Tallow soap with fishy smell?

[Fat Chance Soap]

Hi folks,

I've joined the forum because I'm trying to figure out a problem I've had with one of my products. Amongst other things, I make a 100% tallow, unscented soap (5% superfat) and 99.99% of people love it and have no problem with it (myself included!) Over the past three years I have had TWO reports of the soap developing a very off-putting "fishy" smell after arriving at the customer's house via USPS. In one case, the smell dissipated after the soap was out of its shipping envelope for a few days, in the other case, the smell didn't develop until after customer had already used it for a few days. I have never experienced this myself (I live in Vermont where 85 is a heat wave!) but both happened in July (the second case, just last week) and both were shipped to hot climates (Utah and Florida, respectively). I'm guessing it's rancidity due to heat but I have no idea why it happens so rarely?? I make a LOT of this soap, so it doesn't sit around, it's sold within a month of curing, and shipped all over the country without issue. It doesn't seem to be batch specific since these two cases were years apart. I'm starting to think I should have the customer mail it back to me so I can experience the issue myself, the mystery is driving me nuts!

Thanks!

 

[lsg]

My guess would be rancidity, also. Try adding some rosemary oleoresin or EDTA to your next batch.
http://cavemanchemistry.com/DreadedOrangeSpot-Dunn.pdf

 

[Fat Chance Soap]

I would hesitate to do that only because my main customer base for this soap has extremely sensitive skin and would be very skeptical of any recipe change or additives. Plus there would be no real way to tell if it's effective given how rarely this problem happens. I do add rosemary oleoresin to my 100% lard soap, since it does get DOS rather quickly if I don't. I have bars of the tallow soap though that are spot-free after nearly 2 years! Plus with the extremely low incidence, it is no problem for me to refund/replace any problem bars. I just wish I knew what set of circumstance causes this to happen. Maybe I should keep a bar in my car for a few days while it's hot and see what happens!

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I have had people tell me that my soap "stinks" and when I question them to find out more I find that those people are normally very sensitive to scents or odors in general. Some can't stand soap made with lard, but have no problems with some made with beef tallow because of the underlying odor they pick up from it. I can had them 2 soaps, same recipe, coloring, FO, etc, except for lard swapped out for tallow and they can smell the difference.
Are these new customers or old loyal ones? A soaper who smoked in her home discovered that her soaps picked up the scent of her smoke, she couldn't smell it, but others could. Maybe it is a case of the soap absorbing scents from the mailing envelope or in the customer's home, and the way it is transformed once it is absorbed into the soap. Good luck with this mystery

 

[Fat Chance Soap]

Yes, I have definitely run into folks who think the tallow soap smells more "farmy" than they're used to! The more recent case was a new customer, so perhaps the combination of getting heated and transit and a sensitive nose... That would at least help explain the rarity of the occurrence. The other customer has since turned into a regular, though she also told me that the smell dissipated over time (and hasn't mentioned it since that first occurence). Glad to hear I am not the only one with "stinky" soap now and again!

 

[TeresaT]

My guess is it’s the sensitivity to odors. I use lard in my soap and love it. I actually started soaping because the 100% lard soap I was using was no longer being sold. I’ve made 100% lard soap and have had no issues. Tallow? No way!! I cannot stand the smell of tallow based soap. If it’s got more than 20% tallow in it, I can smell (and feel) the tallow on my skin. I’ve tried soaping with a low (2%) SF to see if that helped. It didn’t. I had to get rid of that soap (friends didn’t have issues with it) and feed the tallow to the dogs. THEY have no issues with tallow, either.

The smell of warming lard while it’s melting to be made into soap doesn’t bother me, but the smell of warming tallow does. I find this ironic since I’ve actually rendered beef fat into tallow and thoroughly enjoyed the process. I did the boiling water method rather than the slow cooker method. It took several days, but the tallow was pure white and nearly odorless. However, I could smell it in my soap.

 

[Alzie]

My guess is it’s the sensitivity to odors. I use lard in my soap and love it. I actually started soaping because the 100% lard soap I was using was no longer being sold. I’ve made 100% lard soap and have had no issues. Tallow? No way!! I cannot stand the smell of tallow based soap. If it’s got more than 20% tallow in it, I can smell (and feel) the tallow on my skin. I’ve tried soaping with a low (2%) SF to see if that helped. It didn’t. I had to get rid of that soap (friends didn’t have issues with it) and feed the tallow to the dogs. THEY have no issues with tallow, either.

The smell of warming lard while it’s melting to be made into soap doesn’t bother me, but the smell of warming tallow does. I find this ironic since I’ve actually rendered beef fat into tallow and thoroughly enjoyed the process. I did the boiling water method rather than the slow cooker method. It took several days, but the tallow was pure white and nearly odorless. However, I could smell it in my soap.

I'd have to agree with the smell of warming tallow, it's not my cuppa tea, luckily I can't detect the tallow scent after cure. I'm leaning towards the possible combo of heat/transit/shipping package enhancing the smell since the smell dissipated over time. I wonder about the other where the smell started after use over time, could it be possible that the method of storage in between uses wasn't ideal and might cause a stronger tallow scent to appear?