Does anybody know why my soap turned out like this? I used honey, turmeric, Shea butter, coconut oil and almond oil. I also used the heat transfer method for the first time. I have a feeling maybe I added too much honey and it overheated because it does have a burnt smoky smell to it but idk. Aaaaa
Question
- Thread starter kay333
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
Based on what little you've shared, the soap looks fine to me. It would be better if you were more specific about why you're not happy with this soap.
You'll get better advice if you provide a recipe (all ingredients in WEIGHTS, not percentages.) And also explain the process by which you made the soap.
How did you include the honey when yo prepared the soap? How warm was the soap batter or your starting ingredients? What did you do to the soap while it was in the mold -- cover it with a towel or put it in an insulated cooler, put the mold on a heating pad or in the oven, leave it uncovered, put it in the refrigerator or in a cold garage, or ???
You'll get better advice if you provide a recipe (all ingredients in WEIGHTS, not percentages.) And also explain the process by which you made the soap.
How did you include the honey when yo prepared the soap? How warm was the soap batter or your starting ingredients? What did you do to the soap while it was in the mold -- cover it with a towel or put it in an insulated cooler, put the mold on a heating pad or in the oven, leave it uncovered, put it in the refrigerator or in a cold garage, or ???
Ok but calm down though. Three question marks wasn't necessary. I just asked a simple question on why my soap looks the way it is. I didn't need a whole paragraph of you trying to lecture me. And never said I wasn't happy with it just wondering why it has a smoky smell to it and why is it two different colors but Cleary you don't have the answers. I stated that I used the heat transfer method and I did add a lot of honey to it and no I didn't cover it or use a heating pad or in oven. I added my honey during trace along with the turmeric. As for the temperatures idk didn't check because I used the heat transfer method. Didn't know I had to check the temperature for the heat transfer method I'm new to this soap making thing and I'm doing as much research as possible. But I think I know where I went wrong at now. Thanks for the help though.
The reason DeeAnna asked you to provide all those details is that there are a number of reasons why your soap could have gone wrong, and it was not clear what exactly *had* gone wrong from your perspective. I also assumed you weren't happy because the "aaaa" at the end of you post sounded like a groan, as if you needed help.
Without you providing all the specifics (you could just cut and paste your recipe from the soap calculator you used, additives (and amounts) and the method, ie; cp, hp) whoever answered you would have to take the time to type out all those questions. It is a lot easier to figure things out - and a lot more likely you will get responses - if you provide that information in your initial post. There might still be additional questions, but it's a lot easier for us than to have to tease all the details out of someone asking for help.
The information you provided is not enough to really give you any help at all. You seem like you are new enough that you don't know what you don't know (the state in which we all started), so the best way to move forward is to just info dump about everything you used and everything you did.
@DeeAnna, why did you ask for weights? I actually like to see percentages because it's easier for me to see what the oil and additive balances are, so I'm sure I'm missing something.
Without you providing all the specifics (you could just cut and paste your recipe from the soap calculator you used, additives (and amounts) and the method, ie; cp, hp) whoever answered you would have to take the time to type out all those questions. It is a lot easier to figure things out - and a lot more likely you will get responses - if you provide that information in your initial post. There might still be additional questions, but it's a lot easier for us than to have to tease all the details out of someone asking for help.
The information you provided is not enough to really give you any help at all. You seem like you are new enough that you don't know what you don't know (the state in which we all started), so the best way to move forward is to just info dump about everything you used and everything you did.
@DeeAnna, why did you ask for weights? I actually like to see percentages because it's easier for me to see what the oil and additive balances are, so I'm sure I'm missing something.
Last edited:
Understood I just felt like she could have worded it better in my opinion. It came off a little rude to me. And the aaa at the end was an accident. Didn't realize until after I had posted it. Thanks for the advice though.
If we're just sharing recipes, I'd MUCH rather get recipes in percentages like you. Troubleshooting is different, however. When an OP is asking for help because they're having problems with a batch, it's better to get their recipe in weights for several reasons:
So many beginning soap makers think the percentages are sufficient information, but percentages don't give the whole story. Beginners don't always realize they should also give the total weight of fats they used. Some problems are related to batch size, as in the case of overheating, emulsion failure, discoloration due to heat, partial gel, volcanoes, etc.
In addition, some ingredients, such as colorants and sugars, are often measured in units of volume (teaspoons, etc). If the main ingredients are in percentages, it's impossible to know if they used a lot of that ingredient in proportion to the total batch or only a little. For example, it might be important to know if a hypothetical 1 tablespoon of honey went into a batch of 1000 grams of fats or only 100 grams of fats.
We also sometimes see people giving some of the main ingredients in percentages and give other main ingredients in terms of volume or weight units. There's no way a recipe given like that can be useful for troubleshooting. But the mix of units gives us a chance to educate the soap maker about always weighing ingredients, especially main ingredients. If we only see recipes in percentages or only see screenshots of the recipe in a soap calc, we'd never know the soap maker is having some confusion about the way they are measuring their ingredients.
Last but not least, if an OP types out their recipe in weights, those weights are often the recipe they ~actually~ made. If they give percentages or just give a screenshot of the recipe in Soapcalc, that's almost always the recipe they ~intended~ to make. They aren't necessarily the same thing. If the soap maker mis-measured or made another error as beginners often do, then getting their recipe in weights can make it easier to doublecheck their as-made recipe to figure out if user error is a problem.
So ... it's just easier to ask people to give their recipe, all ingredients, all in weights, no percentages. Overall, that results in having to ask the OP fewer questions, gives the troubleshooters more clarity about what was done, and provides more insight into the possible causes of certain problems.
Last edited:
Tone is so hard to convey in writing, even harder to discern, and I think you may have misjudged. @DeeAnna is one of the most knowledgeable people here. She didn't give you a whole paragraph of lecturing, and she certainly wasn't rude.... she gave you a whole paragraph of perfectly reasonable requests to accurately diagnose your issue -- which, as she pointed out, isn't well-defined in your original post. Some people like soap like yours looks, and others like a smokey smell. Soap making is an art, and people like very different things.
As far as ??? I think she meant it as a stand-in for yet another option of how you may have handled your soap, like fill-in-the-blank, not aggressive key mashing.
The people who patiently answer questions for new makers, over and over and over again, are generous with their time and knowledge and receive nothing in return — the only goal is to help people new to soap making, like you, enjoy the process safely. That's why very specific details are needed.
Welcome, very pretty soap (I actually like how it looks), and hope you find the answers your seeking.
artemis
Mostly Harmless
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2016
- Messages
- 2,683
- Reaction score
- 4,630
Ya. Most of us here on the forum would have asked for the same information that DeeAnna did. It just helps us know what's really going on.
Thanks for explaining, @DeeAnna, I didn't get that at all before. When newbies post numbers rather than percentages it makes me less likely to help because then *I* have to put their numbers into soapcalc and it seems like that much more work, which is irritating to me because I am lazy 
Is there a sticky about what info people should provide and how when asking for troubleshooting help? It would be a lot easier to cut and paste a link to that than having to reply with all the necessary questions. I admit, I often avoid newbie questions (which I know is one of the important functions of this board) because of all the follow up questions you have to pose/work you have to do just to start the troubleshooting process.
Is there a sticky about what info people should provide and how when asking for troubleshooting help? It would be a lot easier to cut and paste a link to that than having to reply with all the necessary questions. I admit, I often avoid newbie questions (which I know is one of the important functions of this board) because of all the follow up questions you have to pose/work you have to do just to start the troubleshooting process.
Last edited:
I don't think so. I know the soapmaking forum on Reddit does have a written policy about what info is required from the OP when asking for help, so it's certainly something that's do-able.
From my (lazy) perspective that's a good idea. Admins, if you are reading, what do you think? I'm happy to draft an initial sticky that others can add to/edit. Or edit a sticky that someone else does.
Best to contact the admins/mods directly.
I recently did a honey soap (1st time) and I was hugely disappointed. It smelled horrible (burnt), but I let it cure and it smells lovely and the way it should with that fragrance. I also did a tumeric soap last month and I CPOP'd the main loaf, then the single molds I had leftover just saponified on my counter. Needless to say the main loaf was Brown'er than the singletons. Both still work great.
At first I read the question to be why oz/gm or percentage.
I hadn’t thought about cup/ tbsp to oz/percentage. Converting cups etc into percent or oz would take time converting the volumes into a weight of each item first.
Sometimes my mind locks on one way to do things.
Thanks for opening my mind again!
I hadn’t thought about cup/ tbsp to oz/percentage. Converting cups etc into percent or oz would take time converting the volumes into a weight of each item first.
Sometimes my mind locks on one way to do things.
Thanks for opening my mind again!
I've had the same issue with batches made with beer and also egg. They can smell odd at first, but the odd odor dissipates during the cure.
Honey is based on what are called "reducing" sugars and reducing sugars do react chemically with strong alkali. Non-reducing sugars, such as the sugars found in white table sugar, don't react as much, so table sugar is not as likely to darken soap or cause weird odors.
Some soap I've made does have a permanent odd odor -- neem seed oil, pine tar, and a small experimental batch with cow's butter. I have learned to like the neem odor in soap (neem pairs really well with lime fragrance oil) and my spouse loves that smoky pine tar. I finally gave up on the batch with butter, but it was fun to try it once just for grins.
That is good to know thanks. I thought it was just my stinky batch lol.
Tone is not hard for me to convey in writing. Like I said she could have said it better...especially with me being new to this there was no need for all of that.
