fragrance oils broke my soap

[houstonsoaper]

I 4.5 pounds of oils 50% olive oil, 35% coconut oil, 15% veg shorting
At thick trace I added all my fragrance oils together in a cup and poured them all at once into the soap. It separated and turned into cottage cheese like stuff with liquid in it. The soap was at a thick trace when I added the FO, it was the first time I used a stick blender and it went to trace in about 10 minutes, thick like thin pancake batter. The fragrance oils were 1.0 oz of lemeon verbena, 1 ounce of sweet pea and 1/4 oz of lavender EO. Should I have not added it all at once? I poured the clumpy liquidy mees into the mold said prayer and covered it. What are my chances?

 

[AmyW]

For future knowledge, it's usually best to add the FOs at very light trace and soap cooler if you don't know what to expect from them, and don't use the SB right after you add the FO, just hand stir with the SB off. I usually pour it all in at once, but in a circle so it's spread around.

Hopefully someone else can help with your question about saving the soap. I'm sorry that happened

 

[newbie]

I may have been the florals, as they accelerate trace so much. What temps did you soap at? Sounds like it separated, or riced. Some people have said they will blend it back together after a separation until there are no more curdles and have saved it, but the times I've had ricing, I wasn't able to. Perhaps you could HP it?

 

[soapbuddy]

Sounds like ricing. I would hot process it. I add my fragrance to cooled off melted oils and that seems to help.

 

[houstonsoaper]

As to HP?

I checked it this morning and it is partly hard with areas on top that have puddles of thick semi-clear liquid. How many days do I have to wait to HP in the crock pot? Can I use my regular crock pot or do I need one only for rebatching and not for food. Can someone give a quick run-down on the steps for HP?

 

[Jerry S]

doing HP

HP is nothing more than mixing your soap up with the CP method but then you have options on how to cook it. One is a crock pot..my favorite. (There are many many tutorials throughout this forum and the web that will quickly let you know how to HP your soap. Other people pour the whole CP in a mold then put it in an oven for an hour at 175 degrees turn the oven off and leave it in overnight...I've not done this method but I'm sure a lot of people on this forum have.
Jerry S

 

[AmyW]

Re: As to HP?

I checked it this morning and it is partly hard with areas on top that have puddles of thick semi-clear liquid. How many days do I have to wait to HP in the crock pot? Can I use my regular crock pot or do I need one only for rebatching and not for food. Can someone give a quick run-down on the steps for HP?

Dump it in right now, turn it on, you can use your food one for HP because the end result is fully saponified soap. Use a potato masher to smash up the chunks, add just the tiniest amount of water so you can work with it - 1T at a time. It shouldn't take as long as regular HP, so keep an eye on it. Once it looks like it's vaseline and feels waxy between your fingers, get it in the mold and cross your fingers

 

[AZ Soaper]

It was probably the sweetpea FO. I always have trouble with it and vanillas. Add it at a very thin trace. Some people say to add it with the oils before mixing with lye. I have never tried it. I always mix in at early trace.

 

[foresthome]

FOs

I think that you probably need to add the FO earlier, at light trace. I have started warming my mold, color, FO and any other additives in the oven at 150 degrees while I am making my soap. It seems to help prevent seizing to have the additives warm.

 

[DottieF.]

If I'm working with an fo that I know likes to curdle, I mix the fo with some of my base oils (removed from the pot before I add the lye). If I'm adding 8 oz. of fo I mix it with 8 oz. of base oils. Before I add this to my soap pot (at thin trace) I microwave it so it is the same temp as the soap mixture.

Next time you find yourself with soap that curdles or rices, just stir the heck out of it with a whisk and get it in the mold asap. If it just rices I can usually stir it smooth with the stick blender, but, if it curdles I've had no such luck. Dottie

 

[paillo]

i like to add my fo's / eo/s to my warmed oils before even mixing in the lye mixture -- so that's a step before even light trace. it's rarely been an issue, in my humble experience at least.

but i made a batch of what i hoped was going to be white-on-white with balls rolled in mica, with brambleberry's cherry almond, last night. i LOVE this fragance, have never had any problems with it. i made a very simple, i thought, batch...... wrong!!!

it immediatley riced. !@@#$$% i poured it, and hoped for the best. WRONG!!!! this morning it was a disaster. 'm going to rebatch in the morning.

lesson learned -- no matter how much you trust a trustworthy fo, there's no guarantee. what did i do wrong? i dont know -- humidity? looked at it crosswise? let the cat sniff it? i honestly don't know.... at any rate, i know that i need to be prepared to immediately hp, or later rebatch, or even later turn into sugar scrubs... there simply is no guarantee that any batch is going to turn out like any batch in the past --- at least not in my experience, anyway --- and that's part of the fun of soaping. ok, this failed, at least in my expectations, NOW what am i going to do?

 

[ministeph]

!!! I hate ricing, I've had that happen a few times, and it was hard luck saving it.. my 'hotpressing' of it as soon as possible was the best bet... but it never looked the same.

with my one tricky fragrance oil, I now add it to the oils before i even add the lye.. and stick blend the #$%) out of it!! i continue blending as I add the lye and never dare to turn it off haha.. It still traced super fast, but no ricing! hurrah!!

I've now been wary adding any FO's or EO's at trace.

But i'm curious Paillo.. how do you turn your cp into sugar scrubs? I've only had luck with mp.. which i don't love....