Bar Soap seizing up quickly

[DrewsSoaps]

Hey.
I have been making liquid soap for 2 years, but am newer to bar soap.
My recipe and notes will be attached.
I am noticing a cloud-like constancy being formed when I marry my lye and oils. Almost like the saturated fats are re-solidifying somehow (lye temp is 100F and oil temp is 100F, gone up to 130F and same thing). When I mix with a spatula, the clumps smooth out and it’s immersible. However I am hitting trace within 1-2 minutes, and all the other videos show trace not happening for a few more to several minutes.
The main issue, is that the soap becomes un-pourable within 8-10 minutes, the consistency is similar to a 92 degrees coconut oil.
All the videos I watched, they had time to pour the soap into a mold. And my issue is I have to use a putty knife to smear the soap into my 1” duck shaped molds to get the molds details into the soap design. And the longer I take the harder the soap paste becomes until it’s similar to shea butter. The only difference between my recipe and the videos I watched is I used some more concentrated saturated fats to achieve desired results (1-2%, with palmitic up to 4%, weight of oils). I’ve done 7-8 different batches with varying amounts of stearic acid, palmitic, and myristic acid, and they all did the clump up within 8-10
Minutes of marrying the lye and oils. I also did a batch with none of the fore mentioned saturated fats and it did the same thing. Maybe beeswax is my culprit?
Any ideas on what is going on? All I can think of is sorbitol accelerating the reaction, or maybe the conc fatty acids are not a good choice?
Any help would be very much appreciated,
Thanks Drew,

 

[bookworm42]

I would recommend watching ellys everyday soap making or brambleberry/soap queen videos. They have some great resources/videos on how to make bar soap. They also talk about trace which is where I think you're ultimately going wrong. Your recipe looks fine to me. I've tried to answer some of your questions/concerns below.

I am noticing a cloud-like constancy being formed when I marry my lye and oils.

This is what is supposed to happen. it's the solution emulsifying.

However I am hitting trace within 1-2 minutes

Do you stick blend or just mix with a spatula?
With an immersion/stick blender I generally reach light to medium trace within a minute of 5-10 sec pulses and 10 sec stirring alternating. (I also do 500g batches)

soap becomes un-pourable within 8-10 minutes

Why are you waiting 8-10 mins?

If you're using only liquid oils and no salt/sodium lactate/sorbitol you might be able to wait that long but solid oils, sugars, and salts are going to cause your soap to start solidifying quickly. Generally after reaching my preferred trace I either pour it into my molds or add my color/fragrance then pour. If I waited 8 mins I wouldn't be able to pour either.

1” duck shaped molds to get the molds details into the soap design

If your doing detailed molds you'll want to do everything at a light trace. So that you can get the details and not have to push it in

longer I take the harder the soap paste becomes until it’s similar to shea butter

That is what is supposed to happen. After a while it will become even harder until it is like bar soap you can buy in the store but even better cause you made it!

 

[AliOop]

Hi there! NaOH is a stronger alkali than KOH, which is why your liquid soaps require so much blending. Bar soaps, not so much. I guarantee that the videos you watched with lots of blending for bar soaps are much larger than your 300g batch. That's the only reason why they can blend and blend before they reach trace.

As you noted, your small 300g batch will normally reach a light trace within 1-2 minutes of hand-stirring (especially with fast-tracing ingredients like lauric acid and beeswax). That's when you need to pour it into the mold, before it starts thickening up.

If you want to make any swirly designs, it's better to stir only to emulsion, not even trace. Here is a great video that teaches you how to spot when you've reached emulsion, light trace, etc.

I would also recommend that you change your lye setting from water-as-percent-of-oils, to lye concentration. That will give you more consistent results if you ever decide to scale up into larger batches.

 

[Ekuzo]

Definitely stop blending/stirring once you reach trace (light one, especially if using molds with textures) and pour - or else you'll have trouble pouring and the details won't make an impression on the surface of the bar. Getting trace in 2 minutes (if using a blender) is normal, and you don't need to wait more after that ‐ otherwise it gets thick and hard to work with, as you experienced.

I noticed one more thing, that's contributing to your problem. You mention using beeswax, which has a melting point of around 144 to 147 °F. When you soap at lower temperatures, the beeswax tries to solidify within the mixture, which is usually referred to as "false trace". In this particular case it's good that you keep blending/stirring because that helps the wax stay (sort of) liquid until the mixture emulsifies and reaches trace. But it's much easier and overall a better solution to just soap at higher temp so everything goes naturally and you don't need to "beat the batter into submission".

My advice is to keep your first batches of hard bars simple, so you can get used to the process before making more serious experiments. I don't make LS, but I believe it has some essential differences (processes, stages ‐ etc.). Don't worry, it won't be long before you are comfortable with the new. Good luck!

 

[DrewsSoaps]

Hi there! NaOH is a stronger alkali than KOH, which is why your liquid soaps require so much blending. Bar soaps, not so much. I guarantee that the videos you watched with lots of blending for bar soaps are much larger than your 300g batch. That's the only reason why they can blend and blend before they reach trace.

As you noted, your small 300g batch will normally reach a light trace within 1-2 minutes of hand-stirring (especially with fast-tracing ingredients like lauric acid and beeswax). That's when you need to pour it into the mold, before it starts thickening up.

If you want to make any swirly designs, it's better to stir only to emulsion, not even trace. Here is a great video that teaches you how to spot when you've reached emulsion, light trace, etc.

I would also recommend that you change your lye setting from water-as-percent-of-oils, to lye concentration. That will give you more consistent results if you ever decide to scale up into larger batches.

Thank you so much! That was very very helpful. I will repost when I try your tips

Definitely stop blending/stirring once you reach trace (light one, especially if using molds with textures) and pour - or else you'll have trouble pouring and the details won't make an impression on the surface of the bar. Getting trace in 2 minutes (if using a blender) is normal, and you don't need to wait more after that ‐ otherwise it gets thick and hard to work with, as you experienced.

I noticed one more thing, that's contributing to your problem. You mention using beeswax, which has a melting point of around 144 to 147 °F. When you soap at lower temperatures, the beeswax tries to solidify within the mixture, which is usually referred to as "false trace". In this particular case it's good that you keep blending/stirring because that helps the wax stay (sort of) liquid until the mixture emulsifies and reaches trace. But it's much easier and overall a better solution to just soap at higher temp so everything goes naturally and you don't need to "beat the batter into submission".

My advice is to keep your first batches of hard bars simple, so you can get used to the process before making more serious experiments. I don't make LS, but I believe it has some essential differences (processes, stages ‐ etc.). Don't worry, it won't be long before you are comfortable with the new. Good luck!

Thank you so so much! I can’t wait to try your advice! I’ll update soon on how it goes.

 

[DeeAnna]

One reason -- perhaps the main reason -- for your fast trace is the 4% lauric acid you're using. Fatty acids react immediately with alkali (NaOH) to form soap. This soap formation by definition will emulsify and thicken the soap batter. In other words, using fatty acids typically results in a fast trace.

I advise against using multiple salts (as a chemist defines "salt") in a soap recipe. You're using a fairly decent sized dose of table salt (1%) as well as ditto for sodium lactate (2%). I suggest sticking with one or the other, but not both. People don't realize salts can interact in ways that create unexpected problems with a soft or rubbery texture and/or precipitation of salts on the outside of the soap.