Help - What happened to my soap?

Tai777 · Nov 8, 2011

Hi Everyone,

I had a soap disaster.

My Recipe
20% Palm Oil - 13.6 Oz.
30% Coconut Oil - 20.4 Oz.
30% Olive Oil - 20.4 Oz.
10% Almond Oil - 6.8 Oz.
5% Cocoa Butter - 3.4 Oz.
5% Castor Oil 3.4 Oz.
Water - 25.8 Oz.
Lye - 9.8 Oz.

Additives:
Milk - 3 Tbsn (Powder)
Honey - 4 Tbsn
Clay - 4 Tsp
FO - 4 Tbsn (Peak)

I took 3 Oz. of water and added the honey to that. I took 8 Oz. of water and added the lye to that. I let the lye cool and then slowly added the honey. I took 14.8 Oz. of water and added my powdered goat milk and SB and then I added that to the hot oils. I noticed the milk/water beaded up immediately in the oils. When oils and lye/honey water reached 120 Degrees I added the lye/honey water to the oils and SB until light trace. At light trace I added the clay and then I added my FO and SB a bit more. I poured my batter into PVC pipes and everything seemed fine. My first clue that something was wrong was when the next day there was a small pool of what appeared to be water or oil floating on top of one of the PVC pipes. I made this soap Sunday night and I just unmolded tonight and was horrified to see the results. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong? :-(
I am very disappointed.

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KD · Nov 8, 2011

You have a serious overheating problem, I think. That's what the tunneling looks like to me. I would go lighter on the honey and keep your temps down. When I soap with goat's milk and honey, I do it almost at room temperature. I'm sorry for the disappointment you must feel.

Sunny · Nov 8, 2011

always do your FO by weight and make sure you are using safe percentages according to manufacturer

always mix your lye in at least an equal amount of water, aka if you have 9.8 ounces of lye, mix it into at least 9.8 ounces of water - it won't dissolve fully in less than that

always round DOWN your lye percentages, not up (so if your lye should be 9.769 ounces, round down to 9.7, not up to 9.8 )

this is a LOT of oil to be using for beginner batches. you may want to scale down to 2 lb batches so you're not wasting much in case things go wrong.

are you sure you reached trace?

you may want to use less honey next time until you get a feel for what it behaves like.

it looks like you may have gotten a couple of good bars out of there... wait a few days and see if it zaps!

judymoody · Nov 8, 2011

I would rebatch the whole thing, oozing liquids and all.

Milk and honey is notorious for overheating. And PVC pipes, in my experience, really trap the heat. There is so little surface area that the heat can't escape and it's hard to rescue if things go wrong.

Next time try popping milk & honey soap directly into the frig or freezer. You still might get partial gel, but better than an oozy separated mess.

I had this happen recently with a batch involving buttermilk and carrots so I feel your pain. The rebatch came out great though.

Tai777 · Nov 9, 2011

Soap Disaster

Yes I did reach trace but it took longer than usual.

I added my milk/water to the hot oils, maybe I should have just added the milk powder (mixed with some oils) at trace like I usually do. I know some people add their milk to the oils before adding the lye but do people add the milk powder only or do they add the reconstituted milk?

I may be able to save a few bars. This is so disappointing.

Should I use another type of mold when making milk/honey soaps?

Thanks everyone for your advice. I really appreciate it.

Tai

Soaplady22 · Nov 9, 2011

The soap has been compromised - don't save a few bars; rebatch everything you can scoop up. Use a crock pot or an oven bowl, then pour back into your mold. It might be a bit hard to get it back into PVC - do you have a log mold of any kind??

When I've used dry milk I mixed it with a tiny bit of water to make a thin slurry and then added that to my oils after the lye solution.

Good luck!