Major seizing/acceleration

[Carl]

This is kind of a follow up to another one of my posts. In another post I talked about how I got some oils for a good price but they were a few years old (unopened packaging)

Today I tried to soap with those ingredients that I purchased (including the lye) and I had instant seizure about as fast as the stick blender hit it.

Here is the recipe I used
Coconut Oil (76) 22%
Soybean Oil 30%
Pomace Olive 40%
Castor 8%

Since I paid next to nothing for these oils, I thought (like a goof) I would do a big batch. I did 80 ounces. So I had 30.4 oz of water and 11.04 oz of lye.

The oils were taking a long time to melt. I think it was the Soy. So I heated it up to about 180. They melted and I had this nice clear pot of oils. I thought it was going well.

So again, goofy me, didn't want to wait for it to cool. So I filled my sink with ice water and put the pot of oils in it to cool it faster as I stirred. It hit 122 degrees in about 5 minutes.

My lye water was 120 and my oils were 122. So I mixed them. No fragrance at this point. I never made it to the fragrance step.

Literally about 5 seconds of stick blending, it started turning orange. In about 10 seconds it was almost like a concrete block of orange.

Over the pas 1/2 hour it has separated and it not a concrete block anymore!

So, what happened?

What do I adjust when I try again tomorrow? (obviously batch size, but what else)

 

[Cellador]

Wow! That is a big batch!
I'm curious about your Soy- when you say it was taking a long time to melt....was it solid? If so, it might be soy wax (or something else?) and not soybean oil. All the soybean oil I've worked with has been liquid,even after being in the fridge for awhile.
Other than that, I'd try soaping much cooler. Maybe 90-100 degrees F.

 

[reeeen4]

Pomace Olive oil, that would be the one causeing the problems I would guess, Never soaped with it myself though, but I watched a vid on youtube the other day by "soy and shae" and she was talking about olive pomace and how it accelerats trace severely and she wouldn't be buying it anymore. Also maybe the oils and lye being a bit on the warm side didn't help either.



Maybe reduce the % of olive oil pomace, also is the soybean oil solid or a liquid? Could it be soybean wax?

 

[dibbles]

Pomace will trace faster, but shouldn't cause the problem you are describing. I too question the soy.

 

[reeeen4]

Could be a double whammy of both the pomace and soy, maybe leave one out and try a really small batch of each seperately

 

[midnightsoaper]

I'm curious about your Soy- when you say it was taking a long time to melt....was it solid? If so, it might be soy wax (or something else?) and not soybean oil.

I was thinking the same thing. Pomace moves fast, but I don't think it would cause the issues described (especially the batch turning orange).

 

[Carl]

If anyone was following, it was the Olive Oil.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

If anyone was following, it was the Olive Oil.

Can I ask how did you reach to that conclusion?

 

[Carl]

Can I ask how did you reach to that conclusion?

Process of elimination. I made multiple 8 ounce batches changing the variables with each batch. When I changed the Olive Oil to my fresh good one, the problem went away.