Help! Soap won't set up

[pjfan74]

I made soap Sunday morning...a recipe I've made before with success. This time, it never set up and got hard. Last night, I dumped it in the crock pot to rebatch...didn't add anything to it because it seemed to be overly oily. Rebatch went well and everything looked normal...however, today, almost 24 hours later, soap still won't set up...about the consistency of thick pudding. Is there anything else I can do in an attempt to salvage? Anything I can add to make it set?

 

[lsg]

It sounds like it is short on lye. Did you run the recipe through a lye calculator? If you have some soap scraps, try finely grating them, add them to the failed batch and cook in the crockpot. I would say about 50% soap batch and 50% soap scraps. Try a small batch first to see how you like it.

 

[pjfan74]

Thanks everyone - I will give that a try the soap scraps and break out the crockpot again!
I did run through a lye calculator and I do use a scale to measure. Lye did heat up my liquid. I have not heard of lye going bad juiceman...what's the shelf life of lye or what factors contribute to it going bad?

 

[houseofwool]

I will also toss in the absorptive packets that come with shoes to help combat the mid summer humidity that is rampant in Wisconsin.

 

[squeakycleanuk]

I'm having a similar issue. I made a batch on saturday (so 5 days ago) and it still hasn't set right, its too soft and gooey, like fudge. I did put it through soap calc and its a recipe that I've used before with success, but after reading the replies here about lye shortage, I'm starting to think it was because I added calendula petals this time. I didn't add the petals to the recipe on soap calc, as I didn't think it would make much of an impact but I'm guessing I should have done, right?