Overflow!!

[Lather Me Gently]

Hey everyone. I'm VERY new to soapmaking and am having a bit of trouble keeping my soap mixes in the mold. I'll pour the heated mix in and it will be just below the edge of the mold. I'll turn my back and it will have risen and overflowed. Sometimes it rises straight up and goes back down when it has cooled. Other times it goes over the edge and I lose some of my mix. I know it's probably a heat/chemical reaction but I don't know what it is. Has anyone had this happen before and what was the work around? Thanks in advance!

 

[dixiedragon]

Posting your recipe may help.

It sounds like your soap is overheating to me. What are your mixing temps?

 

[shunt2011]

Are you doing hot process or cold process? I agree posting your recipe may help in trouble shooting.

 

[Belinda02]

You might try reducing the amount of soap until u conquer your problem.

 

[AustinStraight]

Is there any sugar in it? What about essential oils/fragrance oils? Those can cause soap to overheat, too.

 

[cmzaha]

I am thinking you are soaping to hot

 

[Jeanea]

Definitely sounds like overheat, but from what

 

[Lather Me Gently]

Interesting to know essential oils can overheat as I did add some this time. The recipe is olive oil, coconut oil, green palm oil, caustic soda, water, cacao powder and peppermint essential oil. I feel like it may have been a reaction between the cacao and the peppermint just due to the consistency of the overflow (almost crumbly and looked like wet cake). When mixing the water and caustic soda I did so slowly so it wasn't too hot. When everything was mixed together I believe the temp was around 45-47●. I couldn't tell you how much cacao or peppermint I put in though, just enough to make the mix brown and smell nice. I guess it would be a hot process mix (??) as it's heated on the stove before being molded.

 

[Neve]

I've done peppermint EO and cocoa with no issues.

 

[DeeAnna]

"... I guess it would be a hot process mix (??) as it's heated on the stove before being molded. ..."

I suspect you are doing some kind of odd cold process method, because hot process soap shouldn't expand and overflow in the mold if you've saponified the soap properly. If you're doing HP the way I do it, all that heating and expansion should be happening in the soap pot, not after you've molded the soap.

If you want to use a HP technique, make sure your batter is fully saponified before molding.

If you want to do a CP technique, soap cooler -- I suspect you're overheating your batter. Temps of 45-47 C (113 F) are pretty warm. Cool it down at least 10 C and then see if things go better for you.

 

[coffeetime]

I've done peppermint EO and cocoa with no issues.

me too.

 

[Lather Me Gently]

I think I may have figured it out - I was mixing my lye and fats at too high temps (not letting them cool enough before mixing) and then I was letting the mix trace for too long. A combination of both means a very hot thick mix. We'll see how the cake turns out tomorrow. Fingers crossed!!

 

[Susie]

If you do not have a thermometer, and are doing CP, then you should heat your solid oils just enough to melt them. Then add the room temperature liquid oils to that to cool it even further. Check to be sure your lye mixture has come down to about the same temperature as the oils, and you should be OK. If you have added sugar, milk, or anything else that might cause additional heating, you may want to think about putting it into the freezer for 24 hours.

 

[Lather Me Gently]

Thanks so much for your help everyone, I think I have it down pat now!