Crumbly bottoms on soap

[dillsandwitch]

So lately whenever I have made any soaps I'm getting crumbly bottoms when I cut. Its driving me nuts. I dont know why its suddenly started doing it. Must be the soap gremlins have found a new home.

Recipe is
60% Tallow, 25% RBO, 10 CO, 5% castor.
SF 5% 33% lye concentration, Aloe juice as half the water, SL, salt and sugar.

Its happened with the last few batches I've made. All have been CPOPed and have varied in size from 500gms to 142ograms of oils. I have the oils masterbatched and stored in the fridge. Lye is also masterbatched at 50%

The batches I made today were made by 12pm and cut around 6.30pm. They were still warm. Previous ones were cut around the 18hr mark.

Am I cutting too soon? to late? I'm using my 12 wire multi cutter.

Any help in figuring this out is appreciated as its driving me batty.

 

[Susie]

Is this your normal recipe, method, and fragrances?

 

[Saponista]

Are you using mica containing titanium dioxide or just titanium dioxide? I find that sometimes makes my soap crumbly in areas where it is most concentrated if I haven't stirred very well.

 

[IrishLass]

To echo Susie- is this your normal recipe and method, or something new? And how hot do you set your oven and for how long is the heat on while your soap is inside the oven?

Also- how much sodium lactate are you using? I've found that sodium lactate can cause crumbly bottoms upon cutting if too much of it is used in relationship to the water amount in your recipe. For example, I normally use a 33% lye solution and 3% SL ppo, and my soap cuts perfectly fine when unmolded. But if I use a steeper lye concentration such as 35%, and use the same 3% of sodium lactate ppo, my bottoms will crumble upon cutting. However, if I make a batch with a 35% lye concentration and reduce my SL amount down to 2%, my bottoms don't crumble when I'm cutting.


IrishLass

 

[cmzaha]

I am thinking with 60% tallow with the SL may be to hard to cut well. I find lard and tallow a nice combination that handles well without getting to hard. Maybe try it without the SL unless this is your normal recipe that does not give you trouble. If that is the case I am no help

 

[lenarenee]

Also, tallow at 60% is more brittle than lard at 60%. I rarely cpop, but a nongelled soap with 60% cuts with more "snap", so after gelling - it could be that you could have cut an hour earlier.

I didn't use sodium lactate often, but I didn't like the results it gave in a high tallow soap because it seemed to add to the brittleness.

 

[dillsandwitch]

Yeah its my usual recipe and I haven't changed anything. Still using the same micas and TD as before. Still the same amount of SL as before. 2% of total oil weight. All Fo's have been used before and haven't caused any issues. Oven is on 75c and gets turned off after soap is in the oven. I haven't had issues with this recipe until just recently. Like I said I can't figure out whats going on and its doing my head in.

 

[SuzieOz]

I had a similar thing happen a few months ago when it was Winter (and it gets very cold down here in Tassie) - and our wood heater was broken so we were relying on the heat pump. My soaps became crumbly on the bottom and sides like they weren't gelling properly or something. As soon as the wood heater was fixed and we got the house up to a normal heat again, my soaps improved immediately.

So ... just wondering if you've had a bout of cold weather up there? Or the humidity has been different to usual? Just a thought.

 

[dillsandwitch]

Actually come to think of it the last few times it has been humid as all hell and the AC has been cranked to get the far part of the house cold. Our AC is in the kitchen/lounge area where I soap and the air flow goes right over where the oven is. You could be onto something here Suzie. This bears further investigations