Oily Soap

[mgood86]

Hello. Here is my recipe:

2 Pound Hot Cocoa
CPOP Wood Mold

Grapeseed Oil 2 oz
Coconut Oil 8 oz
Olive Oil 22 oz
10 oz water
4.4 oz lye
6.5% superfat
2 oz hot cocoa fo from BB
Cocoa powder added until a brown color is met
Soaping temp 120 F
Soapcalc used

I warmed oils, mixed lye into water, waited until temps were right. Added lye water to oils. Used stick blender on and off until light trace was met. Poured some of mixture into another bowl. added cocoa to largest amount remaining. Stick blended together. Added hot cocoa FO. hand stirred together. Poured other bowled into big bowl at five evenly spaced places, moved a spatula through them all once. Poured into mold. Drizzled leftover original color to top and swirled top. Stuck mold into preheated 170 F convection oven for 1 hour. Left in for 12 hours.

Here is my question. When I took the mold out of the oven, the top looked like it had a bunch of super small bubbles or something all over it...no biggie just adds something different I guess and I can research how to stop it from happening. Took the loaf out of the mold and it was oily feeling. Sliced it up and each slice had a sheen of oil that had to be gently wiped off. The oil has not returned since I wiped it off. But what would cause the oily sheen in the first place? I have done this exact same process before, except I have not added cocoa or FO's to it. Could I have messed up something in my calculations when adding in the FO?

Thank you.

 

[debbism]

I get oily soap when I unmold. This is usually the FO sweating out and sometimes it is a little more viscous when there is a little glycerin there as well. I wipe down as well and it takes a couple weeks for the oil to reabsorb. When I do unscented, this does NOT happen.

As long as it tests without a zap, there should be no issue. I do find that when I wait a few minutes before insulating (I only do CP) I get less FO sweating out. Some FOs do this moreso than others.

 

[mgood86]

Thank you. That makes me feel so much better. I love learning all I can about my new addiction. This one just threw me through a loop. I appreciate your help.

Oh, and I zap tested and it came out great!

 

[CamillaHB]

When I did an experiment with lard as the main ingredient, the part I put cocoa powder in was 'sweating' and had small puddles of fat on top when I took it out of the oven, whereas the uncoloured part was fine.
Today I tried with olive oil as the main ingredient and added cocoa powder for colour and that got greasy too.
I think cocoa powder might do something strange to soap.

 

[judymoody]

The little bubbles and oily sheen can happen with overheating. I've had this happen with CPOP. Usually the oil will reabsorb if you leave it for a couple of days. If your soap heats to the point of separation, then you would need to rebatch. Sounds like yours will be fine.

 

[Soapy Gurl]

I have had oil bead up on top of soap before and it was due to the fragrance. I just blotted it off and no more came out. I have used a lot of cocoa powder to color soap before and never had an issue with the oil beading up. That smell sounds great!

 

[soapbuddy]

Sounds like it overheated. You can safely take the soap out as soon as it's in full gel.

 

[mgood86]

thank you all for your replies.

The hot cocoa fo is wonderful! I finally figured out why I have the little tiny bubbles. It is a truely "DUH" moment on my part. I forgot to put the saran wrap on top of the mold. UGH. So, anyway. Yeah. I solved that one good. But the oily part was blotted dry and hasn't come back so I think it is good to go.

If it was processed the exact same way as my other soap, except adding cocoa and hot cocoa fo, why would it overheat? Could the fo do that? I got it from BB and got the idea from SoapQueen and it was never mentioned that it could cause overheating...I am still learning. Should I not CPOP with fo?

Thank you!

 

[soapbuddy]

Soap with a particular fragrance can overheat. Floral FO's are particularly susceptible to overheating. It can also be the temp that you mix. I normally mix oils and lye around 110 degrees (US).

 

[debbism]

My latest version of the "oil" situation was an awesome batch we made which smelled amazing but it traced fast and thickened up when pouring to the point where it wanted to rice. I poured it all instead of stirring back down to a smooth texture. The texture created little air pockets where FO sweated out and got trapped.

Not all re-absorbed and when I cut it, tiny oil droplets trapped near the top would smear and drip. They are just towards the top (at the end of the pour) so i am setting these on the curing rack for a while longer to see if the oil doesn't reabsorb more over time. I hope it does!

CP soap making is always an adventure no matter how many batches you do!!

 

[mgood86]

Soapbuddy: ok then I will drop my soaping temp down to 110 F instead of 120 F because I was going to do a few soaps with floral scents for Christmas and I don't want them to overheat. Or do you think I should I drop it even lower with the florals?

Debbism: You're right! The more I read the more I am learning that soaping is an adventure and that I need to pay attention to the adventures of others because I will probably encounter them at some point.