False Trace or Lye heavy?

[Nikolye]

So i've been making soap for my family for about two years. Up until now i've only made time to do it when we needed soap.. so every 6 months or so. None of my soap has turned out perfect and without spending more time doing it i don't expect it ever will. I find out new things to screw up every time i do it! So im going to spend more time on here and actually making soap until i can get a few good recipes down... and the thought of making it smell and look nice one day?!:lolno:

todays dilemma....I had a bit of a hiccup when weighing out my oil, i weighed it when it was first rendered (tallow) and put it in the jar. I created a recipe from that number on soapcalc and carried on. When it was time to actually make the soap i had to put it in a water bath to liquefy the tallow once more to use it. just before i dumped the oil into the lye mixture i said, hmmm, i wonder? so i weighed it again (which now i know should have been my very fist step, liquefy and weigh) and it was maybe 11g off my original number in the negative, probably lost some switching jugs and spatters... .:x

this is where i should of stopped, changed my recipe and started another jug of lye/water with the correct amount of lye or added 11g of another oil to the batch... is that what you folks would of done? at this stage i had no idea what to do as i had no more tallow and it was super late already(bub sleeping finally and not alot of windows for that!) sooooo i said stuff it and dumped it in.. probably should of just measured up the right amount of lye and waited for it to cool....ugh.

after all my humming and haaing my temps went down, not drastically but lye was probably 40c and oils a bit warmer.. Trace was almost instant. i have never had fast trace with any of my soap. so i kept at it until it was getting gloopy and i would have to smooth it out when i normally just pour. I thought this might be the False Trace ive read about.

when i cut it i noticed some color differences throughout the soap... white swirls if you will. hardly noticeable, but there.. and sort of a glossy transparency look in some areas..

are these lye swirls? will i be able to tell if its lye heavy from a zap test? if so how long do i wait before it shouldn't "zap"

thanks in advance if anyone can keep up with that ramble.

 

[Susie]

If there are white streaks in your soap, you need to zap test after about 48-72 hours. If it were me, I would not zap test, I would just rebatch. I have been zapped by white streaks before, so I would just skip the whole zap stage and rebatch with 11 g more tallow, and enough liquid to help it melt-add about 1 tablespoon at the time for small batches.

I have no idea what size recipe you used, or how much superfat you were going for, but I would worry about the white streaks.

 

[Nikolye]

Thanks.. when you say you got zapped is it really like a battery zap or just a hella nasty tingle/taste? Re-batch. hmmm.. thats an idea, how long can i wait to do that? does it half to be right away or can i do it say next week? I'll have to reserch that whole process! But if i can save my soap, I'm all for it! i did a small batch, i only had so much tallow... so it was about 1lb of oils. I was going to do 5% super fat, but at the last minute i did 3% because i thought any more with tallow may leave a stinky soap... a uneducated guess.

 

[Susie]

It is like a battery zap. Immediate sharp zap sensation. You can wait until next week to rebatch if you need to. You just grate up the soap, add back the oils you are missing, add a bit of water, then melt the mess together. There will be a texture and color difference between the CP and rebatch soaps. Lastly, add essential oils or fragrance oils if you want them. Be sure to use only fragrances and essential oils intended for soap/skin care products. You can get some small bottles from Hobby Lobby that would be just the right size for 1 lb oil recipes.

 

[Obsidian]

Can you post pictures? Its possible you just have glycerin rivers or steric streaks from using tallow. Both are just cosmetic. Can you also post you complete recipe so we can see just how much lye was used? Since you used a low SF, it may need rebatching but no need to rush into it.

Yes, you will be able to tell if its lye heavy from a zap test, thats what its for. It will be a sharp, zappy burn that will make you pull the soap away from your tongue. I'd wait 2-3 days before testing.

 

[houseofwool]

I am guessing that it is steric as well, as long as the zap test is fine. But, please post pictures.

 

[Seawolfe]

What was your recipe? How much tallow were you using? 11g off would be a lot in a 100g batch, but notsomuch in a soap that uses 1000g of tallow.

How much superfat did you plan for? Its also possible the 11g off would just affect the superfat, depending on batch size again.

 

[DeeAnna]

You say you were 11 g short ... but you don't say how much total fat you were working with to make the soap. Was it 100 g or 1000 g or ???

A shortage of 11 g may not be all that significant. I normally make recipes that have 1500 g, so 11 g would be well under 1% error. That's within the realm of not being troubling to me. I like to be accurate, don't get me wrong, but I also try to keep in mind what's a critical error that really needs fixing and what's not so important.

If you had a positive superfat built into your recipe, it's entirely possible that you still have a superfatted soap. Go back to your recipe calc and see!

 

[dixiedragon]

Answering your "what would you have done" question, unless the batch was very very small, I would have just added 15g of olive oil or soybean oil (whatever I had laying around). The extra oil would more than cover any difference in SAP values between the tallow and the olive oil.

I think you probably have stearic acid streaks. I would not rebatch - just tongue test.

 

[Nikolye]

Wow, you guys are briliant

I could read a billion books and never learn so much as i do making mistakes and finding answers here! Thanks heaps!

so..
i am trying to post the photos(not figured that out either).. they are looking lighter today but most certainly still a worry as i know my oil was short. i know now i should of added some olive oil straight away to make up for the loss.

my recipe was as follows
Grams
Water 187.720
Lye - 70.446
Oils (100% tallow) 494.000
superfat 3%

so the batch was a small one... the oil came out to be (my scale was going from 479-480) so more then 11g!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byyuuf0IkUKkRXlJYWZQVTdnUjl2NWIwUlZSeW1GeUoyQVcw/edit?usp=sharing

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm voting on swirls formed when different types of soaps in your batter crystallize at a higher temp or a lower temp. Some types of soaps are slightly darker, some lighter. Pretty! Not a problem at all.

I personally would zap test in a few days. If it seems on the lye-heavy side, I would put it away to cure for 6 to 8 weeks and recheck for zap periodically during that time. Slight lye heaviness in an otherwise well-made soap (and yours looks fine) will gradually dissipate with a good cure.

 

[Seawolfe]

I calculate that 11g as 2% of your oils - and you were superfatting at 3% - at the worst the superfat is now 1% - I vote let it cure. If after a decent cure time it seems too harsh, use it for laundry soap, or rebatch.