My soap making is not becoming soap.

[FZR]

I'm so new at making soap, that I have failed twice.

Question: do you need a solid fat (liquified) to make soap?


For testing, my first batch was made with only 100% liquid vegetable oil and lye.
It never trace while using an electric beater for 30 mins. Oil raised on top once I left it alone. Removed the oil and some soap was chunky but very soft (if you can call that soap?)

This was a cold batch with:

8oz 100% vegetable oil
1.25oz lye
3.5oz water
Lye mix and oil was at room temp of 73 degrees.

I tried again as a hot mix of 100 degrees lye mix and oil. Same results happen as above.

I do not have all these fancy fats and oils at this time. So in reading about soap making and watching videos, I see many use olive oil and lye only to make soap.

If anyone has an idea of what I did wrong or a very basic easy recipe, please let me know.

Thank you for your time
FZR

 

[Nightlilly]

First, for such a small batch (8oz of oils), you should measure in grams instead of ounces. Are you using a stick blender or a hand blender that has the 2 detachable beaters? A stick blender is much better. Also, when I enter 8oz of vegetable oil into the lye calculator, it looks like you used too much lye and water. If the only oil you have right now is vegetable oil, try these measurements:

Vegetable Oil (100% Soybean) 227gr
Water 86 gr
Lye 29gr

Here's the link for the lye calculator that I use:
http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

 

[shunt2011]

What kind of vegetable oil are you using. What did you enter into the soap calculator? Also, you should make at least 1 pound at a time to avoid measurement calculation errors. 8 oz isn't much in the scheme of things. And what is a cold batch? Also, you can use olive oil, lard, coconut oil all which are easily available in most grocery stores. Though it doesn't say where you are from so availability may vary.

 

[shunt2011]

Okay, using 100% soybean oil you are lye heavy for the amount of oil you used. I show 1.035 oz. lye and 3.04 oz of water. That's with a 5% superfat which would be as low as I would go. I usually superfat at 7-8 percent. I would not use the soap you made if it does turn out. And as stated when using just an oil with no other ingredients like palm, coconut or butters you really do need a stick blender to make it come together. 100% olive oil soap can take a really long time to trace even with a stick blender and a water discount.

 

[judymoody]

Also, you should never remove any oil floating on the top, if you do, then your soap will almost surely be lye-heavy even if it's balanced to begin with.

If you live in the US, you can get coconut oil at Walmart (Louanna brand). That plus olive oil can make a very nice soap.

 

[Obsidian]

Is your lye 100% Sodium hydroxide?

 

[FZR]

What kind of vegetable oil are you using. What did you enter into the soap calculator? Also, you should make at least 1 pound at a time to avoid measurement calculation errors. 8 oz isn't much in the scheme of things. And what is a cold batch? Also, you can use olive oil, lard, coconut oil all which are easily available in most grocery stores. Though it doesn't say where you are from so availability may vary.

Cold processes uses no heat when making soap (cold batch), many videos I watched was done this way just using over the counter oil.

Receipt was from the video.

 

[FZR]

Is your lye 100% Sodium hydroxide?

Yes I am. I made sure of that when buying it. Reading the info chart on back of the container shows 100% lye..

 

[FZR]

First, for such a small batch (8oz of oils), you should measure in grams instead of ounces. Are you using a stick blender or a hand blender that has the 2 detachable beaters? A stick blender is much better. Also, when I enter 8oz of vegetable oil into the lye calculator, it looks like you used too much lye and water. If the only oil you have right now is vegetable oil, try these measurements:

Vegetable Oil (100% Soybean) 227gr
Water 86 gr
Lye 29gr

Here's the link for the lye calculator that I use:
http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

Thanks for the recipe, I'll try that one and see.

I'm using an old electric hand blender with one whip blade attached on low speed, it does move the mixture around very fast... Maybe to fast?

Personally with your recipe, I can see that the water and lye was to much. I'll give this a go and report back.

 

[Obsidian]

I would try to get your oils/lye water a bit hotter. Try around 125* F, the warmer the oils and lye are, the faster it will reach trace. If you are mixing everything at room temp, it will take longer.
Also, your old hand mixer most likely isn't agitating the mixture enough. You would be better off with a stick blender or even a hand blender that has two mixing heads instead of one whipper.

 

[soap_rat]

The following things slow down the chemical reaction:
Tiny batches--cool off very fast. Heat makes reactions happen faster.
No hard fats
Using a mixer than brings room-temp air into the mix--again, cools it off.
More water in the recipe than you need (If continuing with using just one oil consider using 33% water instead of the standard 38%)

I started out making tiny batches and hand-stirred for hours until they traced. Or didn't. One batch I put into the mold even though it didn't trace, and someone advised me to still stir it occasionally and it would get there eventually. It did!

Things I changed on the advice of an expert in order to speed trace:
1. Add some hard fats
2. Use pomace grade olive oil instead of other grades
3. Either make batches bigger, or hit the pot with some heat occasionally, to keep things from cooling off. I soap at 110-120F
4. Use a stick blender and don't drag air into the batter.

If you change all of these things at once, make sure your mold is ready before you start, you will be very surprised at the difference!

I also advise you to make your batches bigger because then a small error in measurement (due to the accuracy level of your scale) is not a big deal. If you worry about wasting more supplies, almost every attempt at making soap can be salvaged, so if something goes wrong and you save all components, you can always come here for advice on how to fix it.

I hope you are using a digital scale, I started out using cheapo spring scales (recommended in the soap book!) and they were SO inconsistent/inaccurate! Which can easily lead to lye-heavy soap, or too much water making the trace take forever. Also please check any recipe using a lye (and water) calculator, even published recipes can have mistakes.