First time making soap. Can this be saved?

[pacarb915]

So I poured the lye water in too quickly and it didn't mix evenly and then started to seize up bad so I mashed it into a mold. Cut into it after 32 hours. Used a soap calc. 65% lard, 25% olive oil, 10% pine tar. Obviously not smooth or even. I don't think the lighter bits are lye. Any way I can remelt it?

 

[JuLeeRenee]

You could rebatch it. I am not sure exactly how to do it myself as I have not had to do that yet. I do know that you can google search how to rebatch if no one comes and helps.

 

[Ford]

Hi, pinetar is pretty aggressive. For a first batch. Known to trace extremely fast.
What was your lye:water? White spots? Were your oils clear? Looks like unmelted lard. Did you use the heat transfer method? May work for most recipes. Maybe not so well with this one. Cannot help with rebatch. Good luck.

 

[hanaherrera]

I tried rebatching a seized batch last month. Followed a Soap Guild tutorial on youtube. You can try it if you want...

It's How to Rebatch with Beth Byrne. Hope it'll help.

 

[pacarb915]

Hi, pinetar is pretty aggressive. For a first batch. Known to trace extremely fast.
What was your lye:water? White spots? Were your oils clear? Looks like unmelted lard. Did you use the heat transfer method? May work for most recipes. Maybe not so well with this one. Cannot help with rebatch. Good luck.

Cold process. Allowed lye water to cool to rt. Fats were just warm enough to melt fully. Fragrance was 10g each of cedarwood eo, bergamot eo, and white pine resin dissolved in olive oil and were added after it started seizing. 5.5g sugar added to lye water. No colorants. I didn't use heat transfer method. I think the biggest issue is that I poured the lye water in way too fast and it sunk to the bottom and then became really hard to mix and there was liquid fat on top of my bowl and a thickening glob underneath. I mixed until it was almost too thick to scoop out. It got pretty hot as it sat in the mold and the naoh continued reacting. I think my fats were pretty well mixed but the lumps could be lard I guess.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Here’s a link to a thread on how to rebatch soap in the oven or using a crockpot.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/oven-rebatch-cp.77457/
Were your oils homogenized before you added the lye?

 

[pacarb915]

I believe they we homogeneous. I had melted them and stirred well after adding the pine tar but maybe I didn't stir well enough. Thanks for the link. I'm working till Monday then I think I'll try and rebatch it in the oven.

 

[DeeAnna]

One way I can think of that would make those lighter bits of soap is if the lard wasn't fully melted, as !@Mobjack Bay suggested. Or you added the pine tar to the soap batter after mixing the lye solution with the olive oil and lard mixture. Either option might give you this outcome.

 

[BWt]

@pacarb915 have had great results with the oven rebatch as linked by @Mobjack Bay above. Be sure to keep oven at recommended temp. I wait 20 mins after putting in oven and then gently stir the mix. Have left an oven rebatch in for additional time and stirred occasionally and rebatch came out just fine. Do not go higher than recommended temperature or the soap can burn. Remember to cover batch while in oven. Good luck.

 

[pacarb915]

One way I can think of that would make those lighter bits of soap is if the lard wasn't fully melted, as !@Mobjack Bay suggested. Or you added the pine tar to the soap batter after mixing the lye solution with the olive oil and lard mixture. Either option might give you this outcome.

I mixed the pine tar into the liquid fats and whisked pretty thoroughly before adding my lye water. Fats were completely liquid at that point. It was also more of a paste when I mashed it into the molds. Not perfectly consistent but no big chunks. It got pretty hot in the molds and stayed hot for hours. Maybe I had gaps and some saturated fat melted out and filled the gaps then solidified and saponified? The light spots are slightly harder then the dark areas. Hopefully rebatching will fix it. It's my first batch so I won't be heartbroken if it's a dud. The bergamot is a bit overwhelming anyway.

 

[BWt]

I mixed the pine tar into the liquid fats and whisked pretty thoroughly before adding my lye water. Fats were completely liquid at that point. It was also more of a paste when I mashed it into the molds. Not perfectly consistent but no big chunks. It got pretty hot in the molds and stayed hot for hours. Maybe I had gaps and some saturated fat melted out and filled the gaps then solidified and saponified? The light spots are slightly harder than the dark areas. Hopefully rebatching will fix it. It's my first batch so I won't be heartbroken if it's a dud. The bergamot is a bit overwhelming anyway.

Are you measuring your lye temperature with a thermometer? A digital thermometer meant for meat at with a metal prong is ok to use. Never ever use glass thermometer

 

[pacarb915]

Are you measuring your lye temperature with a thermometer? A digital thermometer meant for meat at with a metal prong is ok to use. Never ever use glass thermometer

I didn't use a thermometer but I had allowed my lye water to cool to room temp. Maybe it was too cold and it made some fat solidify? Hadn't thought of that possibility. Especially because I added too quick. My fats had been warmed just to the point of fully melting so they were warm.

 

[cmzaha]

Anytime I would rebatch I always rebatched in the oven and it works great. All you need to do is use a non-reactive pan add in some extra liquid, I never measure, cover and put it in a 200-220ºF and let it melt down. An oven will give you a much better melt down than a crock-pot. Your liquid can be water, milk, juices, other than citrus, etc.

 

[pacarb915]

Anytime I would rebatch I always rebatched in the oven and it works great. All you need to do is use a non-reactive pan add in some extra liquid, I never measure, cover and put it in a 200-220ºF and let it melt down. An oven will give you a much better melt down than a crock-pot. Your liquid can be water, milk, juices, other than citrus, etc

After thinking about some of the input from this thread and looking at my bars closely, I think, most likely, there were gaps and those got filled in as the soap got hot during gel phase. Any gaps or voids on the outer edges of the bars where it was cooler are still present but there's no gaps in the middle where it got hottest. I think grating and rebatching in the oven is my best option. Any benefit to using milk vs water?

 

[Ford]

Lye solution sinking? Sounds family. What was your room temperature? I'm a firm believer. That ambient temperature is a variable to be considered also.

 

[pacarb915]

Lye solution sinking? Sounds family. What was your room temperature? I'm a firm believer. That ambient temperature is a variable to be considered also.

Ambient was 68-70F

 

[Zing]

Pine tar is super tricky use and accelerates to mud trace in seconds. I'd like to suggest you make several batches without pine tar just to familiarize yourself with all the steps and trace. When i made pine tar soap, i was an experienced soaper and found it real challenging.
Also welcome!!

 

[pacarb915]

Pine tar is super tricky use and accelerates to mud trace in seconds. I'd like to suggest you make several batches without pine tar just to familiarize yourself wit0h all the steps and trace. When i made pine tar soap, i was an experienced soaper and found it real challenging.
Also welcome!!

Thanks for the welcome!
I'm pretty stubborn and I have my mind set on pine tar lol. I think, next batch I make, I'll make it a little easier on myself and add the pine tar after I've added my lye water to my other oils/fats. I've worked with sodium hydroxide in various applications and made lots of medias and buffers following complex SOPs for my job. I think I really need to slow my roll and just treat it like chemical reactions at work lol. Mixing my fats and lye water and getting it to a light trace before adding pine tar and essential oils might make for a more manageable process.
Also is it normal for bergamot to just dominate the other scents?

 

[AliOop]

I've had that exact result with some of my pine tar batches. I've since switched to the method recommended in this video:

 

[Zing]

Sounds like we've got another chemist on board here. You may have done this already but I did an exhaustive search on here for 'pine tar' before I made mine. Also, FYI, I did NOT like my pine tar soap after the 6 week cure. It was soft and melty. I recently used a 12 month old bar and it was hard and had great lather.
And, um, this whole bergamot dominating is what exactly? LOVE bergamot. JK. If you have not yet discovered eocalc, it's a whole fun new rabbit hole to explore.