Long time to trace/using heat

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

Is it usual for it to take over an hour, and to have to add heat, to come to trace? I stirred for over half an hour-no trace. I put it on the stove on medium, still took 30 more minutes. Is this normal? It’s my first time making lye soap, so I have no reference.

 

[dibbles]

It really depends on the recipe. And if you were stirring rather than using a stick blender, it will take longer.

 

[cmzaha]

High Olive Oil batters are very slow to trace. Also lard is very slow at tracing, especially if you are hand stirring. Stick Blenders are almost a necessity

 

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

Thank you cmzaha. It’s 35% lard, 20% coconut oil, 15% vegetable shortening, and a 30% mixture of avocado, castor, grapeseed, sesame & olive oils.
I had a paint stirrer in my hand drill, but the battery died 6 minutes into the process, so I hand stirred the rest.

 

[shunt2011]

Thank you cmzaha. It’s 35% lard, 20% coconut oil, 15% vegetable shortening, and a 30% mixture of avocado, castor, grapeseed, sesame & olive oils.
I had a paint stirrer in my hand drill, but the battery died 6 minutes into the process, so I hand stirred the rest.

I highly recommend getting yourself a stick blender/immersion blender. They are inexpensive and with your recipe it shouldn't take but 15-20 seconds and some stirring to get it to emulsion and a bit longer to trace. If you post your recipe in full we can help you out better. Including lye/water and any additives.

 

[lsg]

How old is your ly?. I had a similar experience with a bad container of lye.

 

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

My lye was brand new, just bought it a few days prior. I have another post on here about this same batch, it did harden but not to my liking. I rebatched it and added pear juice, it turned brown, (see: CARAMELIZATION...?!). I’m guessing as a reaction with the lye. I poured it into my molds anyway and am really pleased with the hardness, slip, and lather. I’m hoping the smell (I used sesame oil) fades. I read that the fruit juice mixed in with lye can have a neutralizing effect on scent.

 

[dixiedragon]

Where did you read about putting fruit juice in soap? Generally, not a good idea.

Your slow trace is b/c you were hand stirring. Heat does help with that - you can put your soap on the stove on low heat and keep stirring.

The majority of plants (fruits, vegetables, juices, powders, purees) will turn brown in soap.

 

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

Um, well I’ve read where someone tried orange juice, but tbh I don’t remember what their result was. I have read a LOT of posts, but mostly right before I go to bed, so it’s very likely I’m missing important bits of information. I should take better notes!

 

[dixiedragon]

You're very new at this so I wouldn't recommend including ingredients like fruit juice at this point.

 

[Rogue-Soaper]

I suspect that the sugar in the pear juice is the culprit for the brown color. Sugar reacts with the lye, heating up quickly and caramelizing which results in beige or brown soap. I agree with Dixiedragon, get the basics of making soap down first, then start experimenting: that way you will know how soap reacts to changes in your recipe. Have fun soaping.

 

[amd]

I rebatched it and added pear juice, it turned brown

I wouldn't add juice to a rebatch, there's no lye to help preserve the germ food so I wouldn't go there.

 

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

I’m sorry I didn’t include an update in this post; I thought the batch was bad anyway so why not experiment? That’s why I rebatched with juice. I didn’t intend for it to turn brown, but it actually became very pretty AND corrected my hardness issue. So all in all, this experiment was a success. Thank you all for your support

 

[MGM]

Yikes, a success story that you probably won't be able to duplicate if you try!

 

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

Lol yes, a happy accident. I must take better notes from now on!

 

[earlene]

It looks like you used a 26% lye concentration. That should really slow down trace in an already slow moving recipe. Add hand stirring to that and of course it will take a long time. I would suggest trying a lye Concentration of 33% and see how much faster your soap batter will trace with that same recipe.

One thing I've done to speed trace in a slow moving recipe is to substitute some (or all) of my olive oil with pomace olive oil. I can reach trace will only hand stirring a castile soap that is 50% regular OO and 50% pomace OO in just a few minutes at room temperature. So that's another thing you could try if you have access to pomace OO.

 

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

Ooo thank you for the helpful tip! I didn’t know to look at lye concentration