Help me prepare to use a FO that may accelerate like crazy

[dmcgee5034]

I bought Black Cherry Merlot from WSP without reading the reviews. A few say it accelerates like crazy, one says to soap on a stick, but others say it behaves well. I want to do everything I can to have a successful soap session, and am willing to have one color without a fun design, if I have to.
Best advice to prevent a soapy disaster?

 

[dibbles]

Some people recommend adding the fragrance to the oils before the lye solution. I don’t like to do that myself. I would get just to emulsion, and have the FO sitting in a warm water bath. Add color before the FO goes in, then hand stir to mix and pour as soon as you can. If you like lard, use it because it is super slow to trace. I would do one color, or two max if you think it’s going to accelerate.

If all the reviews that say it is well behaved are older, this one may have been reformulated, so that might also be a clue. As you know, different soapers have different results. Stick blender use, temps, recipes can all play a part.

Good luck

 

[TheGecko]

Test batches. Small test batches...3 oz total if you have some cavity molds. I foolishly bought 16 oz of Rustic Escentals Pearberry without testing it first...hubby like the smell of the 1oz bottle I had bought and so I jumped the gun and bought a large bottle since it was on sale. I was going to do a two-color swirl and I ended up with concrete...lost a bowl trying to chip it out and had to boil my stick blender and use a toothpick to get it clean.

Testing revealed that I can use it when I make Goat Milk Soap...no colorants, very low temperature of around 80F and stirred in.

 

[AliOop]

Here is another tip that I've tried, which has worked with some FOs (not all):

Pour off some of the warmed oils (before adding lye), and mix it with the FO.

Make sure that FO mix remains at least 100F to 120F; reheat it if necessary.

Blend the rest of the oils with the lye solution, just to emulsion.

Gently hand-stir in the FO mix, then pour into mold.

 

[cmzaha]

My way to test a suspicious fragrance was to take a small vial such as a dram bottle if you happen to have one and put in a small amount of lye solution, then put in a few drops of your fragrance. It will immediately thicken if it is a soap on a stick fragrance. It can even indicate if it is going to rice. Do use enough to be able to somewhat determine how the fragrance may react with the lye. While it is not a guarantee it really helps indicate a very naughty fo.

Other than that I would do what Dibbles does other than keeping my fo in a hot water bath. Another thing you can do your first pour is work with one color until you know how this fragrance works, if it goes soap on a stick just cover your container, walk away for a while, and check periodically, for saponification to begin, (batter heating up). Once your batter loosens up stir and quickly pour. Your soap will turn out more like a hot process soap without going through rebatching. You have to do this quickly because your batter will reset pretty quickly.

If your fo just traces quickly it can be an advantage if you want to create layers, you split off your color layers and only add your fo to each color when you are ready to pour and wait for your fo to accelerate trace.

 

[AliOop]

Wow, excellent information, @cmzaha - thank you!

 

[CLMP]

One thing I noticed when making layers with speedy F/O and adding it last right before I pour is that using a spatula to stir it in instead of a whisk gives me just a little more time.

 

[lucycat]

If there is any chance of ricing or separation, I like a whisk and pour the FO into the pot in a small stream. Being able to whisk the FO into the entire pot as soon as the fragrance hits the surface helps me a lot in preventing and correcting any ricing/separation.

I find one of my biggest frustrations is a fragrance that seems like it is doing fine and then instantly sets up. I sometimes think that soapers who have no problems worked faster while soapers who worked slower or had more complicated designs had the soap on a stick.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Thanks everyone. I’ll report back on my testing and results!

 

[TheGecko]

My way to test a suspicious fragrance was to take a small vial such as a dram bottle if you happen to have one and put in a small amount of lye solution, then put in a few drops of your fragrance. It will immediately thicken if it is a soap on a stick fragrance. It can even indicate if it is going to rice. Do use enough to be able to somewhat determine how the fragrance may react with the lye. While it is not a guarantee it really helps indicate a very naughty fo.

LOVE THIS!!!

 

[cmzaha]

I forgot to add it will sometimes indicate ricing by separating in the bottle.