No trace

roseb · Jun 21, 2013

Sooo...I made my 2nd batch of soap today and never got a trace.

Here is my recipe (that I ran thru soapcalc)

Coconut oil 13 oz
Sweet Almond Oil 2 oz.
Olive Oil 12 oz.
Crisco new w/palm 5 oz.
Powdered Goats Milk 1 oz.
Stearic Acid .5 oz
Castor Oil 4 oz.
Vitamin oil .25

Water 14.3 oz
Lye: 5.4

Lye was at 105 and oils were at 110 when I mixed them. I added Lavender EO just before trace as an after thought. Could that have caused the problem?

Well at least my mold is lined and ready. LOL

lsg · Jun 21, 2013

Why did you use .25 oz Vit. oil? I am guessing it was Vit. E. I only use a few drops in each batch. Adding the right amount of essential oil before trace should not affect the trace. How much essential oil did you add? Did you use a stick blender or stir by hand?

roseb · Jun 21, 2013

Sorry, yes it was vitamin e and I only added a few drops of the EO. I stirred by hand.

dagmar88 · Jun 22, 2013

:wink: A stick blender would make it a lot easier.

Also, I'd up the superfat (from 3% to probably 8% with this recipe/high amount of coconut) and lower the water (now 39.5% to as low as 33%).
I usually soap at 33% with high olive oil recipes, but it'll speed up trace with hand stirring quite a bit too.

lsg · Jun 22, 2013

It takes a much shorter time for soap to trace when using a stick blender. You can pick up a cheap one at any Walmart-type store.

roseb · Jun 22, 2013

Stick blender on my birthday wish list!

I made the batch again this morning and it took a while to trace, but it finally did. I added alkanet root powder to get a nice lavender color...silly me I got pea soup green. Which I am calling moss green. LOL