Taking too long to come to trace....and broke my stick blender

[chibi-soap]

I just burnt out my stick blender. Now I'm going to have to go out in the germs and get another one.
I think I was blending for about 20minutes (at least) before the poor thing gave up the ghost. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Arimara]

Your recipe is high in soft oils AND you are using full water. Those two factors combined will affect your trace.

Try using the water:lye ratio setting and put it on 2:1 water to lye. That would give you about a 33% lye concentration (also a function on soapcalc).

 

[chibi-soap]

Your recipe is high in soft oils AND you are using full water. Those two factors combined will affect your trace.

Try using the water:lye ratio setting and put it on 2:1 water to lye. That would give you about a 33% lye concentration (also a function on soapcalc).

Oh right! That makes way less water!! I will use that new value for the next batch.

 

[Arimara]

Good luck with the next batch and keep this batch too. It will need to cure much longer than the typical 4-6 weeks but it will be a nice batch of soap.

 

[Anstarx]

A high percentage of olive can slow down trace significantly. I agree with using less water- 1:2.5 is way too much, 1:2 is better. Adding sugar or syrup can also help it to trace faster.
At the same time, were you stick blender on the whole time? Usually you should only use it in bursts, if you have it on the whole time that can cause too much stress on the motor.
Also, if you have a lot of water and a slow moving recipe, sometimes trace is not necessary. When I did a 100% olive soap I kept my stick blender on for at least 10 min and there is still now sign of tracing. However, I know the soap batter is completely emulsified so I just poured it and call it a day, turned out totally fine. It will be more prone to soda ash but nothing a bit of washing can't fix.

 

[Serena]

I stir the soap with a stainless steel spoon with slots/holes in it. I've been making soap for about twelve years and I've never used a stick blender. I just stir well, go do something else, and come back and stir some. I just plan for the longer time the soap needs to come to trace.

I always do cold process and have simple recipes, which keeps the process easy.

 

[dixiedragon]

When you stir, use short bursts of say 30 seconds. Then stir with the wand for 5-10 seconds, then another short burst.

Also, you can put on the pot back on the stove with low heat get the reaction moving along. This is why I soap in a pot vs a plastic bucket - I like having the option to put it on the stove.

 

[chibi-soap]

So, as I posted in the "it went rancid" thread I started last year, I've just discovered my scales have been reading 7% low. Which wouldn't be too bad, but I used accurate scales to measure the lye.
Which means the lye was accurate but the water was 7% too much on top of 35% I meant to use anyway, which explains why it took so long to get to trace and why my blender broke.

 

[maxine289]

I stir the soap with a stainless steel spoon with slots/holes in it. I've been making soap for about twelve years and I've never used a stick blender. I just stir well, go do something else, and come back and stir some. I just plan for the longer time the soap needs to come to trace.

I always do cold process and have simple recipes, which keeps the process easy.

I like idea of the stainless steel spoon with slots. I tend to use my SB too much (I'm trying to cut back) and always end up with thicker batter than I really want.

 

[chibi-soap]

Thanks! Today I hope I'll get to make the soap with the proper amount of water and scales that work. I'll try stirring first before resorting to the SB and see if that's feasible under the new conditions.