Crazy Fast Moving First Recipe

[CelestialLuxuries]

Trees and soap

Howdy from Silverthorne, the Aspens are behaving, still in a nice light yellow. Thinking that we're going to be in color for a couple days then gone.

As for soap, one thing that I find odd, but oh so true for me is problems soaping at too low a temp. If I let my oils and lye get to room temp my soap immediately seizes. I tried it again with 3 batches just today. if i soap around 110-120 it's fine. Very strange.

 

[sagehill]

It's easy to do. I've done it too, going from warm summer RT soaping to cool fall, saying, "What's going on???" Probably because I don't want to believe that summer really is over for the year. lol

2:1 water:lye solution seems to be fairly standard these days... it should be fine if your oils are warm enough, though if your FOs have a tendency to seize or rice, 29-30% is better.

Lard supposedly slows trace, though if temps are cool it won't. I've been playing with peanut oil lately and have noticed that using around 20% PO slows trace considerably, even with a stronger lye solution.

 

[Hazel]

Lard supposedly slows trace, though if temps are cool it won't.

Right. I've had lard (also other solid oils) thicken because of the cool temperature so I see trace surprisingly fast. It may be true trace or it may not. However, it's not an issue as long as the batch is past the emulsification phase.

 

[cmzaha]

I see you already got an answer while I was typing. I think most of the thickening could be from the water discount. However, I've had batches which quickly went to a pudding like texture when I've soaped cool. It wasn't trace, it was just the lard and coconut thickening from being left to cool. However, the soap was emulsified and saponified (except for one batch which separated).

Did the batch change color after you added the FO? I have used a couple of FOs which did turn soap a light orange-yellow so I know it could happen. I wouldn't think sugar would turn orange unless you soaped at a really high temp and it scorched. But I could be wrong about this.

I don't know if elevation would make a difference.

If you want to have a slower moving recipe, try 40% OO, 30% lard, 25% CO, 5% Castor, full water and soap at room temp. It will take forever to trace.

I was going to mention the same fact. I have also had my lard and coconut oil thicken and separated into a layer of unsaponified fat. It was cold in my house and I soap room temp. I watch it closer in the cold winter months, lol, when we get winter....