Did using CA cause this?

[LynetteO]

Recently made a batch of 44%PO, 28%RBO, 23%CO & 5% castor. 22oz oils. Superfat 4% & H2O lye ratio 2:1. End slivers tested great so made another batch only added 1% Citric acid as 1% of oils because we’ve extremely hard H2O. Same everything except: CA added (6g with 12g H2O) added to war oils before lye solution. Lye solution: H2O 171g & NaOH 91g. I knew it was a hard bar but 1st batch cut like a dream, no crumbling. Batch with CA is a bit crumbly. Including a picture. Please ignore the horrible coloring of most recent batch. Didn’t use SB only whisk but didn’t pre- disperse mica in oil & batter thickened quickly due to fragrance. Bars in bottom are the crumbly new batch. Bar standing on top the 1st batch without CA. Or could it have been waiting too long to cut?

 

[lsg]

You do have a lot of hard oils in the batch. I never use citric acid in soap, so can't say if that is the cause. Cutting as soon as possible would probably be best. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[DeeAnna]

I doubt citric acid is the major culprit -- it's more likely the palm oil coupled with a generous amount of coconut. Even with less coconut oil, that much palm oil is likely to produce a fairly hard, borderline brittle bar, at least in my experience.

I'm also guessing from the type of chipping that you're using a knife or other cutter with a triangular cross section to cut the bars. The soap is brittle enough it can't stay intact as the knife reaches the bottom of the cut -- instead, the soap breaks apart from the wedging action of the knife. Try a flat blade, such as a bench scraper, or a wire cutter instead if you must cut the soap when it's this brittle. Or cut sooner when the soap is more forgiving.

Every batch of soap will vary somewhat. Just because one batch behaved a certain way doesn't guarantee the next batch will behave exactly the same. You need to cut the soap when it's ready to be cut, not merely by time.

When you give fats in percentages and other ingredients in weights, there is no way a person can check your recipe for problems or know if you did the math correctly. Give all ingredients all in weights or all in percentages -- don't mix. IMO it's best to provide the actual weights you used to make the batch.

 

[kagey]

I've had this happen to a batch -- and I have yet to use CA.

batter thickened quickly due to fragrance

In my batch that did this - I was using Sandalwood and Patchouli -- and it started seizing the moment I added the EOs. My guess is that when your batter started thickening quickly (like mine did), it starts to lose it's "bonding qualities" to the rest of the soap. And it doesn't cure as a whole.

BTW, my water/lye was 1.2:1 (i like to live dangerously!)

 

[LynetteO]

@ResolvableOwl I did compensate for the extra lye needed for adding CA.
@Zany_in_CO
Screenshot of recipe. Im leaning towards recipe & not the CA based on comment on my duplicate thread. Again sorry for the newbie duplicate post fiasco & crappy recipe description.

 

[LynetteO]

The reason I jumped to conclusion that it was CA & not recipe is because this batch had crumbling as well with no PO. This batch was CA 1% batch vs batch with PO was 1% of fats/oils.



@DeeAnna I did cut using big bladed kitchen knife with wooden soap guide. Also, I was never “taught” when to unmold soap. Was told to wait 24 hours @ 1st soap making lesson years ago. More recently saw someone use temp gun & said when soap was temp was same as the room temperature to cut. Which is what I did in this case. First time I tested it felt hard, cold but was 2degrees warmer than room temp so I waited an hour. . Another lesson learned I guess.