Ok, so I’ve tried to increase my soap production and it isn’t going well…. Introduced heated lye tank and 20 gallon oil tank to the family. Soap seems to be lye heavy with lye pockets on occasion. I think my recipe is getting messed up because I’m putting the hard oils in the heated tank and apparently didn’t stir as well as I should have. I’m soaping at around 90 degrees and using 50/50 lye solution and making up rest of liquid with goats milk. It is coming to trace rather quickly and sometimes without even using a stick blender. I’m reading that if you don’t mix well enough, that can cause lye pockets…. Ugh I have all this soap, like 150 bars and I can’t use any of them!!! Also, seeing stearic spots. I’m feeling like the masterbatching was a costly mistake…
Masterbatching logistics and errors
- Thread starter Crazy Goat
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If the lye water is heated, I would think that accelerates the process. When I masterbatch the lye water (smaller scale) I keep it at room temperature and shake the sealed container before pouring out any. Also, perhaps if you added the liquid oils to the tank as well, stirring would be easier?
If your soap is lye heavy, the cause is not the lye water temperature though, it seems an oil was missing or perhaps if the lye water was not stirred well either, you may be getting more lye from the sediment at the bottom. Perhaps you could rebatch them And add more oils?
If your soap is lye heavy, the cause is not the lye water temperature though, it seems an oil was missing or perhaps if the lye water was not stirred well either, you may be getting more lye from the sediment at the bottom. Perhaps you could rebatch them And add more oils?
I’d be curious to see your full recipes for both your oils and MB lye and extra liquid, plus any additives. Did you double check your math on all of them to be sure you didn’t leave something out? I agree not mixing your oils well could be part of the problem, but I can’t imagine it’s the only thing that’s a bit off. Sorry to hear you have so much soap that has issues 
Thank you for your response! In response I do have the liquid oils and the hard oils mixed together in the heated oil tank and one thing I think I failed to do was heat those oils up enough to get it all mix together well before pulling off the needed amount for that day of soap making. Therefore, I can see why my required amount of lye could be different now since my oil ratio may have changed… the other concern I have is the large lye tank… when I mixed the 50/50 solution I used “10lbs of ice” from the store. I’m wondering if the weight on the bag was not as accurate as I would need for making soap?!? For example, if the ice bag was actually 9.5 lbs and I put in 10 lbs of lye… I do stir the lye water, but then I also wondered about evaporation from the lye tank even though it has a rubber seal around the lid and is a lye tank from soap equipment.com. So many variables, and I moved the goal posts on more than one! Anyhoo… I appreciate any and all thoughts and other experiences!
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Here is the recipe I use: coconut 30%; olive oil 30%; castor 5%; palm 20%; Shea butter 15%. I made up a 50/50 lye solution using ice and then the remaining liquid I use goats milk ( in the large batch case the oil weight was 10.43 lbs; lye water pre mix 2.94 lbs; fragrance oil 8 oz and goat’s milk 26.12 ounces).I’d be curious to see your full recipes for both your oils and MB lye and extra liquid, plus any additives. Did you double check your math on all of them to be sure you didn’t leave something out? I agree not mixing your oils well could be part of the problem, but I can’t imagine it’s the only thing that’s a bit off. Sorry to hear you have so much soap that has issues
I would recommend weighing the ice just in case. My bags usually have a little more ice than less, but I always want to make sure I’m getting that correct 1:1 ratio.
