First batch dealing with bacuri butter.

[Drchurchillsoaps]

I decided I wanted to try my hand at a bar with no coconut, palm, or animal products. I have nothing against any ingredients listed just trying something different.

For anyone that hasn’t used this butter it has a strong odor that would not work with just any fragrance. I was not a fan of the smell but you may love it. I used frankincense and myrah because that is what I had in my Arsenal that I felt would mask it well

Recipe
bacuri butter 10%
murumuru butter 10%
avocado oil 10%
Castor oil 10%
babassu oil 20%
Rice bran oil 30%
Olive oil 10%
distilled water 360
Lye
(3% superfat)
1 Tablespoon white kaolin clay
1 Tablespoon sodium lactate
1 tablespoon honey
30g FO

We shall see how she turns out in a few weeks.
Came out a rich Carmel color and traced fast. Mix at oil temp 112 and lye water at 114

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

I placed in refrigerator as soon as I poured liquid. Looks like it partial gel. Maybe it’s a gel recipe next time. Picture of my ugly end scraps

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Wow, that's a “colourful” blend in several aspects! Colour wise, and also with that plethora of exotic ingredients. Yes, the result looks weird, but has its own appeal, given you can tame the cheerful colour thingies that are going on.
I personally also wouldn't add so many different things into one batch when I want to “understand” a new ingredient, i. e. judge how it behaves in the process and in the product.

Never heard of bacuri butter! The fatty acid profile reminds me of palm stearin or japan wax; if its colour doesn't interfere with the rest of the recipe, and it's well-behaved in the batter, then it is for sure a worthy addition to get a harder, long-lasting bar of soap, in addition to the unique properties that it brings aside its fat content. Where did you get the saponification value from?
And what is Baba oil? I only found references to an Indian company that sells various oils like mustard or soy.

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

Sorry typo I corrected the baba oil it was babassu. The color tamed itself out while I was at work. No colors were added

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Ahh, ok. First I thought so for a second, but then I noticed that you avoided coconut. Babaçu is so similar to coconut that avoiding one but using the other only makes sense in case of a specific allergy. But thanks for clarification.

The colours indeed aren't as crazy any more as in your first pic. Partial gel often tends to even out over curing time, let's hope. And the stearic spots: although technically a flaw, I love how they pattern the bulk!

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

After reading up on the issue of steric spots, suspect variable could be not heating my oils high enough. It was about 140~ I mix lye/water then add tussah silk on a magnetic heated stir plate with a medium store bar about 480 rpm. Then I will add my oils and heat them to around 140. That seemed to work out that the oils and lye will be ready for mixing in approx 1hr 15mins. Couple batches I have had to bring the oil back up from 98~ to the 110-120 I usually soap at.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I don't know bacuri butter well enough, but from my experience (with palm stearin and japan wax) I'd say that 140°F (60°C) is plenty to melt it up completely. As long as you hold the batter at this temperature for at least some time, and don't let it cool too quickly after casting (wrap into a towel, or CPOP), stearic spots should be reliably avoidable. You have that weird partial gel too, a slower cooling/insulation would help with that too.

Though, I don't want to discourage you from that, but I think your stearic spots are pretty as they are, they add “life” to the otherwise smooth soap, and I don't see necessity to debug them specifically. If you want to get rid of them, though, CPOP seems a good strategy.

ETA: That is, if they really are stearic spots. On a closer look, they are missing in the ungelled portion, which is untypical. Not that this really is badly mixed kaolin or something else weird going on?

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

Possibly bad mixed kaolin. I mix with oils and try to blend with stock blender before I mix lye.

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

Closer look

 

[ResolvableOwl]

From a distance, I'd guess that there are a few stearic spots (better visible in the light rim in the first photo), but nothing to worry about. The close-up shot looks really weird. Those are definitely not stearic spots, more like many cracks or flakes. Was the soap very hard when you cut it?
Hrm, I have never worked with kaolin, but IIRC it is common to pre-disperse it in the water (lye), not in oils.

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

I wouldn’t call it hard. I cut loaf about 10 hours after process. I don’t wait long because I always use sodium lactate. It was firm and I am having trouble finding a item to compare. Half frozen butter? When I think hard I think of a cure dry bar, this was slightly tacky and much harder than butter. But easier to get through than scooping cream.

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

Thanks for all the input BTW

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Cold butter is a good metaphor, and a good time to cut the soap as well. The cut faces are already shiny (not too early), but the white streaks are no cracks, that's what I wanted to make sure. Sodium lactate, though, is another parameter I haven't thought of yet. If overdosed, the bars might become crumbly and look like soda ash, just on the inside.
Maybe it's a combination of all three (stearic spots, kaolin, lactate) that causes this appearance?

My recommendation for next time is 1. whisking the kaolin into the water/lye, and 2. CPOP (keep the batter warm during the first few hours of saponification). Should the specks still persist, it's time for a more thorough debugging.

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

I am fairly certain it is the kaolin clay. I added it to my lye/water/tussah mixture this time and no spots. However I am very happy with resulting smell and bubble/lather. I was concerned at first with the odor of the butters coming through but frankincense and myrah completely masked everything. Next mission will be to stop the cracking in my goats milk soap! I’ll read up and figure it out!

 

[MLSB]

I am fairly certain it is the kaolin clay. I added it to my lye/water/tussah mixture this time and no spots. However I am very happy with resulting smell and bubble/lather. I was concerned at first with the odor of the butters coming through but frankincense and myrah completely masked everything. Next mission will be to stop the cracking in my goats milk soap! I’ll read up and figure it out!

Cracking in your goat’s milk is due to soaping at too high of temperature. Soap cooler in 80 with no honey will help to avoid that.