Super gooey and soft soap!!

[autopsyjude]

Hello there! this is my first time making CP soap and ive made 3 batches they all havent set up!! its very disheartening

anyways, here are my recipies. i used a lab grade measuring scale... i found some sodium hydroxide (but i don't know how old it is... its not gooey and still in flake form though) and ive let them sit for more than 3 days already.

i am trying to use as little lye as possible and ive put the calculators to calculate at 10% superfat (will that be the reason why they arent setting up?)

Soap 1

coconut oil 175g
NaOH - 49.162g
Water - 115.5g
Castor Oil - 24.50
Sunflower oil - 150.50


Soap 2 I did this twice, both have not set up yet!!

coconut oil - 935g
lye - 136g
water - 272.2g

i heated the oil and lye to 80C and combined them.... it took about 5 min to get almost to trace and then 1 second later it was super thick like vaseline.... (not sure what that means but i poured then into the moulds anyways) and i put them in a warm place.

help!!! what i want is a very very simple coconut bar that uses as little lye as possible!!!1 or is this jsut a dream?

 

[snappyllama]

I'm a beginner too, but soaping at 80C seems really hot... that's 176F for us Americans. I think most folks soap in the 32C - 48C range. Like I said, I'm just a beginner...

 

[marilynmac]

You are working with about 20% lye discount, That's high and that might be your problem.

What result are you looking for with "as little lye as possible"?

 

[goji_fries]

You are working with about 20% lye discount, That's high and that might be your problem.

What result are you looking for with "as little lye as possible"?

The extremely high sunflower seems to not be helping this also

 

[autopsyjude]

im trying to make organic soap... so as close to organic as i can ever get... yeh the first batch i didnt heat up so i thought that was the problem! but then i heated it up and i didnt set either so.... there goes my theory aha.

is there a really good summary of all the terms i need to know about in soap making? like what the actual definition of superfatting/lye discount/water discount is???

 

[goji_fries]

im trying to make organic soap... so as close to organic as i can ever get... yeh the first batch i didnt heat up so i thought that was the problem! but then i heated it up and i didnt set either so.... there goes my theory aha.

is there a really good summary of all the terms i need to know about in soap making? like what the actual definition of superfatting/lye discount/water discount is???

Go to http://www.soapcalc.net for some quick reads and pointers. There are in-depth answers here as well. Type in your buzz phrase into the search on this site and there is help for days.

 

[Obsidian]

The high amount of coconut oil should have both those soaps set up reasonably fast. Did you just purchase your lye or have you had it sitting around for years?

Even with a high superfat, soap will still set up. I've made my regular bath soap with 25% SF and it set up in just a few hours.

 

[autopsyjude]

Go to http://www.soapcalc.net for some quick reads and pointers. There are in-depth answers here as well. Type in your buzz phrase into the search on this site and there is help for days.

yeh ive been using this site for my soap calculations as well..

what about getting coconut soap to trace... has anyone experienced the vaseline type texture??? is that over traced?

 

[autopsyjude]

The high amount of coconut oil should have both those soaps set up reasonably fast. Did you just purchase your lye or have you had it sitting around for years?

Even with a high superfat, soap will still set up. I've made my regular bath soap with 25% SF and it set up in just a few hours.

my NaOH is a few months old... but definetly not more than 1 year...

Yeh when i first made the one with high sunflower oil, i thought it was because it was too high in a soft oil.. so i made one the complete opposite... with 100 % coconut to see what would happen! i am going to try one more time right now , with no heating....

here is my formula (from soapcalc)

water - 657.32
NaOH-49.476
Coconut oil - 300

will update everyone in 30mins..

 

[new12soap]

Sounds to me like you inadvertently hot processed the coconut soap. That vaseline consistency was gel.

Are you using a stick blender? I get to trace within 1-2 minutes, if you are hand stirring it will take a lot longer.

Check your lye, are you sure it is 100% sodium hydroxide?

How long ago did you make these first 3 batches? They don't just "set up" immediately.

 

[autopsyjude]

Sounds to me like you inadvertently hot processed the coconut soap. That vaseline consistency was gel.

Are you using a stick blender? I get to trace within 1-2 minutes, if you are hand stirring it will take a lot longer.

Check your lye, are you sure it is 100% sodium hydroxide?

How long ago did you make these first 3 batches? They don't just "set up" immediately.

i made the first one 4 days ago and the next 2 3 days ago.

i used a stick blender and yeh im sure its 100%!!

im just making another coconut one right now with no heating.. and its been 5 mins and it hasnt reached trace............ hmmmm

 

[cmzaha]

You are positive it is Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) and not Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)? If you know for sure all was measured correctly and you used NaOH you can always put it into a crock pot and try cooking it a while longer

 

[autopsyjude]

no luck

 

[Obsidian]

Since all your batches have failed, it must either be the lye or your scale. Buy a new jar of lye and make sure your scale has fresh batteries and that its properly calibrated.

 

[KatieShephard]

my NaOH is a few months old... but definetly not more than 1 year...

Yeh when i first made the one with high sunflower oil, i thought it was because it was too high in a soft oil.. so i made one the complete opposite... with 100 % coconut to see what would happen! i am going to try one more time right now , with no heating....

here is my formula (from soapcalc)

water - 657.32
NaOH-49.476
Coconut oil - 300

will update everyone in 30mins..

Is this in grams? That seems like an awful lot of water. If I put 300gm of CO in soapcalc I'm getting like 114gm of water

 

[Obsidian]

Is this in grams? That seems like an awful lot of water. If I put 300gm of CO in soapcalc I'm getting like 114gm of water

Good catch. If the OP numbers are right and she did use over 600grm of water, it no wonder the soap isn't setting up.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome autopsyjude.

I agree with Katie- the water amount listed for your latest batch is an awful lot of water. If that was not a typo and you truly used that much water in the batch, I fear that you will be waiting years for that particular soap to set up.

As for your other batches, I agree with Obsidian. If all was properly weighed and the ingredients were good, I can think of no reason as to why they shouldn't have set up by now.

Can you elaborate more about your lab-quality scale? Is it an electronic digital scale that can weigh accurately down to 1g, and are you sure it is properly calibrated? I ask because something is definitely off here- either the scale or the NaOH is my guess. Is the NaOH pure, i.e., is it adulterated with other chemicals?


IrishLass

 

[cmzaha]

I am with Katie on with the liquid. That would be way to much water. If this is the case you could cook off some of the water and your soap will probably set.