Hot process soap seizing up? (Troubleshooting)

[bristles]

Hi there I've been making hot process soap for a while but my last 2 batches have seized up like never before. As soon as I pour the lye in it gets stiff like playdough and unable to mix. Perhaps this is becausing I'm adding the lye when the oils are too hot? I make a high stearic shaving soap with mostly KOH. I'm hoping it's not a problem with old lye or something. I use 34% lye concentration
Please help! Recipe hasn't changed apart from increasing the amount of stearic acid.

Not sure how I would go about rebatching it either

 

[Bladesmith]

That’s pretty much what happens when you do shaving soap. Because there are less bonds to break due to the extra stearic, it almost immediately turns into soap.

I just keep cooking and mix it around as best I can until it no longer zaps. Not sure if there is a better solution?

 

[bristles]

That’s pretty much what happens when you do shaving soap. There’s no bonds to break because of all the stearic so it almost immediately turns into soap.

I just keep cooking and mix it around as best I can until it no longer zaps. Not sure if there is a better solution?

Appreciate the reply but it has never seized like this on me before! It's always been mixable! Any ideas on how to keep it more fluid?
Maybe I need to stick blender at the start for longer?

 

[Obsidian]

Try increasing the water:lye to a 3:1 ratio. It may help a little, its what I use when I make shave soap.
Its still thickens immediately but there is enough water to to soften everything up after it cooks a bit.

Adding sodium lactate also helps keep HP more fluid but I don't know how well it works with high stearic.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...Recipe hasn't changed apart from increasing the amount of stearic acid. ..."

This is the reason for your problem.

"...but it has never seized like this on me before! It's always been mixable! ..."

You said you used more stearic acid this time. Different recipe --> expect a different outcome. Especially when using fatty acids.

Use more water as Obsidian advised. And get used to the soap getting real thick real fast. That's normal for a high stearic recipe.

 

[Bladesmith]

What they said ^

I was assuming this was your first foray into shaving soap which is a completely different thing in my book due to the large amount of pure stearic/palmitic usually added to make it a good shaving soap

I also include a small amount stearic in my normal hot process soaping to help things move a long a little quicker.

 

[bristles]

well i dont understand going up 5% stearic acid from 40 to 45 and suddenly everything becomes completely solid compared to before. its a BIG difference. i will try tinkering with it a bit im not sure what the issue is i will try soap a bit cooler

 

[Becky1024]

Shaving soap has a mind of its own! Mine gets stiff almost immediately after adding the lye. I do a dual lye. I’ve experimented around with hand stirring vs stick blending. If I hand stir only I get oil weeping out in the mold. My stick blender has 2 settings. I can stick blend on the slower setting in short bursts for about a minute. I let it cook then for about 20 minutes then stick blend a little again. It stays mixed and this way and doesn’t weep oil in the mold.