Coconut Oil separating during Cold Process?

[tiffanyisweird]

This is my second time making soap, the first time went perfectly, I used olive oil and my soap came out great. This time I used Coconut Oil and did the exact same thing. It was perfect once I hit trace, but then it thickened up extremely fast. The top of my mold looks like one big thick mess because I just ended up shoving it in there. But now that I look at it, it seems as though the coconut oil has separated. there are chunks of what look like soap, and chunks of what look like soft coconut oil. I'm not sure what went wrong. I know that oils can separate if it has not yet reached trace, but it seemed like mine did, especially since it became so thick so fast. Will it still be safe to use once it's done?

 

[Susie]

Not if there is liquid anything left in that mold. What temperature did you soap at?

 

[tiffanyisweird]

About 125F. There are small parts at the top of my mold that are very slightly opaque in comparison to the rest. After looking at it, it seems as though there is air underneath those parts. it doesn't feel like coconut oil at all, maybe it's not separated? Could that be why it looks like this? Once I reached the top it was VERY thick, which makes sense why there would be air inside, I was literally just flopping it on it was getting so hard.

 

[Steve85569]

How hot is it now? You may have a gel or partial gel in progress.
I have watched soap heat up after molding with my IF thermometer.

 

[tiffanyisweird]

Right now the soap is warm, around 70F, but it's been a couple of hours now. Is that normal for it to be that cool if it was gel. After looking at images of Gel Phase soap, I think this might be what it is.