the video thing, really, because I enjoy videos, so let me explain. I'm on satellite internet which limits my bandwidth, so I strictly limit my video watching for that reason. I'd guess there are other people here who live in remote or rugged areas or only have access to low bandwidth internet.

So maybe give some thought to using photos when possible. If they will tell the same story, they might reach a wider audience.

edit: An alternative is to upload the videos to Youtube which gives users like me the option to reduce the quality of the video to a lower bandwidth version. And doesn't require downloading codecs to play via the video player loaded on the user's local machine.