Batch gone wrong - what should I do with it? PIC

[AshleyR]

Had a bad string of luck today.... :cry:

This mess was supposed to be "coconut cream" soap. I used coconut milk (canned) in place of half my water (I mixed the lye with the water, and added the milk at early trace), added some ground coconut, a coconut FO, andddddddd I subbed safflower oil for some grapeseed oil in my recipe because I realized at the last minute that I didn't have enough (mistake?) <--- I know better than to do this but I decided to take a chance, just to see what would happen.

A number of things could have gone wrong here... not sure exactly what it was that ruined the batch, but within a minute of it being in the mold it had separated big time. The top half of the mold was filled with floating oils and the bottom half was.... this stuff (after a couple of hours):

I couldn't tell what it was that separated. When I scooped off all the oily liquid on top it was kind of like jelly - like chunky liquid glycerine.

Is this salvageable? Since I don't know what separated, I have no idea what's "left" in this stuff... I was thinking about putting it in the oven and attempting to rebatch, but I'm not sure. It's orange (does that mean the milk burnt?) and it doesn't smell like anything but ammonia. Do you think it's worth it to try to save this, or is it safe to say it looks/sounds like garbage???

Hopefully better soaping days are ahead!

 

[IrishLass]

If it were me I'd rebatch it. It looks perfectly salvagable to me. I'm not sure went went wrong- I'd need more details such as temps and and how heavy or light the trace was, etc... before hazarding a guess- but your methodology looks good on the surface from what you wrote. That's pretty much how I do my milk soaps, too.


IrishLass

 

[lathermaker]

First off Safflower and Grapeseed oil have different SAP values. It takes more lye for the safflower. Did you run this new formula thru a SAP calculator to check it first?

Did you use coconut cream or coconut milk? Coconut Cream has sugar added to it, so it can cause overheating and separation. It looks like this batch overheated and went into a false trace. How long did it take to trace?

I would rebatch the whole mess in a crockpot if you still have all the ingredient mess together. You have nothing to lose if it works out, otherwise, just toss it and start over.

 

[kaseencook]

I tried to make a coconut cream soap with coconut shavings and the coconut cream from the can too a while back... and boy was it stinky, like you said a bit amonia like. Looking at your picture it looks like there is a clear lye liquid comming out, perhaps the lye/oil was compromised like the lathermaker said. Coconut cream soap sounds so nice and tropical, I bet it was dissapointing to end up with a wired stench pile

 

[Lindy]

I am so sorry you've having this happen to you..... I would agree that it looks salvagable and I would rebatch it. I can tell you that coconut cream is not my friend and I am simply incapable of using it even though I've heard how wonderful it is for other people....

Please let us know what you end up doing....

Cheers
Lindy

 

[carebear]

it simply wasn't at full trace when you poured it. sometimes additions like the coconut milk can actually reverse trace (I have this happen with honey) or maybe you just didn't mix enough before pouring it into the mold.

if you saved every bit of the soap and the oil you can rebatch it if that moves you. else - trash.