Suddenly always soap on a stick

[Shazzer]

Hey!
I have a well-established recipe I use in almost all my soaps which I've never had issues with. For some reason, my last 3 batches - same recipe as always, and FOs I've used before without problems - have turned to soap on a stick, leaving me to frantically shovel blobs of chunky mass into my mold what could be causing this? I've used this recipe for ages and NEVER had it happen, and now 3 batches in a row?! One FO has always been difficult so I thought it was that at first, but my last batch I purposely used fragrances that in the past always slowed trace....

 

[TheGecko]

So many different things........

How old are your oils/butters? Did you change suppliers for your oils/butters? Are your FOs newly purchased? Has there been a change in soaping temperatures...in either in your oils/butters and lye solution or in the weather? Any problems with your stick blender?

 

[Susie]

Also check that your scale is still reading accurately.

 

[Shazzer]

Thanks! I will check my scale. I wondered if it could be weather.... The oil supplier is the same, the FOs are literally the same bottle as the last batches... But the weather here has gotten extremely damp and humid; I also noticed a number of my cured bars sweating significantly more than ever before...

 

[earlene]

I've never really noticed my soap being more prone to soap-on-stick during our highly humid summer months, even though those are also our Highly Hot (temperature-wise) months as well. But I'd say that's probably because I tend to limit myself to ingredients that don't accelerate trace, other than when I make Castile soap, which in my formula contains 50% pomace OO so I can speed trace when hand-stirring (no stick blender when I make Castile soap.)

So personally, I would not suspect the humidity to play a part in this particular problem.

Is it possible that your supplier accidentally sent you a mis-labeled oil? I have read that has happened a time or two, and later identified via testing of said oils.

Another possibility is that a new bottle of the same FO could cause a different problem if the formula had to be altered (sometimes this happens - companies re-formulate for a variety of reasons).

 

[TheGecko]

I've never really noticed my soap being more prone to soap-on-stick during our highly humid summer months, even though those are also our Highly Hot (temperature-wise) months as well.

We just went through some high 90s two weeks ago and it played havoc on some of my soaps. I had a batch of Rose Soap (cavity molds) that went from emulsion to soap dough in about five minutes. I did two loaves...lilac and lavender...that were setting up within 30 minutes. I remade the Rose Soap the following day and faired a bit better with some of them as it was a tad cooler.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

TIP FOR SOAP ON A STICK