Any idea what I did wrong?

[SoapOfTheNorth]

I tried to make a charcoal soap and the soap is fine, but it's really crumbly.

My recipe was small:
6 oz each of coconut, palm and olive oil
6 oz distilled water
2.8 oz lye
1 oz basil EO
1 tsp super fine activated charcoal

I've made this before - with the cheap activated charcoal you get anywhere, the really coarse kind. I grind it up in a mortar and pestle until it's less coarse and it comes out perfect.

However, this really fine charcoal has made the soap really crumbly.

My mixing temp was 100f and I had a quick trace. the EO broke the batter so I mixed again until I had a solid trace. I then let it set for 24 hours until I unpacked it.

Then I saw this.. It's never happened before.

I'm a little confused because I thought the more coarse powder would have had this effect and it didn't - but the fine powder did.

I did not add sodium lactate but I wondered.. I am still using Palm oil so my bars are plenty firm, so I saw no need to add it. Now I wonder.

Any thoughts?

 

[Kamahido]

It's possible your soap is lye heavy, as you made it with a 0% lye discount. Does it pass the zap test?

 

[SoapOfTheNorth]

You got it. I think that's it. The zap test doesn't work for me.. I just licked it and it just tasted like soap ... yuk, but I have some phenolphthalein... here we are...

I was so excited to make this I didn't notice my bad numbers. I'll remake this properly.

 

[user 29721]

The only reason I can think of for this to happen is this batch lye heavy. Has nothing to do with charcoal. Are you sure everything was measured correctly? Did you maybe forget one of the oils or mis-measured some of them? Did you try zap test to see if it is lye heavy?
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-to-properly-safely-conduct-the-zap-tongue-test.63199/

 

[SoapOfTheNorth]

thanks Kamahido !

 

[SoapOfTheNorth]

The only reason I can think of for this to happen is this batch lye heavy. Has nothing to do with charcoal. Are you sure everything was measured correctly? Did you maybe forget one of the oils or mis-measured some of them? Did you try zap test to see if it is lye heavy?
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-to-properly-safely-conduct-the-zap-tongue-test.63199/

Yes, someone just pointed that out. I've never made a lye heavy soap before. I was also really excited to make this and must have mismeasured / calculated my recipe..

Yes, someone just pointed that out. I've never made a lye heavy soap before. I was also really excited to make this and must have mismeasured / calculated my recipe..

thank you!

 

[shunt2011]

I'm assuming you are running your recipe through a soap calculator? If not you absolutely should. Also, weighing in grams is much more accurate. It looks lye heavy. At least it's not a huge batch.

 

[IrishLass]

You got it. I think that's it. The zap test doesn't work for me.. I just licked it and it just tasted like soap ... yuk, but I have some phenolphthalein... here we are...

I was so excited to make this I didn't notice my bad numbers. I'll remake this properly.

The link that Geniash provided in post #4 is how to correctly conduct a zap test. Please, I encourage you to not directly lick your bar of soap.

Although phenolphthalein is a good tool for testing the pH range of something if used properly (i.e., for soap test on
a 1% aqueous solution made out of 1 gram of your soap dissolved in 99 grams distilled water), pH unfortunately is not a good indicator of whether a soap is lye heavy/has active lye in it, which is important since soap can have a pH at least as high as 12.4 and have absolutely no active lye in it (Johnson & Johnson has a lye-based baby oatmeal soap on the market with a pH of 12.4). For what it's worth, according to the Irritability Index Scale, when compared with several other commercial lye-based soaps on the market with a lower pH, Johnson's 12.4 pH soap tested out as being one of the least irritating.

If not using the zap test, the only other way that I know of to reliably detect lye heaviness/active lye is to conduct a "total alkalinity test" which involves dissolving a precise amount of soap in a neutralized ethalonic solution made up of ethanol and a certain amount of a 1% phenolphthalein solution, and then titrating it with a certain amount of a precise % of citric acid solution (Dr' Kevin Dunn has the test spelled out in his book, 'Scientific Soapmaking'). Personally for me (and for so many others), the zap test is so much quicker, easier and it has never failed me yet in all the years I've used it. See this great post by our DeeAnna on the subject: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/phenolphthalein-testing.46692/#post-433444 .......and also these posts:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=660554&postcount=15

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=660579&postcount=16

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=660669&postcount=17

Another thing to keep in mind with phenolphthalein where testing soap is concerned is its color scale, which can give a pH-sensitive person relying on its results a sense of false hope, because it remains clear in a pH of 0 to 8.2, turns various shades of pink from 8.2 pH to 12 pH, then turns clear again when the pH is over 12. One can very well mislead themselves into thinking their soap is 8.2 pH because it tests out in the 'clear' zone, but for all they know, the pH might actually be 13, which could be problematic for them if are highly pH sensitive.


IrishLass