Soaping cooler and less water slow trace. There is no jury still out on those two. But your oil mixture has to be one that can tolerate soaping cooler. I masterbatch my oils and lye/water. This allows me to soap almost at room temperature. I do occasionally get a seize if I am dealing with a new FO. But that is about the only time. And I keep good records of the FO's that misbehave. If I have some left, it gets to go in liquid soap.
Why did this seize?
- Thread starter PieBorg
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I did a quick search and found this quote from @DeeAnna: More water tends to slow trace, so if you are using ingredients that accelerate trace, you might want to use more water. Vice versa for slow tracing ingredients, such as castile soap.
I remember on another thread there was a huge discussion about it and some people swore black and blue more water, and other swore black and blue less water.
I can't soap any cooler than about 39 degrees with my recipe because of the soy wax.
PieBorg
Well-Known Member
I thought I saw somewhere in this forum that soaping too cool causes crumbling, but I don't exactly trust my memory on that. I do remember seeing recently that soaping too warm can cause cracks to form.
I agree there's no strong consensus.
I have used highly concentrated lye solutions (40% to 50% lye concentration) and these batches have often been surprisingly slow to trace. I have some guesses about why that happens, but nothing concrete.
But, speaking only for myself -- When I stick to a more typical range of lye concentrations -- say from about 28% to about 35% -- it seems to me that more water tends to slow trace IF I'm careful to keep all other things the same.
But changing the lye concentration in this 28-35% range has only a subtle effect on the time-to-trace. At least that's true for the way I make soap. Varying the lye concentration probably has more effect on the ability of the soap to gel or whether the soap will make "glycerin" rivers or not.
If I use a different fragrance, or soap a few degrees cooler or hotter, or stick blend more or less, these changes can pretty much cancel out any effect caused by a different lye concentration.
I have used highly concentrated lye solutions (40% to 50% lye concentration) and these batches have often been surprisingly slow to trace. I have some guesses about why that happens, but nothing concrete.
But, speaking only for myself -- When I stick to a more typical range of lye concentrations -- say from about 28% to about 35% -- it seems to me that more water tends to slow trace IF I'm careful to keep all other things the same.
But changing the lye concentration in this 28-35% range has only a subtle effect on the time-to-trace. At least that's true for the way I make soap. Varying the lye concentration probably has more effect on the ability of the soap to gel or whether the soap will make "glycerin" rivers or not.
If I use a different fragrance, or soap a few degrees cooler or hotter, or stick blend more or less, these changes can pretty much cancel out any effect caused by a different lye concentration.
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Well, huh, I guess this is going to be a YMMV issue. If I use 33% lye concentration, I am going to trace slower than my 30% lye concentration. If I just need to make the soap quickly, I stick to a simple swirl and use 30% so it will get to trace and gel faster. This is using the same recipe otherwise. Do NOT adjust your water as % of oils. Leave it alone.
Soaping cooler is still a good way to slow trace, though. If you have to have it at a certain temperature, then you are going to have to figure out what other factors you can modify to get the result you want. I use the good old scientific method where I test a theory, modify, test again, modify, test again until I get the results I want. I have made a LOT of soap trying to dial in to exactly the recipe/method I like.
Is there a particular reason you are wedded to the idea of using soy wax?
Soaping cooler is still a good way to slow trace, though. If you have to have it at a certain temperature, then you are going to have to figure out what other factors you can modify to get the result you want. I use the good old scientific method where I test a theory, modify, test again, modify, test again until I get the results I want. I have made a LOT of soap trying to dial in to exactly the recipe/method I like.
Is there a particular reason you are wedded to the idea of using soy wax?
PieBorg
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure how much slowing trace has to do with preventing seizures. The batch in the OP took a reasonable length of time to trace. The problem was that it seized. Same with the next three batches, either seizing or semi-seizing. They could have taken all day to trace and it wouldn't have made any difference since the problem was a naughty additive, which was added after trace in all but the first batch.
I would start a new thread on managing speed of trace, but I don't know if there's a way to tie it to these discussions here, or if that's necessary. Suggestions?
I would start a new thread on managing speed of trace, but I don't know if there's a way to tie it to these discussions here, or if that's necessary. Suggestions?
penelopejane
Well-Known Member
Ash what you want here. your problem was the tea tree oil wasn’t it? Not trace. Others have successfully used tea tree oil. Maybe you should try another recommended supplier.
PieBorg
Well-Known Member
@penelopejane Yes, exactly! It was the tea tree oil that caused the seize. It had nothing to do with trace at all. I agree that a different supplier would probably have something more stable.
This is my month for learning lessons. Do not put the salt in after the lye. It will not dissolve and on top of that it will not dissolve if you go ahead and pour it into your soap batter. So despite my resolve not to rebatch ever again. I am rebatching today.... Its times like this I ponder not making soaps anymore. Of course I will, it just doesn't help that i am not doing flea markets this season.
This person had a similar issue with tea tree oil. https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/batch-seizure-help-discerning-why.77772/#post-804645
atiz
Well-Known Member
Oh don't give up -- we all make mistakes and learn from them. It does really get easier.
(Plus, you can also make a salt bar, which is a different genre, when you do pour the salt into the soap batter, and it doesn't dissolve, and all that's intentional! So, whichever way you do it, you will get something.)
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