Soap Disaster - Please Help!

[kwolf]

I attempted my first batch of soap using rendered lard yesterday and today it has clearly not set right. The recipe I used was this one...

25 ounces lard
9 ounces olive oil
4.41 ounces lye
35 ounces room-temperature water
Cypress Oil
Cedar Oil


My soap has I believe separated. There is a thin layer of liquid across the top and beneath is a very soft soap the consistency of cheesecake.

I know that re-batching might be an option, however I also read that a person should not rebatch unless they know exactly what they did wrong so they can fix it.

This is only my 5th batch of soap so I am hoping a veteran soapmaker might be able to tell what I did wrong? Could it be a temperature or overmixing issue (it took over 45 minutes to trace!) Most importantly, Can I save this batch or should I toss it?

Thanks much!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Numbers add up in the recipe. What was your process, including the approx temps that you mixed at.

What type of olive oil was it? You mention rendered lard, but lard is rendered fat - is something particular with this lard?

Where the cypress and cedar Essential oils? How much did you add and when?

Where did you put it? How long did it take for the liquid to form?

 

[dixiedragon]

Is that 35 ounces of water a typo? According to The Sage, you should have used 8-13 ounces. 35 ounces is 3 times the maximum!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I didn't pick up on that! 12 is the suggested amounts. Good catch, Dix.

 

[Susie]

With too much water being the issue, rebatch with an open crockpot on low for as long as it takes to reduce it to just about 1/2 the soap weight you started with. That means you need to weigh your crockpot, weigh the soap, then weigh the combination and subtract the soap weight from the total weight to see what you have lost. I would probably weigh every half hour. And I would still plan on a really long cure to lose more water.

I am going to assume(dangerous, I know) that the cedar and cypress oils are EO's at the proper proportions.

 

[newbie]

Well, after participating in the lye excess experiment, I wonder if this might be saved. The water requirements for that are equal to the weight of the oils. We've been discussing if there are other ways to use the technique, for instance can you use the excess water without the lye discount? The first one I made started to separate because the emulsion broke with the heat. It wasn't full separation but there was a thick layer of liquid on top with soft soap underneath, just as you describe, Kwolf.

I poured everything from the batch into a bowl and stick blended it together again. It took a bit of time to get the emulsion back but it did work and the soap then held together. You can't heat that high water recipe, we've found.

Before you decide to cook it or rebatch, I would say to have a go at trying to blend it back together. I don't think it will hurt anything. If you manage to get it back together, re-mold and then either keep it at room temp or refrigerate. No heat! If it doesn't work, you can cook it so nothing lost.

It might be worth browsing the very long thread about this high water recipe.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=42922

 

[kwolf]

The 35 was not a typo, that was what the recipe called for. I thought it seemed like far too much water also.

Thank you for all the shared resources. I'll let you know how it works out.

 

[lpstephy85]

The 35 was not a typo, that was what the recipe called for. I thought it seemed like far too much water also.

Thank you for all the shared resources. I'll let you know how it works out.

Hope you can work it out. Just a lesson in soaping life to always run any recipe through a lye calc because whoever came up with either had a typo or is unsure of what they are doing.

 

[Lion Of Judah]

The 35 was not a typo, that was what the recipe called for. I thought it seemed like far too much water also.

Thank you for all the shared resources. I'll let you know how it works out.

was this someone else recipe out of a book or online that you used without running it through a soap calculator ????

 

[kwolf]

I got the recipe from an old issue of Mother Earth news so I did not think it would need to be checked. If you follow the link that Newbie left above, it takes you to a discussion on high water recipes that people use for castille soaps with great success.

Also as Newbie suggested, I was able to blend everything back together and remold it. It set up perfectly and cut nicely into solid bars. No excess liquid to speak of. I haven't gotten around to testing the PH yet but I'm hopeful that if it is too high, a long cure will mellow it out. More about that in the article below.

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-b...ference-guest-post-kevin-dunn-aka-dr-mcsoapy/

 

[Dennis]

Also as Newbie suggested, I was able to blend everything back together and remold it. It set up perfectly and cut nicely into solid bars. No excess liquid to speak of.

Hm. What, no pics? None? There are some really fiery folks around here and we would hate for them to see this thread with no pics after all of your efforts.

Oh my! Too late!