Soft soap

[bootsbrew]

I have been making soap successfully for over a year and I just bought a new batch of lye - same brand, same supplier etc. The lye did appear a finer grain than the previous batches. When I added it to the water it didn't steam or heat up as much as usual and cooled quickly. When I poured the lye/water solution into the oils I found there were some undisolved granules at the bottom of the container. Then it didn't really get to trace very light trace is a stretch..... I poured into the molds anyway and left it 3 days. It got to the consistency of soft cheese when I cut it. Not sure if it will harden at all.

Can anyone advise what happened here and if the soap will harden and be useable.

Thanks so much.

 

[Jody]

Almost the same thing happened to me yesterday. It is still really, really, really soft today. I have made lots of soap and I have made this recipe before with no problem and it is the same brand of lye I always use. I tried adding some white kaolin clay to the lye water to try and make whiter soap. Maybe this is the problem?

 

[bootsbrew]

Did the soap make it to trace?

 

[artisan soaps]

..

 

[KD]

I have had the same problem with lye that I purchased from HH. I did make a successful batch by doing the following: using the 0% superfat quantity of lye, using the lowest recommended amount of water, and heating the lye mixture to 125 degrees in a pot of water. I mixed both the oils and the lye mix at 125. The soap heated but did not gel. It looks good on day three; not soft at all. I found that the lye dissolved better after heat was applied as it was not generating its own heat. I have an inquiry in to HH. I will post more feedback when I hear from them.

 

[bootsbrew]

Thank you very much, I considered heating the lye water but was a little afraid to. That ok to do then hey?

Thanks again for this very helpful. What a great forum.

 

[MikeInPdx]

Seriously, I would get something that is pure lye rather than heating it. If it has fillers, you probably don't want it in your soap (who knows if the fillers are skin safe???), and you're not going to get an accurate lye calculation, so you're not going to know what your lye discount is.

Just my HO but I would get rid of it.

 

[KD]

I contacted HH about the lye. I agree that it is a finer grain than my previous containers. HH said that they realize soapers are having a few problem, and my local store has offered to replace mine with new stock from the warehouse. HH states that it is just lye and that no ingredients have been added. I have made five batches of soap since my last post, and they all look good. I have kept temps at 125 for both the lye/milk solution and the oils. It is heating in the molds and I am not seeing the softness and greasiness that I had on batches following my 85 degree rule. I have superfatted at 4% for the last couple of batches and discounted fluid a bit.

 

[bootsbrew]

Thanks for this information I am planning on going back to the store too today. Thanks for keeping me up to date.

 

[carebear]

If you found crystals in your lye solution container, it's likely there are some undissolved crystals in your soap as well. I personally toss stuff like that because I'm not sure the crystals would dissolve and disperse in rebatching (besides I HATE rebatching).

Interesting that HH acknowledged that soapers are having problems but don't state that they are analyzing their lye. Hmmm.[/i]

 

[bootsbrew]

than you for that, I was considering a rebatch but I have not done that before. I use olive, coconut and castor oil so expensive (4lb) batch to chuck but you are right, there could be crystals in the soap. Thank you.

 

[KD]

I received two replacement jugs of lye crystals from Home Hardware today. So far, so good. It is heating up and dissolving as it should. Their response to all the trouble is that they had a batch that was refusing to dissolve as it should. Therefore, it was not kicking out heat or gelling as it should in the mold. They say that there was nothing added or taken away from the actual chemical, so the notion that there are undesirable extras going into the soap mix is a myth. Crystals of undissolved lye would be more of an issue. As I said in an earlier post, heating of the lye solution to dissolve those crystals seemed to rectify the situation. However, I am very relieved that we are back to normal, and I would urge anyone who obtained this faulty batch of lye to take it back to the store. They were more than happy to replace it.

 

[dagmar88]

Good for you they replaced the lye.
But; as it could have been they had changed the composition of the NaOH, this should not be labeled as a myth. It was a very real possibility.