Gelatinous mess

[Annem]

Hi there,
I'm using a new infrared thermometer and I poured at 133 degrees, but halfway through the pour, the soap turned into a gelatinous mess. Presumably, it was too cold? Or was I working too slow? I'm thinking of going back to my candy thermometer and guessing. Any ideas as to what went wrong?

 

[glendam]

Depends on the brand, some have a higher melting point, it is odd it happened as you were pouring it, perhaps it had not melted all the way through and only the top was fully melted?

 

[TheGecko]

First of all, there is a learning curve to using a digital thermometer. If you just point the little red dot at your soap batter, all you are doing is taking the temperature of the SURFACE of your soap. You need to stir UP your batter when pointing the little red dot and take a couple of readings to make sure you are getting an INTERNAL temperature...like you do with a candy thermometer (which isn't always 100% accurate because of static placement).

Second, we need to know what your recipe is including additives.

 

[bluebirdwing]

If you use double boil method to melt the soap base or made the soap base too hot/boil, it will evaporate a lot of water, so, it will set up much faster, the main reason for the top layer forming. To compensate the loss of water you may want to add 1-2% of water to the base before melting. Learned Hard way.