Gritty/grainy when mixing

[c2m2b]

I’m new so go easy on me! I’m making a bear tallow soap with shea butter, coconut oil, bear tallow, lye, water, fragrance oil, and a mica powder. Everything goes great until I add the fragrance. When I add the fragrance oil and start mixing, instead of a creamy, smooth trace it turns gritty or grainy. In the bigger molds, there is oil that seems to separate out as well the longer it sits. It does harden into a soap after 24 hours. I even tried using a plain blender today and it didn’t really help. I use soapcalc.net and follow the measurements to a T! Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

 

[Ford]

Hi, sounds like riceing. Caused by the FO. Were did you purchase your FO? Stick blending, helps in most cases. Stirring while adding riceing FO'S seems to help a little. Good luck.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Writing while Ford was posting. I agree with ricing. Recent discussions of ricing at links below:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/i-made-a-mistake-today.92965/#post-1005900
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/fragrance-oil-and-curdling.91601/#post-988715
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/ricing.90599/

 

[Ford]

Home much water you using.

 

[c2m2b]

Hi, sounds like riceing. Caused by the FO. Were did you purchase your FO? Stick blending, helps in most cases. Stirring while adding riceing FO'S seems to help a little. Good luck.

Thank you for the response!

I use my immersion blender until it gets thick. I just tried the blender this second time to see if it would help.

I’m attaching a photo of the recipe from soapcalc so you can see the amounts. Maybe I did something on soapcalc. I got my FO from Etsy. Attaching a screenshot of that as well.

 

[Ford]

Hi, I am not familiar with that supplier. Maybe someone else can comment on them. Might up superfat a little? With that much CO.

 

[AliOop]

I'd wager money on the fact that those FOs are intended for melt and pour soap, not for cold process soap. Melt and pour has already gone through saponification, so there is no active lye to create strong reactions like the ricing you have seen.

Ricing is not usually a result of your recipe, although I will say that your recipe is somewhat unusual. Did you really use bear tallow, or was it beef tallow?

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm skeptical of that fragrance oil. Yes, the ad says it's okay for use in soap, but my guess that does not mean it's good for soap MAKING from scratch. Based on the other parts of that infographic, it looks like it's suitable for adding to unscented liquid cleansers or maybe melt and pour. I am generally wary of buying supplies like this from Amazon -- too many sketchy products for sale.

Your recipe is entirely solid fats, and the tallow and shea need to be fairly warm to be fully melted. My rule of thumb is the fats have to be warm enough to be visually clear and hold the fats at that temperature for 10-15 minutes to ensure the fats are 100% melted. I'm not sure if that's what you're doing.

In essence, I think it's likely the FO may be causing the soap batter to rice, but I also wonder if the FO is also causing false trace, where the solid fats start to solidify due to cool temps.

 

[Zuleika]

Sounds similiar to what happened to me. This FO I used accelerated quickly and turned into curds while in the pot. Had to drizzle liquid colour in, chop the curds and mash it into the loaf. It was hot to touch while doing all that. Oozed oil the next day and had to be dabbed dry. Turned out quite nice in the end. The insides gelled enough to mash together but the outside still looked lumpy. I don't use SB at all since I don't have one for soaping. 5 months later, the soap still smells nice.

 

[c2m2b]

I'd wager money on the fact that those FOs are intended for melt and pour soap, not for cold process soap. Melt and pour has already gone through saponification, so there is no active lye to create strong reactions like the ricing you have seen.

Ricing is not usually a result of your recipe, although I will say that your recipe is somewhat unusual. Did you really use bear tallow, or was it beef tallow?

Gotcha, thank you for the info!! I’ll check for cold process specific fragrances. And yes, it’s actual bear tallow. We bear hunt with hounds and their fat can be rendered down and used in so many ways!