I need help to save a botched batch !

[Meliv]

I'll start by giving my recipe, I'd really like to save it because it's my first with BB's Blue Man scent which dh seems to love.

It was a 2 lb batch, frozen coconut milk for full water at 6% super fat.
It came out with lye crystals scattered throughout. I already tried to rebatch it thinking maybe since the coconut milk had a hard time heating up the lye, maybe the lye didn't dissolve properly? For rebatching, I cut it up and did a cook to melt down in the microwave. Once melted, I put it back in the mold (silcone sleeve in a wooden mold) and I put it in a 170*f oven for an hour just to make sure.

coconut/lye mixture mixed with oils at aprox 110*f

Coconut milk 12.16 oz
Lye 4.486 oz

Olive Oil 9.6
Lard 11.2
Coconut oil 8.0
Avocado Oil 3.2

Any options of saving the batch? Would a 1 lb batch of fresh soap mixed in with no scent and distilled water save this batch? I'm fairly certain I measured right. I also used 1 oz scent per pound of the Blue Man FO.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[theath2010]

I ran your recipe through soap calc and everything looks like you had a good recipe. Did your lye container get any moisture in it that caused it to form clumps? I had this happen to a container of lye and when I added it to my water not all of the clumps dissolved and I strained it before adding to my oils. My soap seemed to come out ok and I had no clumps in the soap bars after straining. To be on the safe side I strain 99% of my lye batches now because of this reason.

 

[Meliv]

I didn't strain the lye solution but it was a new disposable cup I used to weigh the lye in and a washed and dried (at least a week) bowl that I use to mix in. With the coconut milk, it was just too hard to see if there was any clumping going on. So I guess I should have asked, doesn't coconut milk heat up very much when lye is introduced? It's the first time I've used it, I'm used to using goats milk that heats up quite a bit. I would have thought the sugar content of the coconut milk would be as high if not higher than goats milk? I guess I should look that up lol
Thanks for replying.

 

[kazmi]

So your rebatch didn't come out either? It has the same lye crystals in it as the original batch? and did you zap test?

 

[Tmgm1215]

I've found that when you freeze the coconut milk you have to add the lye VERY slowly! If you just dump it in you get the clumps and bad end results. Hope this helps go slow stir the whole time and don't add to oils till there is no clumps sometimes it takes forever!

 

[pamielynn]

I'm going to jump in and suggest that the coconut milk does not have enough water in it to completely dissolve the NaOH. Not saying that's it, but the "milk" I buy is really very thick - but I don't know what you've got. When I use coconut milk, I do the split method, using water to dissolve the lye and adding the milk to the pot of oils. Still adds amazing creaminess, even when it's not at 100%

 

[Meliv]

I'm puzzled as to why my thread got moved? Is it because I posted my recipe? I just found it so sorry for the slow replies.

I should also add that this batch was first made using cold process.

I did zap test after the re batch and yup, got zapped I probably added the lye too quickly and probably should have used the split method and used water for 1/2 of the content to dissolve the lye but my question is, can it be saved?

I had placed a large (for me) order with Bramble Berry and when it arrived, the blue man wasn't in the box. I called customer care and they shipped it right out to me. Great customer service ! I was so excited to get it to make a soap for fathers day and not only don't I have more FO, I don't know if it can be saved

Any ideas? The only thing I can think of is making another batch of plain jane soap and trying to add the 2 together after another melt down of the botched batch? or do I really have to toss it?

Thanks again for any advice.