Soap took 24 hours to trace! (possibly humorous newbie tale)

[Guest]

Hi all-- I made my first batch of CP soap this weekend. (I'm planning to give my friends handmade soaps in custom scents for Christmas.) I did a lot of research, had my supplies all lined up, and re-read the recipe a zillion times.

I weighed my water, and it looked like a ton! Added the lye. Weighed my olive oil, and my brand-new gallon jug actually ran out. In a panic, I topped it off with almond oil, thinking it'd have a smiliar SAP value. There was no way all of this was fitting into my soap pot, even without the coconut and palm added into it yet.

So I re-checked everything, and I had been using the kilogram side of the scale instead of the pound side. I re-measured everything as best I could. But the soap took 24 hours to trace, instead of the 7-40 minutes indicated in recipe. (After an hour of stirring I gave up, left the pot on the counter, and let it do its own thing.)

What I poured into the molds looked nice and smooth and even. Is there any chance that it will actually turn into usable soap?

 

[soapbuddy]

Olive and Almond have different SAP values. Could you recalculate your recipe and see how much of a difference there is in the lye?

Irena

 

[orangeblossom]

I totally did this when I first started too! Only, I think I used Walnut oil, because it was in my pantry! My soap traced fine, but was really hard and powdery and brittle and I thought it looked scary, so I tossed it (which killed me, but I wasn't sure if it was safe or not).

Needless to say, I've ALWAYS remembered it, and have never done it since. Since then, I always measure my fats first, then get the other stuff together, because if I don't have enough lye, the oils won't spoil!

Good luck and keep at it!

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Aww shucks! You could try to save it if you know how much of each oil you poured in the pot. You could like Irena mentioned go to SoapCalc and figure it all out. I would masterbatch a big quanity and have the oils mixed ready for the next time to measure out. I masterbatch all the time!

Paul.... :wink: