Salt Crumblies

[LuvOurNewf]

Hoping to get some input as to what went wrong.

Took my first stab at a salt bar today. Mixed everything as I would a typical batch, water, lye in one container, oils in another. Mixed the lye/water into the oils and added the salt. Into the mold and covered for 2 hours. After 2 hours out it came, warm but not overly. Into the cutter and about 3/4 of the way down, each bar crumbled away. Ideas?

Recipe was:
Mold holds 31 1/2 ozs. of oil so I figured 80% or 25.2
Coconut 23.2 ozs.
Shea 2.0 ozs.
Water 8.3
Lye 3.7
Superfat at 18%
Salt at 70% of oils or 17.6 ozs.

Water/lye was room temperature
Oils at 110*

Also used a little charcoal for a swirl, about 1/2 teaspoon.

Thought I did everything right, maybe my temperatures were the problem?

 

[nebetmiw]

What type of salt? Did you use full water or discount?

 

[Fragola]

Was your soap hard when you started to cut ?

Because salt bars do tend to harden very quickly (possibly sooner than 2 hours) and if they are hard when cutting, they will crumble. I don't know if it's even possible to choose a timing for the cut which is 100% crumbleless. Certainly not at your first try.

For this reason, I only use individual molds for salties.

On topic of water discount - I base my calculations on the lye ratio, which coconut, gives a peculiar result: the full water (which for other oils has a 2.7-ish ratio) gave me only 2.1

Which numbers I hadn't noticed before, so after scratching my head, I decided to up the water slightly.

 

[LuvOurNewf]

What type of salt? Did you use full water or discount?

Used sea salt, don't remember the brand and I had the water at 33%. I did notice that the loaf was "wet" as in condensation which I assumed was a by-product of the added salt. The loaf was a little stiff when cutting. Until the last 1" then it crumbled.

 

[LuvOurNewf]

Was your soap hard when you started to cut ?

On topic of water discount - I base my calculations on the lye ratio, which coconut, gives a peculiar result: the full water (which for other oils has a 2.7-ish ratio) gave me only 2.1

Which numbers I hadn't noticed before, so after scratching my head, I decided to up the water slightly.

Sounds like my ratio of 2.25/1 may have been a little low?

 

[nebetmiw]

I would try it again with full water if you use 70 % salt. That might help.

Problem is using coconut with no true luquid oils. Shea being a stiff oil does not help matters.

You will have to play a bit to find what works best with salt for you. My first mostly crumbles too. I just now rebatch all those crumbles into another bar. My other batches have been much better. Salt is a real learning experiance.

 

[LuvOurNewf]

I would try it again with full water if you use 70 % salt. That might help.

Problem is using coconut with no true luquid oils. Shea being a stiff oil does not help matters.

You will have to play a bit to find what works best with salt for you. My first mostly crumbles too. I just now rebatch all those crumbles into another bar. My other batches have been much better. Salt is a real learning experiance.

Thanks for the advice. I'll up the water and was thinking of Castor in lieu of the Shea next time. Plus 70% salt seemed high when I was mixing. Almost like mixing wall paper paste. Maybe I'll tweak this amount also.

Nice to have options.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

Shea in salt bars is beautiful, with a bit of castor is even better. I gave up on battling with the crumbles and just use silicone muffin trays. They come out lovely and smooth. The shape is perfect for me too because I use my salt bars as facial bars.

Lowering your % of salt, and increasing your water will help with cutting though

 

[paillo]

Shea in salt bars is beautiful, with a bit of castor is even better. I gave up on battling with the crumbles and just use silicone muffin trays. They come out lovely and smooth. The shape is perfect for me too because I use my salt bars as facial bars.

Lowering your % of salt, and increasing your water will help with cutting though

this! i use individual molds as well, flora and fauna facial bars. salt is definitely a learning experience, but so much worth the effort.

 

[Jezzy]

I always cut my salt bars within about an hour. If you have crumblies you have waited to long...

 

[LuvOurNewf]

I always cut my salt bars within about an hour. If you have crumblies you have waited to long...

I think next time I'm going to try lowering the salt amount and cutting sooner. You get in the mode of cutting 24 - 36 hours after a "normal" batch and don't realize how fast the salt bars firm up.

 

[Jezzy]

I use 100% salt to oils and watch it like a hawk. I like to add yogurt to mine so it heats up fast which causes it to firm up faster. You insulated which probably caused it to get warm too... Gotta watch those salt bars! ;-) they are worth it though

 

[cheesenoodle]

What is salt in soap supposed to do?