Newbie Help on recipe

[Wintershaddow]

I could really use any help, thoughts and experience on where I might have gone wrong with a batch of soap.

Just a little background. I have made three batches of soap prior to this one using the CPOP method. Each batch had a different recipe with multiple oils, additives and fragrances, One was made with water, one half milk and half water, and one full goat's milk. I was very happy with how each of these turned out.

This one, however, I have no idea where my mistakes were.

This is the recipe (used SoapCalc):


21.8 oz Olive Oil
15.6 oz Coconut Oil (fractionated)
12.4 oz Avocado Oil
6.2 oz Castor Oil
6.2 oz Meadowfoam Oil

9.268 oz Lye
23.636 oz Goat's Milk

4 oz Fragrance (Nature's Garden - Witching Hour)

I froze the Goat's Milk before slowly adding the lye.
I mixed the oils and lye solution at 90 degrees.
Added the fragrance at light trace and continued mixing to trace. (I use a stick blender.)

After pouring the mixture in the mold I placed it in the preheated oven at 190 degrees. I turn the oven off when I put the mold in and leave it over night. (This is probably one of my mistakes since I used Goat's Milk, although I didn't have a problem with my other Goat's Milk batch.)

When I pulled the mold out the next day there was a big mess of very yellow oil on top with areas of crackling and puddles of oil underneath. I probably should have tried rebatching but instead I left it in the mold and just placed it in the basement covered with a towel hoping the oil would reabsorb. That was July last year.

Today, it looked much better, still oily but not as much. I took it out of the mold sliced it in bars. The bars are still really soft and oily. I placed the bars back in the basement to see if it will get any better.

I did test one and it produces a very yuck yellow lather and not bubbly at all.

I want to give this recipe another go at it but would like to try and figure out where I might have gone wrong before I give it another try. I sort of think it was mostly the fragrance oil sitting on top but not really sure.

I appreciate any and all thoughts.

 

[CaliChan]

It almost sounds to me like a false trace... Thats really weird though, probably wasnt a good idea to start off with such a large batch... That batch is almost twice as large as what i normally do

 

[paillo]

Yikes, I agree with CaliChan about making really large batches when you're still new at it. I'd make a batch at most half that size until I had the kinks worked out of my recipe. I'm no expert at diagnosing recipes, so will let others chime in.

Meadowfoam is a lovely, lovely oil, but expensive. I think I'd use it instead for leave-on products.

 

[Wintershaddow]

I was wondering if I might have gotten false trace too. Are there things to look for when mixing to tell a false trace from a true trace?

 

[chicklet]

I really don't know what the problem is either, for sure, but false trace does make sense. I've never used fractionated coconut oil and I've never heard of meadowfoam so I wonder if they contributed to the problem. Have you continued to make soap since you made this batch? Have you used those oils successfully? That would rule them out.

 

[Wintershaddow]

LOL! You both are no doubt right about the batch size and it is good advice, not only because of my lack of experience but also because of the cost when it comes to experimenting with different recipes.

I use a loaf mold that gives 13 bars of decent size. I probably am being a bit ambitious with the mold size and recipes. I have definitely been bitten with the soapmaking bug and marvel at all the possibilities.

P.S. I make soap for my own personal use, pleasure, and scientific experimenting

 

[Wintershaddow]

Hi Chicklet - I haven't made soap since this batch. I've used all the oils before, except meadowfoam, but not all of them in the same recipe. This is a new recipe I came up with after playing with the different properties on soapcalc. So the percentages of the oils are different from what I've used before too.

I'm leaning towards false trace too. It makes sense.