Seized

[Katrax]

:crazy:
I generally make glycerin soaps but started making CP soaps last year. I made a recipe today that seized as soon as I put the lye/water into the oils. I had not yet added any FO's or EO's and the temperature of the lye/water and oils were both 100 degrees. I wanted to cry .. but muster through and I managed to "plop" and smooth it into my mold but there was extra and it became way too firm so I hot processed it and put in a smaller mold. Not sure if either will look/feel ok when done.
Does anyone know why it seized right away without any scent yet added?
help ...

 

[dixiedragon]

What was your recipe?

Sniff your oils. Do any of them smell rancid - harsh and sour? One poster here explained to me that when an oil becomes rancid, it breaks down into different components, and one of those components is stearic acid. When I was using some rancid mango butter at 10%, it caused my soap to seize.

 

[Meganmischke]

Without the recipe the only thing I can recommend is check the accuracy of your scale. A us nickel weighs 5g.

 

[Katrax]

I used olive oil, coconut oil and palm oil and they were all new. However, I used 6 ounces of castor oil (it was older) and 6 oz of stearic acid (sealed in a bag but definitely over a year old). Could one of those been the culprit?

 

[Katrax]

There is still a bit of castor oil in the bottle and it does smell a bit off? Could it have been that? Even though only 6 oz where used?

 

[Meganmischke]

I would say the stearic caused the problem.

 

[Katrax]

Without the recipe the only thing I can recommend is check the accuracy of your scale. A us nickel weighs 5g.

I used 16oz olive oil
16oz coconut oil
12oz palm oil
6oz castor oil
6oz stearic acid
18.7 oz water
8.5 oz lye

 

[Katrax]

Thanks. I also just discovered my digital scale is off by 0.15 .. not good

 

[Meganmischke]

I find it incredibly difficult to incorporate stearic acid in cp soap. do you often use stearic without problems?

 

[Katrax]

I find it incredibly difficult to incorporate stearic acid in cp soap. do you often use stearic without problems?

No, I don't usually use it. I read it helps to make a harder bar, thought I'd try. Won't try that again. After I molded it, I CPOP the batch - it turned out ok, just was not able to do fancy swirls with my colours instead, they are just layers. No stearic next time. Thanks all

 

[KatieShephard]

Maybe you could decrease the amount of stearic and still benefit from the hardening properties? Instead of using 6oz, use 1oz? I'm a newbie...just throwing ideas out there!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

When using steric, hot process is much better. If you want to incorporate some, I would go down that route

 

[Katrax]

Sounds good. Maybe, I'll just omit it. So frustrating because I had a mash potato mixture instantly.

 

[Katrax]

That's a good idea. Maybe I'll try that. Question .. maybe you know, if you rebatch soap (i only tried once in a crock pot) does it always come out lumpy? Mine did and I had shredded the bars first but the bars were lumpy and a weird texture after, not smooth.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Rebatching is not hp. If you do hp you can indeed get some smoother looking bars - of course you can also get some pretty rustic looking ones, too -

Using sodium lactate and plenty of water will help with a smoother look.

But if even then it is not smooth enough, maybe hp and steric are not options at the moment. They don't need to be - you can get the results you want with no steric, I'm sure

ETA - I have never really rebatched a soap, but I have seen pictures where it looks like hp soap, no real traces of lumps of old soap still in there

 

[TheOneWhoSoaps]

You can make a nice firm bar with just the Olive, Palm and Coconut oils alone, you can give that a try next time without any hassles.
I'd save the stearic acid and sodium lactate for a little further down the path, or try using them in a lotion

 

[CaraBou]

For a harder bar, I recommend a water discount. I like soaping with a 2:1 water to lye ratio if the FOs, colorants, etc aren't expected to speed trace too much. It makes a pretty firm bar in 24 hours, even in a silicone mold. That would be 14.4 oz of water for the recipe you've listed, which is 4.3 oz less than what you used. If you're worried about acceleration, then try something in between 14.4 and the 18.7 in your current recipe. You can play around in SoapCalc with either the "Water as % of Oils" or "Water:Lye Ratio" to get varying water discounts.

Other options are to increase your palm oil at the expense of a soft oil, or dissolve a tsp of salt ppo to the water, before you add the lye.

 

[shunt2011]

I agree it was probably the stearic. It has be stay relatively warm to stay melted. So, it probably got too cool and it solidified.

 

[Katrax]

Rebatching is not hp. If you do hp you can indeed get some smoother looking bars - of course you can also get some pretty rustic looking ones, too -

Using sodium lactate and plenty of water will help with a smoother look.

But if even then it is not smooth enough, maybe hp and steric are not options at the moment. They don't need to be - you can get the results you want with no steric, I'm sure

ETA - I have never really rebatched a soap, but I have seen pictures where it looks like hp soap, no real traces of lumps of old soap still in there

Thanks so much. This forum is great, so many helpful people.

Thanks

Thanks so much. Such a wonderful forum of great, helpful people.

 

[Katrax]

Thanks to everyone who came to my aid, gave me advise and just lent a shoulder. Much success today. Made two big batches of soap a lavender/patchouli and the Cracklin Birch - they both turned out great The hard part now is waiting to unmold them tomorrow .. patience not my strong suit but soaping helps!
Cheers all