Gooey Mess

kurbennett64 · Sep 10, 2020

Hi all,

Looking for some feedback. I made 2 batches of cold pour soap, exact same recipe except for the fragrances. Castor Oil 4%, Coconut Oil 30%, Olive Oil 66%. Lye 5.72 oz, Water 15.3 oz, Fragrance 1.8 oz. Light trace, poured it into silicon molds. 24 hours later it was still a little soft, waited for 48 hours and tried to get the first one out of the mold. It was soft on top but the rest was thick goo. The other mold came out ok. What do you think went wrong? Thanks in advance for your comments. I have made this recipe several time without issues until now.

lenarenee · Sep 10, 2020

Off the top of my head, I'd say it was the fragrance oil - some of them really slow soap down - especially with that much olive oil. Check the reviews on the suppliers website and see if that's mentioned. Other than that it's possible you accidentally make a measuring mistake.

Did the soap gel? Normally a soap with that much olive oil should take quite a few days to harden up.

Hopefully someone with more time can run your recipe through a calculator and see if there are any issues there.

amd · Sep 10, 2020

I have the opposite issue with high OO soaps, they setup very quickly. I suspect quality of OO to be the culprit (and one of the reasons why I stopped using it, I no longer trusted the OO I was buying to be real).

My first thought was the type of lye that you used - was it sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH)? NaOH is used for bar soaps, KOH for liquid/cream soaps so if you accidentally bought and used KOH that may explain why it is not setting up.

Although rereading your post it sounds like you have two molds? One soap came out ok and the other was the gooey mess? If so, perhaps it was a mixing issue.

*disclaimer... I really suck at troubleshooting. I can typically figure out my own stuff, but helping others is a weak spot. So please don't be upset if I misunderstood or just give advice that's way off*

GemstonePony · Sep 10, 2020

Were both soaps in identical molds?
Were both batches the same size?
Was one of them stirred more than the other, so it emulsified faster?
Was the first batch soaped hotter than the second batch?
Maybe the FO for the first batch accelerated slightly, and that that made a bigger difference over time than it did while you were working with it?
There are a lots of factors that affect how quickly soap hardens.

DeeAnna · Sep 10, 2020

Another issue is your lye concentration is about 27%. That's more water than I would use for a soap high in olive oil and no fats like lard or palm. This recipe is likely to be a little touchy about how it's going to perform. I personally would increase the lye concentration to at least 33% or as high as 40%.

Using a higher amount of water than is ideal along with maybe a few degrees difference in temperature during saponfication (especially if one soap gelled and the other didn't) or a small difference in the amount of trace (more liquidy versus more pudding-like) -- these issues could make a definite difference in the softness or firmness of the soap at unmolding.

kurbennett64 · Sep 10, 2020

lenarenee said:
Off the top of my head, I'd say it was the fragrance oil - some of them really slow soap down - especially with that much olive oil. Check the reviews on the suppliers website and see if that's mentioned. Other than that it's possible you accidentally make a measuring mistake.

Did the soap gel? Normally a soap with that much olive oil should take quite a few days to harden up.

Hopefully someone with more time can run your recipe through a calculator and see if there are any issues there.

I'm thinking the fragrance oil as well.

GemstonePony said:
Were both soaps in identical molds?
Were both batches the same size?
Was one of them stirred more than the other, so it emulsified faster?
Was the first batch soaped hotter than the second batch?
Maybe the FO for the first batch accelerated slightly, and that that made a bigger difference over time than it did while you were working with it?
There are a lots of factors that affect how quickly soap hardens.

Identical molds, both batches the same size. They both mixed to a very light trace. The lye temp was different in each batch, but it was under 110 degrees and within 10 degrees of the oil temp.

DeeAnna said:
Another issue is your lye concentration is about 27%. That's more water than I would use for a soap high in olive oil and no fats like lard or palm. This recipe is likely to be a little touchy about how it's going to perform. I personally would increase the lye concentration to at least 33% or as high as 40%.

Using a higher amount of water than is ideal along with maybe a few degrees difference in temperature during saponfication (especially if one soap gelled and the other didn't) or a small difference in the amount of trace (more liquidy versus more pudding-like) -- these issues could make a definite difference in the softness or firmness of the soap at unmolding.

I used soap calc for the actual weights. So I figured the lye and water measurements were good.