icky batch.. what happened?

[Tranquil Elements]

Not sure what happened, maybe someone could shed some light?

After I added my FO my batch of soap separated into an icky mess... almost looked like cottage cheese.

The FO is Midnight Pomegranate from WSP and should be fine in CP...

My batch took a while to trace, did I maybe reach a false trace and reversed it by adding the FO too soon? Is my recipe no good? I've used it before but with Cocoa Butter instead of Shea Butter...

I got the batch kinda mixed together and put it in the mold and covered it up but it looked like it was gonna continue to separate... is the batch done for? can it be saved somehow?

Any insight is appreciated!

recipe is-

60% Olive Oil
30% Coconut Oil
5% Shea Butter
5% Castor Oil

 

[BakingNana]

Cottage cheese...kinda sounds like ricing. At what temp did you soap? Some FOs are picky about temp, and I find virtually all fruits and florals accelerate so I do most of them full water. And if you soap too cool, harder fats or butters can sometimes harden up again instead of staying liquid and emulsifying.

Usually if a batch rices and it's not seizing, you can try stickblending it like crazy (I mean WORK it) and most of the time it will come back together after a few minutes. Once it's in the mold and the oils have separated and stay separated after a couple of days, you could try to rebatch it adding shredded soap. I don't have any experience trying to save a separated batch; I've only rebatched due to scent problems. I know if it were me, I'd pitch it if it stayed separated and move on to the next one, but that's just me. Sorry you had trouble!

 

[ChrissyB]

Yeah I'd say ricing also. it sort of looks like cottage cheese.
Are you a member on the scent review board? it's an invaluable tool for fo users.

 

[Jezzy]

I have many many fo's do this to me too... They almost all say they are fine in cp and then you expect time and then wam... accelerated trace... I have had a little luck when this happens with a wisk. If I notice things moving along to quickly I use the wisk to make it go slower.

Be prepared. Not all fo's are as nice to work with as the company says they are. That review board is great too!

 

[Tranquil Elements]

I combined my lye water & oils around 120°

I peeked at it a little bit ago and there's like a half inch or so of just oil on the top, so it definitely separated, lol

I'm thinkin it's done for and I need to pitch it.. such a bummer too because it smells fantastic, lol

 

[Jezzy]

Don't pitch it... Rebatch It can usually be saved. You have to heat everything up again. Be careful that you don't loose any oils.

I put it in a double boiler and heat it while whisking it. You mix til it gets smooth and then you put it back into the mold. It won't be your prettiest but it will still smell good!

 

[Tranquil Elements]

I haven't ever rebatched so I suppose this is a good time to learn how to do it, lol...

 

[tespring]

I have been doing rebatch now for over a month because every time I opened my lye, there were lumps in it, so I looked it up and I found an article that said the lye was getting moisture in it. These were sealed containers that were supposedly getting moisture...I had 5 full 2 pound containers with moisture. So...I made a ton of 2% superfatted CP soap and grated it up.
When I want to rebatch it, I throw how ever much I want in the crock pot and add the extra oils to superfat it, add some water and set it on high for a bit til it looks like it is melted a little bit (be careful, it will burn), turn it on low, add some milk powder because that helps it dissolve better, wait for a bit, then stick blend the heck out of it. After it is all melted and mixed, I add fragrance and colors and put it in molds.

I have had a lot of fun with it. I got to use my 1 oz samples, a lot of my scrubs and herbs and tried a bunch of new molds. I don't sell any of my soap, and others have mentioned that this would not be a good idea if you are going to sell because it is time consuming, but for practice and practicality, it worked.
Good luck!

 

[Coop]

Some FOs are picky about temp, and I find virtually all fruits and florals accelerate so I do most of them full water.

Sorry if this is considered a hijack forgive me as I'm new to forums, but what do you mean by full water?

 

[carebear]

I combined my lye water & oils around 120°

I peeked at it a little bit ago and there's like a half inch or so of just oil on the top, so it definitely separated, lol

I'm thinkin it's done for and I need to pitch it.. such a bummer too because it smells fantastic, lol

120 is hot. some FOs can handle that temp, others will accelerate or cause ricing when soaping too warm.

 

[Tranquil Elements]

I took it out of the mold today, there was about an inch of jelly consistency oil(?) on the top and the solids underneath were soft. It still smells great though, lol

Is this really safe to rebatch? If so, do I just throw it all into a double boiler and stir until it hopefully blends together? Everything I've read about rebatching had to do with already hardened soap that people grated down then mixed with water so I'm not sure what the process would be in my particular situation...

 

[BakingNana]

Some FOs are picky about temp, and I find virtually all fruits and florals accelerate so I do most of them full water.

Sorry if this is considered a hijack forgive me as I'm new to forums, but what do you mean by full water?

The term "full water" refers to the maximum amount of water or liquid you would want to use for a particular recipe; the standard is the liquid being 38% of the oils by weight. Much more than this and the soap would be too soft and/or take forever to harden.

Soap calculators will give you the maximum amount of liquid recommended for your recipe. Experienced soapers will reduce this amount so that the soap hardens faster. New soapers will probably want to use the maximum liquid while they're learning to help buffer some potential problems such as a fast trace or seizing (lovingly referred to as "soap on a stick"), especially if you're using fragrance. It also helps to use full water if you want to do some fancy swirling. Soap calculators are a wonderful necessity. You'll see over and over the recommendation to run all recipes through a soap calculator before using them no matter what the source of the recipe.

Hope this answers your question. :wink: