What is this and can I fix it by putting it back into the pot?

[Draugr Rekkr]

I think I know what this is (glycerin rivers) but I'm a little confused because I only see stuff about it for CP soap. This is a HP shaving soap recipe that I'm working on at the moment it uses lanolin and Shea butter as side ingredients as well as 2 table of glycerin. Any suggestions?

 

[Obsidian]

Did you add your extra ingredients after the cook? I would guess something didn't mixed in all the way.
I would melt them down and mix better. You can use a glass bowl for this since they aren't caustic at this stage.

 

[DeeAnna]

I've seen this a few times. This soap does things a little different than regular bar soap. The white is mostly stearic soap and the yellow is mostly oleic soap. I guess you could say it's a type of "glycerin river" if you want to use that term.

If you want to mix it to make it more consistent, this type of soap is usually soft enough when young so you can knead it with your hands.

Or just leave it alone. If this is what I think it is, in my experience it will all eventually turn white and look fine.

 

[Draugr Rekkr]

Did you add your extra ingredients after the cook? I would guess something didn't mixed in all the way.
I would melt them down and mix better. You can use a glass bowl for this since they aren't caustic at this stage.

I added the glycerin towards the end of the cooking.

 

[IrishLass]

With my shave soap, I always add my glycerin to the oils before adding the lye.


IrishLass

 

[Draugr Rekkr]

I've seen this a few times. This soap does things a little different than regular bar soap. The white is mostly stearic soap and the yellow is mostly oleic soap. I guess you could say it's a type of "glycerin river" if you want to use that term.

If you want to mix it to make it more consistent, this type of soap is usually soft enough when young so you can knead it with your hands.

Or just leave it alone. If this is what I think it is, in my experience it will all eventually turn white and look fine.

I can never remember correctly terminology but how would so much oleic be showing up? The recipe says it should be at a 7.

 

[Draugr Rekkr]

With my shave soap, I always add my glycerin to the oils before adding the lye.


IrishLass

I might do that and just add all the fats, butters and, glycerin at the start.

 

[Draugr Rekkr]

It looks a lot more even now. Not as pretty but still good and much harder.

 

[DeeAnna]

I can never remember correctly terminology but how would so much oleic be showing up? The recipe says it should be at a 7.

7% oleic acid is not zero oleic acid, right? And what looks like "a lot" to the eye is not necessarily a lot by weight.

And I called it oleic soap for short, because that is the major unsaturated fat in most soaps. But any of the other unsaturated fatty acids in your soap will also be concentrated in the yellow portions.

edit -- Another factor is the water content may also vary between the different regions. Hard to say for sure, but there's a crystallization process going on if what I think is happening is indeed happening, and that will affect the location of the water as well as the location and appearance of the different types of pure soap.

 

[Draugr Rekkr]

7% oleic acid is not zero oleic acid, right? And what looks like "a lot" to the eye is not necessarily a lot by weight.

And I called it oleic soap for short, because that is the major unsaturated fat in most soaps. But any of the other unsaturated fatty acids in your soap will also be concentrated in the yellow portions.

edit -- Another factor is the water content may also vary between the different regions. Hard to say for sure, but there's a crystallization process going on if what I think is happening is indeed happening, and that will affect the location of the water as well as the location and appearance of the different types of pure soap.

Thank you for going into the level of detail you just did I'm trying something a little different now and I agree with you that there's another prosses happening apart from the water evaporation. I'm thinking about running some tests soon, involving silica jell breeds some soap and a container with the exact same amount of water that's used in one of my soaps.