lumps. I have used this recipe twice before with no problems, this time, when added lye and started mixing, small and medium size lumps happened. The more I mixed, the more lumps occurred. It did trace, but still with the lumps. I put it in the mold, and hoping it can be rebatched - have never rebatched before, so gotta research that. What causes those lumps???
I searched, but having trouble finding, problems with white
- Thread starter Godiva
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Hmm... its hard to say. What kind of oils are you using?
Sounds like riceing. Maybe it's the sugar. I haven't used sugar, but I hear it can heat things up.
The riceing I experienced was with an FO. There's a pic in the Projects Forum of my soap that riced. The FO ended up in spots throughout the loaf.
The spots of FO were dark at first, then they turned white. It pretty much ruined the batch as far as selling it. I'll use it myself, though.
The riceing I experienced was with an FO. There's a pic in the Projects Forum of my soap that riced. The FO ended up in spots throughout the loaf.
The spots of FO were dark at first, then they turned white. It pretty much ruined the batch as far as selling it. I'll use it myself, though.
I agree with Mandolyn that it sounds like ricing.
I see that you have PKO in your recipe. That could be the culprit, depending. To explain, I found that whenever I used PKO in my recipe and my oils/fats are not warm enough before I added the lye to them, my batch always riced on me soon after adding the lye. It started to look like the consistency of lumpy applesauce instead of being nice and smooth. When I use PKO now, I always make sure my oils/fats are about 110-115 degrees F before I add my warm (100 degrees or so)) lye mixture. Since I've been doing that, the ricing has completely stopped. Yay!
If indeed the PKO is the cause, then the white lumps are more than likely re-solidified stearic acid from the PKO (or from any other high stearic oil/fat one might use, for that matter).
I could be wrong, but I don't think it's the sugar. I use sugar in just about all my batches, and so far, I've never had any ricing problems or overhearting problems. Honey, on the other hand, will overheat for me every time if I add too much or if I'm not careful, but regular table-sugar never has never given me a problem (I use 1 tbsp. sugar ppo).
Did you possibly add any fragrance to your oils before adding the lye? I ask because I've read of some soapers that do this quite often, while others wait until trace or after the lye is added. In any case, certain troublesome fragrances are prone to ricing no matter when one adds them, and if you had already added your fragrance to your oils, it could very well be the fragrance oil. You can tell if the spots are fragrance by sniffing. The spots or lumps will smell stronger than the rest of the soap.
Once your soap has cured for about a week, go ahead and test the white lumps to make sure they are not undissolved lye (yet another possibility :shock: ). The way I test my soap when it has white lumps in it is to gently stick the very tip of my tongue to one of the lumps and see if it zaps or stings (it's like sticking your tongue to a 9 volt battery terminal and having your tongue go ZING!). If you feel that, then it means your lumps are most likely undissolved lye, and if it were me at that point, I'd throw the batch out. If it doesn't zap, however, it's more than likely re-solidified stearic or fragrance and can be either left alone as-is to bathe with, or else rebatched. HTH!
IrishLass
I see that you have PKO in your recipe. That could be the culprit, depending. To explain, I found that whenever I used PKO in my recipe and my oils/fats are not warm enough before I added the lye to them, my batch always riced on me soon after adding the lye. It started to look like the consistency of lumpy applesauce instead of being nice and smooth. When I use PKO now, I always make sure my oils/fats are about 110-115 degrees F before I add my warm (100 degrees or so)) lye mixture. Since I've been doing that, the ricing has completely stopped. Yay!
If indeed the PKO is the cause, then the white lumps are more than likely re-solidified stearic acid from the PKO (or from any other high stearic oil/fat one might use, for that matter).
I could be wrong, but I don't think it's the sugar. I use sugar in just about all my batches, and so far, I've never had any ricing problems or overhearting problems. Honey, on the other hand, will overheat for me every time if I add too much or if I'm not careful, but regular table-sugar never has never given me a problem (I use 1 tbsp. sugar ppo).
Did you possibly add any fragrance to your oils before adding the lye? I ask because I've read of some soapers that do this quite often, while others wait until trace or after the lye is added. In any case, certain troublesome fragrances are prone to ricing no matter when one adds them, and if you had already added your fragrance to your oils, it could very well be the fragrance oil. You can tell if the spots are fragrance by sniffing. The spots or lumps will smell stronger than the rest of the soap.
Once your soap has cured for about a week, go ahead and test the white lumps to make sure they are not undissolved lye (yet another possibility :shock: ). The way I test my soap when it has white lumps in it is to gently stick the very tip of my tongue to one of the lumps and see if it zaps or stings (it's like sticking your tongue to a 9 volt battery terminal and having your tongue go ZING!). If you feel that, then it means your lumps are most likely undissolved lye, and if it were me at that point, I'd throw the batch out. If it doesn't zap, however, it's more than likely re-solidified stearic or fragrance and can be either left alone as-is to bathe with, or else rebatched. HTH!
IrishLass
IrishLass said:I agree with Mandolyn that it sounds like ricing.
I see that you have PKO in your recipe. That could be the culprit, depending. To explain, I found that whenever I used PKO in my recipe and my oils/fats are not warm enough before I added the lye to them, my batch always riced on me soon after adding the lye. It started to look like the consistency of lumpy applesauce instead of being nice and smooth. When I use PKO now, I always make sure my oils/fats are about 110-115 degrees F before I add my warm (100 degrees or so)) lye mixture. Since I've been doing that, the ricing has completely stopped. Yay!
If indeed the PKO is the cause, then the white lumps are more than likely re-solidified stearic acid from the PKO (or from any other high stearic oil/fat one might use, for that matter).
I could be wrong, but I don't think it's the sugar. I use sugar in just about all my batches, and so far, I've never had any ricing problems or overhearting problems. Honey, on the other hand, will overheat for me every time if I add too much or if I'm not careful, but regular table-sugar never has never given me a problem (I use 1 tbsp. sugar ppo).
Did you possibly add any fragrance to your oils before adding the lye? I ask because I've read of some soapers that do this quite often, while others wait until trace or after the lye is added. In any case, certain troublesome fragrances are prone to ricing no matter when one adds them, and if you had already added your fragrance to your oils, it could very well be the fragrance oil. You can tell if the spots are fragrance by sniffing. The spots or lumps will smell stronger than the rest of the soap.
Once your soap has cured for about a week, go ahead and test the white lumps to make sure they are not undissolved lye (yet another possibility :shock: ). The way I test my soap when it has white lumps in it is to gently stick the very tip of my tongue to one of the lumps and see if it zaps or stings (it's like sticking your tongue to a 9 volt battery terminal and having your tongue go ZING!). If you feel that, then it means your lumps are most likely undissolved lye, and if it were me at that point, I'd throw the batch out. If it doesn't zap, however, it's more than likely re-solidified stearic or fragrance and can be either left alone as-is to bathe with, or else rebatched. HTH!
IrishLass
Thank you IrishLass. What you described sounds exactly like what happened. I had my oils and lye between 100-105. I'll try upping it to 110-115. And a week from now I'll tongue test the lumps.
Godiva
I wanted to thank everyone for their responses!
I wanted to thank everyone for their responses!
I knew it wasn't an FO that caused the ricing, because I hadn't added one yet. It didn't really look like rice - some pieces were small, others were big. What it looked like to me were chunks of crisco. I unmolded it today, and definitely looked like your photos of ricing Mandolyn. I'm going to wait a week, do the zap test, and if that's ok, going to rebatch.
Question, if it starts to rice because the oils were too cool, can you try and heat it up slightly and try mixing again, or are you pretty much screwed? :?
I wanted to thank everyone for their responses!
I knew it wasn't an FO that caused the ricing, because I hadn't added one yet. It didn't really look like rice - some pieces were small, others were big. What it looked like to me were chunks of crisco. I unmolded it today, and definitely looked like your photos of ricing Mandolyn. I'm going to wait a week, do the zap test, and if that's ok, going to rebatch.
Question, if it starts to rice because the oils were too cool, can you try and heat it up slightly and try mixing again, or are you pretty much screwed? :?
