CRUMBLY SALT BARS

[sanjon]

OK, I made salt bars today and they turned out crumbly can someone tell me where I went wrong?
Recipe:
12.8 oz Coconut Oil
2.4 oz sweet almond oil
0.8 Castor Oil
16 oz Sea Salt
I did it CP and placed it in a warm oven (after it heated to 170 and turned it off) for 2 hours, actually 1 hr. 45 min. because I noticed it was firm. My only thought is it was left in the oven too long. What do you think? By the way I used .7 oz FO to scent it. Thanks in Advance

 

[LizRNBSN]

I do my salt bars in individual molds because they harden so fast (usually before I can get it all scooped out of the bowl into the molds LOL) I dont even use as much salt as you do so it seems like they just needed to be cut sooner

 

[sanjon]

thanks LizRNBSN

 

[jarvan]

I don't know, but it appears that you have greater than 100% of your oil total and that alone would impact the ability of the bar to hold together. Someone jump in here if I am wrong.

I recently did a salt bar with 60% of oil total and it is beautiful.

 

[sanjon]

oh wow jarvan, I am really confused now, I don't know how to seperate the recipe I actually got this from a web site, can you help me figure one out?

 

[bombus]

Hi Sanjon-
Actually, you used 100% salt. You had 16 oz of oils, and you used the same amount of oils. That should be o.k.

When I have done salt bars at room temp and insulate them, they are often
too soft to cut at 2 hours- a careless thumb will remove a corner- it doesn't break off, but "smooshes".

If I use warm oils & lye (85-110 degrees) and insulate (no oven), within 2 hours they are
HOT and are well ready to be sliced- at this stage, they won't "smoosh" anymore. One of my first batches,
I was concerned that I was disturbing the gel phase, and just cut down through the log to form bars, but
didn't separate them physically. That was a mistake. When they later cooled, I had to re-cut them in order
to separate the bars, and they crumbled on the edges.

Maybe you left them in the oven too long.

 

[sanjon]

Thanks bombus, I appreciate all your information.