Please help!!! Second CP failure this week.UPDATE!!!!!!!!!

[valkyriesmyst]

Hello

Ok so I'm so confused as to what I'm doing wrong. I'm a soap newb obviously. I finally rounded up everything I needed to make soap. Which is a lot. The only thing I don't have is a stick blender. I'm just starting out with 1 pound batches till I get the hang of things. I've carefully measured everything on the scale, wait till everything is the right temperature. I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. My soap just doesn't seem to get thick (trace) like it is supposed to. Here is my recipe (which I checked on the calculator and it seems right on).

Lye 2.4 oz
Water 6 oz.
Shea Butter 2 oz.
Almond Oil 4 oz.
Olive Oil 5 oz.
Coconut Oil 5 oz.

Superfat : Castor Oil 1 TBL ( I never got this far)

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Basically I make my lye solution then melt my oils, when both are at 110 degrees I pour the water into the oils and stir. The recipe says to stir for around 10 or 20 minutes. Last night I stirred for 45 minutes and just gave it up. I poured it into a thick glass bread pan and it was just toxic stew. I could see the oils seperating so I tossed it. I felt so defeated because this was my second try with the same results. Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong? I appreciate any help or advice. I've lurked on this forum and I have the Everything Soap book which is where I got the recipe. Thanks in advance.

 

[madartist]

Re: Please help!!! Second CP failure this week.

....The only thing I don't have is a stick blender. ....
... I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. My soap just doesn't seem to get thick (trace) like it is supposed to....
... The recipe says to stir for around 10 or 20 minutes. Last night I stirred for 45 minutes and just gave it up


...Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I think the one thing you don't have is the one thing you need. A stick blender. Stirring is one thing....beating the crap out of it is another. In every book I've ever read, they stress real BRISK stirring (up, down, left, right,.... everywhere! not missing a speck). I'm afraid to hand stir too hard because of splashing. So I depend HEAVILY on a stick blender. I use the stick blender in my left hand, and with a spatula in the right hand, I direct the batter INTO the stick blender's path. I think your only problem was you gave up too soon. Some recipes have taken over an hour to finally trace. (and when they say stir, they mean STIR...constant consistent, and with force

 

[valkyriesmyst]

Thanks Maddy. I had a feeling that might be it but when the book says 10-20 minutes I'm thinking after a half hour of stirring something is wrong. I'm stirring it like it's cake batter, the book doesn't comment on how vigorously to stir it either. I think I'll get a stick blender tonight and try again. I'm going to be over the moon when I get it right.

I love your sig btw.

 

[carebear]

WELL over an hour. my first batch of 100% olive oil soap (warm lye solution, room temp olive oil) took 1.5 days to trace when stirring with a spoon...

I was not a happy camper.

 

[madartist]

... I think I'll get a stick blender tonight and try again. I'm going to be over the moon when I get it right.

One word of caution (particularly with recipes that take a long time to trace). When you feel the SB getting warm in your hand, shut it off and continue hand blending. let it (the SB) cool down a little bit and then resume using. They aren't really made to be continuously on for a long time. They can burn out. That's why I approach the stir with both hands armed. (and why I have a second SB on the counter, plugged in and waiting, in case I get too wrapped up in my mixing and my first one kicks the bucket. Yep I burned out two before I figured that out.

I love your sig btw.

Thanks!

 

[honor435]

i have bad wrists, so could never stir that long, but... i bought a sb at used store, its lasted me over 100 batches, get one! sorry bout your failed batches, keep trying!

 

[valkyriesmyst]

I'm giving it another go tonight. I went to Target and got a blender. I also splurged on a digital thermometer. I'm not giving up. I'll let you guys know how it works out. Thanks so much for the advice everyone.

 

[honor435]

if you do hp you dont have to check temps. how much was stick blender? shoulda went to used store.

 

[valkyriesmyst]

if you do hp you dont have to check temps. how much was stick blender? shoulda went to used store.

I read about HP and CP and I think I want to learn the CP.
The stick blender was 20 bucks. They had fifty dollar ones but I really couldn't tell the difference between the two. I'm good with 20 dollars though, I thought it would be more.

 

[XsTatiC]

Soap Calc

Did you use SoapCalc to calculate water/lye?

The reason I ask is the exact same thing happened to me on my first batch. SoapCalc defaults to 38% water, however it should be 30% apparently. So I stirred for about an hour and a half before I finally said... well, I said a lot of things, but I won't repeat them here. I did give up though.

Your batch is very small though so there's not as much excess water to evaporate. Still too much though I think.

 

[valkyriesmyst]

Re: Soap Calc

Did you use SoapCalc to calculate water/lye?

quote]

I checked the recipe against one soap calculator and just put in the oils first and it gave 6 ounces of water. Hmmm, so what would 30% water be then?

 

[ilove2soap]

This soap recipe was one of the first that I ever tried. I did not add the castor oil to superfat at trace, but just combined it along with the other oils (because I did not read the recipe closely enough) and the soap turned out just fine anyway. I think that you will find that the stick blender makes all the difference. This recipe actually makes a very nice bar of soap. I had trouble getting it out of the plastic loaf mold and ended up having to put in the freezer for a while to get it to unmold. Good luck with the next batch!

 

[valkyriesmyst]

This soap recipe was one of the first that I ever tried. I did not add the castor oil to superfat at trace, but just combined it along with the other oils (because I did not read the recipe closely enough) and the soap turned out just fine anyway. I think that you will find that the stick blender makes all the difference. This recipe actually makes a very nice bar of soap. I had trouble getting it out of the plastic loaf mold and ended up having to put in the freezer for a while to get it to unmold. Good luck with the next batch!

Thanks for the encouragement. It seemed like with the nice ingredients it would make nice soap. I'm confused though now because I checked another soap calculator on the Brambleberry site and it said 5.28 ounces of water. I tried another calculator that was incredibly confusing and moved on lol.

 

[madartist]

Re: Soap Calc

... so what would 30% water be then?

and the answer is ......... 4.8 oz @ 30%

I usually use 33-35% for water which, for your formula, would be 5.2 - 5.6 oz. I'd wait for a more experienced answer to corroborate this but, I think the slight difference in water would effect your drying time, more than the trace time.

 

[ilove2soap]

I made soap exactly like the book's recipe (with the exception of the castor oil at trace thing and I also made a 2 lb batch). I did not check the recipe on soapcalc or anything and that may be why my soap was harder to unmold after 24 hrs-because it was softer/wetter, (thanks Madartist). It firmed up nicely once it was unmolded and cut. I scented it with blackberry vanilla fo from wsp and the soap smells yummy and did not discolor. Let us know how yours turns out! Maybe post some pics!

 

[ChrissyB]

Using less water will account for less trace time and less water to cure out of the finished product.
Which is why, with finicky fragrance oils, I use more water (weaker lye solution) than I would with fragrance oils that I know behave themselves.

 

[madartist]

That's good to know Chrissy. By "finicky", do you mean FO's that might cause a batch to accelerate/seize? Would a weaker lye solution avoid this problem? In this case, what do you set the water percentage on soapcalc at (arrrrrg, I know you're not supposed to end a sentence in "at", but "at what percentage do you set soapcalc" sounds just as weird

 

[karajan]

Well I never used a stick blender before but what I have been using is a hand mixer. But I guess a stick blender will bring to trace faster than a mixer.

Am I correct to say that?

 

[carebear]

a hand mixer will beat air into your soap batter so it's not recommended.
don't know how they compare for sure, but I'd guess a stick blender is faster.

 

[apurwa]

wow...i felt that someone had posted my experience precisely!!!

i made another batch of soap last night and it was a total fiasco
i kept on mixing it with the sb but it totally refused to trace what more, after a lilttle while the froth and oils separated and i finally flushed it away.

heres a list of ingredients that i used..can anyone tell me what could have gone wrong?

note that i was making just one bar of soap so the ingredients ar as per that..
1> Lye - 20 gms (could be little more since i didnt measure it)
can adding more lye prevent the soap from tracing?
2> water - 45 ml
does amount of water affect tracing?
3> OO - 40 ML , Palm oil - 40 ml, castor oil - 10 ml, sunflower oil - 10 ml
4> i mixed all these oils and heated them to 75 C and added those to lye+water mixture.
Do oils and lye+water need to be at same temperature while mixing these together? what is the preferred temperature?

then i began to beat this mixture with a sb but to no use. even after 30 mins of blending i couldnt bring it to trace. and finally flushed it away.

this is my second batch. the first batch wherein i have followed the above steps came off just fine. the only difference was that in the first batch i heated the oils till 90C before mixing them with lye+water. and the lye could have been little less.

where have i gone wrong?

Apurwa.