what could be my problem?

[jodym]

i made all these loafs from the same base oil recipe that i pre measured all at the same time. the first loaf of the rosemary/geranium turned out ok but look at the other 2, and the next one is a patchouli with the other 2 patchouli are better, as are the 3 cinnamon.
I put my recipe through the soup calculator and my water is off 1/2oz to much. Could that be it?
Also could the EO/FO do this?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Were they all made at the same time? Same type of moulds? Left in the same conditions? The same amount of water?

 

[jodym]

Yes, all made at the same time 1 after another, same molds, oils, water, lye and insulation.
The creases are from the freezer paper in the plastic molds, i tried w/o the paper and almost had to chizzel the soap out.
Im also thinking i may over insulate so have less covering the soap i made today.

 

[Obsidian]

What is it the problem with them? All I see if some partial gel and a little ash.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

That's just it - various scents and pouring times, I could see a partial gel. But ash on some and not others............I would never have thought that scent alone would do that.

What are the speckled bits on the one nearest to the camera?

 

[IrishLass]

I'm with Obsidian.... the 2nd, 3rd and 4th one up from the bottom soap look like they went through partial gel and came down with a bit of ash, both of which are harmless and nothing to be alarmed about. Over time, as your soap cures, the discolored look of the partial gel will even itself out some, and the ash can be washed off or planed off if the appearance bothers you, although some people embrace the ash because it looks cool and rustic to them.

I'll wager that the ash that you see on the outer edges of the partially gelled soaps is most likely due to the partial gel itself. The middle of the soap got warm enough to go through gel, but it wasn't able to maintain it all the way to the edges. This means that the lye reaction was more complete in the center and that the edges will have to play catch-up where complete saponification is concerned. Ungelled parts of soap are normally softer, and they are also more prone to ashing if exposed to air while saponification is still going on.

The best way to tell if saponification is still going on is to conduct a zap-test. If the soap is zappy, there's still saponification going on. Not to worry, though- just let them sit to finish doing their thing. Time is a soap's best friend.



IrishLass

 

[jodym]

The rosemary geranium has just a tish of ground rosemary...
So is there something i can do to promote a full jell? More insulation? I like a harder bar to work with.
Thank you so much i feel like its not a lost cause!

 

[topofmurrayhill]

I don't think you should worry. It looks like the batches saponified at different rates. EO/FO can have a big effect on that. The ones with cinnamon for instance could have gone faster due to the eugenol in the EO.

Other factors might be variations in the initial temperature of the oils and lye and maybe how far you took the trace before molding. Also you might have been close to the dividing line between these batches gelling or not. The ones that did saponified faster still. They can take different roads but all arrive at soap.

You can control that last part somewhat with the amount of water. By changing the water amount, all things being equal, you can make your batches likely to gel or certain not to. There are 2 different ways lye calculators figure it.

More water = More likely to gel. Increase "water as % of oils" or decrease "lye concentration."

Less water = Less likely to gel. Decrease "water as % of oils" or increase "lye concentration."

Posted same time as IrishLass.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Ah yes, it is most certainly not a lost cause, just cosmetic. But it is interesting to see how a scent can change the gel which in turn increases the ash. A good visual example