First 2 batches, soft, crumbly, oily soap

[KristainCuenca]

Hi! New soaper here. I've made 2 batches so far and both were disappointing. Oh! And I'm doing hot process.
I used soapcalc.net to calculate my recipe, measured everything precisely, and still got this: (24 hours after putting it in the mold, I haven't cut it yet.)

The soap feels oily to the touch, there's some oil on the mold and part of the soap stuck to the mold. It's crumbly and doesn't hold together very well. Oh, and I am trying to make a coffee and salt soap. For my first batch, I added the coffee and salt at the end, just before molding. For the second batch I added it at light trace. It didn't change the result either way.

also adding a pic of the lye I'm using. It's the only type I could find here right now. (I'm in Ecuador.) Lye that is intended for soap making is a controlled substance here and I will need to finish my immigration process and get a license to use it before I can buy it. I have a feeling that the type of lye I'm using might be the problem.

what did I do wrong? Is it the lye? Or something else?

 

[artemis]

what did I do wrong? Is it the lye? Or something else?

I'm sure help is on the way. The right people need to log on and see your post. I am not the right people, but my guess is the lye. You may have to wait until you're able to get the proper lye.

In the mean time, pop over to the introduction forum if you haven't already and maybe look at some fun soap pictures in the gallery.

 

[soapmaker]

I do cold process so I don't think I'm the right person either but according to your label you don't have pure lye. You have to have 100% pure lye.

 

[KristainCuenca]

It probably is the type of lye then. Hmm, I'll have to find out what I can do about that.

 

[Primrose]

I don't do HP so I am still not the person who can help BUT in Australia it is extremely common to use 98% lye so I don't think its the lye percentage that is the issue, unless the other 2% is different to ours and causing problems

 

[psfred]

That is drain cleaner with a very strong detergent and sodium hydroxide. I would NOT use that soap! It will contain some rather corrosive material from the "lye" -- actually drain cleaner -- and will very badly irritate your skin. Not only that, but it's not pure lye to start with, so you have something like 10% superfat -- hence the oily mess.

Unless you can get pure sodium hydroxide, I'd not try to make soap.

 

[cmzaha]

It actually looks like it was highly overcooked to me. But what do I know As far as I know no NaOH is 100%, mine gives a percentage range of 96-98% pure. I am not familiar with the other ingredients and frankly to lazy to look it up, but I am sure DeeAnna will show up and most likely let us know what the other 2% is

If hp is overcooked and /or to little liquid it can become very dry and crumbly with fragrance, superfat oil, or both leaking out since it could not be incorporated properly.

 

[psfred]

As far as I can tell, that second compound is trichloro isocyanurate, one of the triazine type strong detergents. The 98 and 90 percent numbers appear to be the purity of the ingredients, not the amount present, it's not a standard US type labels so it's hard to tell. Third ingredient is sodium chloride. Logically it cannot be 98% sodium hydroxide AND 90% trichloro isocyanurate.

I would assume it's mostly lye, as that is the first listed ingredient, but have no idea how much of the other two are in there.

I would NOT expose my skin to that stuff, the triazines are very corrosive and strong irritants.

 

[earlene]

Is Lejia Sello Rojo a liquid or a powder? When I looked up this product online, I found one description as a liquid, but another as a powder. If it's a liquid, it's definitely something I would be very leery of.

But aside from that, the description on their website says it is for disinfecting bathrooms, floors, toilets, etc. and likens it to bleach. (That's for the description that says it's a liquid.) When I look up those ingredients on the back of your bottle, I come up with chemicals that are listed as herbicidal and pesticidal, but I am not well versed in the subject of searching chemical names, so I would not rely on my results. However, I would probably not want to touch your first two batches of soap without gloved fingers.

Another description of the product that I found was that it is 'treated lye' but then finally I found a thread here on SMF with a discussion about that exact same product: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/need-some-help.55814/

Definitely don't use that for making soap.

 

[KristainCuenca]

It's a powder. Good to know! I'll be tossing these ones out then. I have a friend here who might be able to help me get the right stuff.
Thank you!
I'll be careful not to overcook too. I thought that was the problem with my first batch, so I tried again.