Stearic acid

[Sunibee]

Hi, my coffee soap was a disaster . I added stearic acid into my oils. I had no way of righting that .. when I added my lye. It was all stone on a stick .. the only way fwd was crockpot .. tried the ho way it was pretty difficult to break up the stearic acid stones with the blender. .. any other thoughts on this please ..
Thank you in advance

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Eww, sorry!
(Free) stearic acid is indeed a beast to work with. I wouldn't use it in CP soap at all, for the very reasons you've witnessed. Stearic acid is not (no longer) an oil, but has the better part of its saponification already behind it – so it reacts with lye instantly, to form very hard soap.

That doesn't mean that stearic acid doesn't have a place in soapmaking. First, hot process is your friend. Stearic soap is reasonably pliable when hot. Then, you don't have to add all the stearic acid at the beginning, but you can spread the addition over several small portions, along with the (slow, like in 1 or 2 hours) reaction of the other oils with lye. Cream soap and shave soap are typical types of soap that work with large amounts of free stearic acid on a regular basis. Check out their recipes.

Another way to get stearate into your soap is to use oils that are naturally high in (chemically bound, not free) stearic acid, that is “butters” (shea, cocoa, kokum, …), animal fats (tallow, lard), or soy wax (hydrogenated vegetable oils).

If you have any desire to salvage your soap-on-a-stick disaster, you might slice/grate it up, and give Oven Rebatch (CP) a chance.

 

[Sunibee]

Eww, sorry!
(Free) stearic acid is indeed a beast to work with. I wouldn't use it in CP soap at all, for the very reasons you've witnessed. Stearic acid is not (no longer) an oil, but has the better part of its saponification already behind it – so it reacts with lye instantly, to form very hard soap.

That doesn't mean that stearic acid doesn't have a place in soapmaking. First, hot process is your friend. Stearic soap is reasonably pliable when hot. Then, you don't have to add all the stearic acid at the beginning, but you can spread the addition over several small portions, along with the (slow, like in 1 or 2 hours) reaction of the other oils with lye. Cream soap and shave soap are typical types of soap that work with large amounts of free stearic acid on a regular basis. Check out their recipes.

Another way to get stearate into your soap is to use oils that are naturally high in (chemically bound, not free) stearic acid, that is “butters” (shea, cocoa, kokum, …), animal fats (tallow, lard), or soy wax (hydrogenated vegetable oils).

If you have any desire to salvage your soap-on-a-stick disaster, you might slice/grate it up, and give Oven Rebatch (CP) a chance.

Thank you so much @resolvable owl. It was such a mess took a long time to clean up . Coz though the dish was v big. The volcano overflowed. And I can see the stones in the soap batter.. I call them stones as I am so ticked off about how could I let this happen .. but I tried my best cooked it for some time as it already went thro soponification.. well now to wait and see . It smells delightful

 

[Sunibee]

Eww, sorry!
(Free) stearic acid is indeed a beast to work with. I wouldn't use it in CP soap at all, for the very reasons you've witnessed. Stearic acid is not (no longer) an oil, but has the better part of its saponification already behind it – so it reacts with lye instantly, to form very hard soap.

That doesn't mean that stearic acid doesn't have a place in soapmaking. First, hot process is your friend. Stearic soap is reasonably pliable when hot. Then, you don't have to add all the stearic acid at the beginning, but you can spread the addition over several small portions, along with the (slow, like in 1 or 2 hours) reaction of the other oils with lye. Cream soap and shave soap are typical types of soap that work with large amounts of free stearic acid on a regular basis. Check out their recipes.

Another way to get stearate into your soap is to use oils that are naturally high in (chemically bound, not free) stearic acid, that is “butters” (shea, cocoa, kokum, …), animal fats (tallow, lard), or soy wax (hydrogenated vegetable oils).

If you have any desire to salvage your soap-on-a-stick disaster, you might slice/grate it up, and give Oven Rebatch (CP) a chance.

Also coz it was half liquid and half soap on a stick

 

[Sunibee]

Eww, sorry!
(Free) stearic acid is indeed a beast to work with. I wouldn't use it in CP soap at all, for the very reasons you've witnessed. Stearic acid is not (no longer) an oil, but has the better part of its saponification already behind it – so it reacts with lye instantly, to form very hard soap.

That doesn't mean that stearic acid doesn't have a place in soapmaking. First, hot process is your friend. Stearic soap is reasonably pliable when hot. Then, you don't have to add all the stearic acid at the beginning, but you can spread the addition over several small portions, along with the (slow, like in 1 or 2 hours) reaction of the other oils with lye. Cream soap and shave soap are typical types of soap that work with large amounts of free stearic acid on a regular basis. Check out their recipes.

Another way to get stearate into your soap is to use oils that are naturally high in (chemically bound, not free) stearic acid, that is “butters” (shea, cocoa, kokum, …), animal fats (tallow, lard), or soy wax (hydrogenated vegetable oils).

If you have any desire to salvage your soap-on-a-stick disaster, you might slice/grate it up, and give Oven Rebatch (CP) a chance.

The final outcome.they smell so yummy. These will be for personal use .

 

[ResolvableOwl]

OK, the result doesn't quite look as terrible as it could have .

Have you zap tested the respective pieces if they will be safe to use?

 

[Sunibee]

OK, the result doesn't quite look as terrible as it could have .

Have you zap tested the respective pieces if they will be safe to use?

Yes it's. Thankfullyvnot zapping me

 

[Sunibee]

Yes it's. Thankfullyvnot zapping me

I have named this coffee mellow. Smell gets menall. Mellow

 

[Zifnab]

I learned this lesson the "hard" way just a few weeks ago . I have since learned that you can successfully use stearic in cp, provided that you soap with your oils and lye water at a minimum of 160 ° F (I usually soap between 80-85). I haven't tried this method yet as I'm still suffering from PTSD from my first attempt lol.

 

[Becky1024]

I learned this lesson the "hard" way just a few weeks ago . I have since learned that you can successfully use stearic in cp, provided that you soap with your oils and lye water at a minimum of 160 ° F (I usually soap between 80-85). I haven't tried this method yet as I'm still suffering from PTSD from my first attempt lol.

I do something similar with my shave soaps but I HP mine for a short while. I recommend getting your oils and lye water nice and hot (around 150 - 160 F) before mixing. Make sure all the stearic acid is melted and mixed in with your oils before adding the lye water, and stick blend only in small bursts. When I make shave soap I stick blend for a couple of seconds, then hand stir for around 30 seconds, then stick blend a few more seconds, etc. With HP if the oils don't all get mixed in right away because it gets too thick, you can cook it awhile and then stir some more. I find a short HP of about 20 minutes works best for me, but it will depend on your recipe. You may want to mix some sodium lactate or yogurt into your batter before pouring it into the mold. Stearic acid may make your batter very thick and the sodium lactate or yogurt will help it be more fluid.

 

[Zifnab]

I do something similar with my shave soaps but I HP mine for a short while. I recommend getting your oils and lye water nice and hot (around 150 - 160 F) before mixing. Make sure all the stearic acid is melted and mixed in with your oils before adding the lye water, and stick blend only in small bursts. When I make shave soap I stick blend for a couple of seconds, then hand stir for around 30 seconds, then stick blend a few more seconds, etc. With HP if the oils don't all get mixed in right away because it gets too thick, you can cook it awhile and then stir some more. I find a short HP of about 20 minutes works best for me, but it will depend on your recipe. You may want to mix some sodium lactate or yogurt into your batter before pouring it into the mold. Stearic acid may make your batter very thick and the sodium lactate or yogurt will help it be more fluid.

Honestly, it's probably not something I would try again...not anytime soon anyway. I was just trying this because I wanted to try using mainly "soft" oils, with a bit of stearic for hardness.

 

[sokysoaper]

@Sunibee Hi. I'm late to the game here, and am not one to post a lot. I troll and learn. Don't feel like I'm ready to teach. I'm curious, what percent of your oils was stearic acid? I made a dish soap a few weeks ago. It's not cured yet, but it is much harder than normal. I added 1% stearic acid to a soap that was 85% coconut oil. It did, of course, set up quicker than a normal soap, but I had plenty of time to get it into molds - both loaf and individual. Is it just my imagination that it is harder with such a small amount of the SA?

 

[Sunibee]

@Sunibee Hi. I'm late to the game here, and am not one to post a lot. I troll and learn. Don't feel like I'm ready to teach. I'm curious, what percent of your oils was stearic acid? I made a dish soap a few weeks ago. It's not cured yet, but it is much harder than normal. I added 1% stearic acid to a soap that was 85% coconut oil. It did, of course, set up quicker than a normal soap, but I had plenty of time to get it into molds - both loaf and individual. Is it just my imagination that it is harder with such a small amount of the SA?

Hi, I added 3% stearic acid. This was for a high temp fluid hp soap. .. this was to beas a tracer .. .. all is well anyway .. The pH is between 7- 9

 

[Sunibee]

Hi, I added 3% stearic acid. This was for a high temp fluid hp soap. .. this was to beas a tracer .. .. all is well anyway .. The pH is between 7- 9

The centre soap is the one which went haywire.

 

[AliOop]

Hi @Sunibee I am wondering why you are attempting a pH test on this soap. If you need to do that for some reason, it would be better to use a pH meter, as those strips are very unreliable.

Case in point, the pH of lye soap cannot be 7, because soap starts breaking down (i.e., it stops being soap) once the pH is lower than ~8. Also, the pH test will not tell you if the soap is lye-heavy.

Here is a good article that explains more about the pH of soap.

 

[Sunibee]

Eww, sorry!
(Free) stearic acid is indeed a beast to work with. I wouldn't use it in CP soap at all, for the very reasons you've witnessed. Stearic acid is not (no longer) an oil, but has the better part of its saponification already behind it – so it reacts with lye instantly, to form very hard soap.

That doesn't mean that stearic acid doesn't have a place in soapmaking. First, hot process is your friend. Stearic soap is reasonably pliable when hot. Then, you don't have to add all the stearic acid at the beginning, but you can spread the addition over several small portions, along with the (slow, like in 1 or 2 hours) reaction of the other oils with lye. Cream soap and shave soap are typical types of soap that work with large amounts of free stearic acid on a regular basis. Check out their recipes.

Another way to get stearate into your soap is to use oils that are naturally high in (chemically bound, not free) stearic acid, that is “butters” (shea, cocoa, kokum, …), animal fats (tallow, lard), or soy wax (hydrogenated vegetable oils).

If you have any desire to salvage your soap-on-a-stick disaster, you might slice/grate it up, and give Oven Rebatch (CP) a chance.

@ ResolvableOwl. I tried my coffee soap. ..the soap was fine but the white spots of static acid which I did not check have given me a skin burn .. when I did the zap test on the spot. It zapped me. . , . Now sitting and grating the whole batch and will rebatch it.

 

[Rsapienza]

I’m curious to know why people are using stearic in their CP recipes to begin with. Other than shave soaps, I have never even thought of using it in soap. Did you guys find a recipe somewhere that had it, or did you formulate these recipes on your own?

 

[Sunibee]

I’m curious to know why people are using stearic in their CP recipes to begin with. Other than shave soaps, I have never even thought of using it in soap. Did you guys find a recipe somewhere that had it, or did you formulate these recipes on your own?

Never said it was CP. It was to be a fluid HP

 

[Rsapienza]

Never said it was CP. It was to be a fluid HP

Gotcha I probably shouldn’t have specified CP, as I have never added it to HP either (other than shave soaps).

 

[Sunibee]

Gotcha I probably shouldn’t have specified CP, as I have never added it to HP either (other than shave soaps).

Okay..from day 1 learnt to add staeric acid to HTFHP..