Why oh WHY???

[newbie]

How do you add your clays and salts? If you already have your bell cleared of air, maybe you can leave it sit in the batter and use a spatula or spoon to stir the additives into the top of the batter first, and then resume SB'ing. Maybe?

 

[SoapyGoats]

How do you add your clays and salts? If you already have your bell cleared of air, maybe you can leave it sit in the batter and use a spatula or spoon to stir the additives into the top of the batter first, and then resume SB'ing. Maybe?

I put them on top of my batter, and then SB them in. And I get a lot of air noise that way.

 

[SoapyGoats]

Here's some pictures of soap I want ALL my soaps to look like: ( these are really old, and don't have salts. And only the brown soap has white clay, they are both FO, goats milk, CP soaps.



And here's a comparison picture:

 

[nsmar4211]

I have the same spots, and in my case it's air bubbles. Some days the SB just seems to want to suck everything in , some days it behaves and I haven't figured it out. Maybe you can try a deeper narrow pot to mix in if yours pulls the batter so far down it grabs air?

 

[galaxyMLP]

I put them on top of my batter, and then SB them in. And I get a lot of air noise that way.

Try mixing in the clays be hand first with a spatula/spoon so that they arent all sitting on top. Then, put the stick blender in a "burp" it to get the air out by tapping it on the bottom of the container at a slant. That will help reduce the tiny bubbles a lot! And thats what they look like to me, tiny bubbles.

 

[SoapyGoats]

I have the same spots, and in my case it's air bubbles. Some days the SB just seems to want to suck everything in , some days it behaves and I haven't figured it out. Maybe you can try a deeper narrow pot to mix in if yours pulls the batter so far down it grabs air?

Didn't think of trying a narrower pot! Will put that into use next time

Try mixing in the clays be hand first with a spatula/spoon so that they arent all sitting on top. Then, put the stick blender in a "burp" it to get the air out by tapping it on the bottom of the container at a slant. That will help reduce the tiny bubbles a lot! And thats what they look like to me, tiny bubbles. :smile:

Will do Thanks so much for the help!

 

[kumudini]

Or better yet, mix the clays with some of the oil and add the mix in, then stir it in with a spatula and then SB away. Never bring the SB up above the batter surface until you are done mixing.

 

[JuneP]

Have this one

I have this and it works very well. Got mine on Amazon.com.

June

I would cut a bit sooner, if you use a lot of hard oils like lard and/or butter it can make a more brittle soap. I can cut my high lard soap around 8 hours.
Not sure where you can get a proper soap cutter but a wire cheese cutter works well and can be found in most grocery stores or baking supply store.

 

[gigisiguenza]

Most of the pictures look like air bubbles to me too. I get them from air bubbles in my oils if I don't pour my liquid oils down the side of something while measuring them. They look like champagne bubbles. Sometimes leaving them in a pot for a bit lets the teeny bubbles to work their way to the surface and pop. No amount of banging the mold will make them go away once they are in the batter (I've tried).

Ah ha! That might explain some of the teeny tiny bubbles in my soaps. Personally, I don't mind the bubbles, they look sorta rustic. But it's good to know where they're coming from so I know how to prevent them in future

 

[SoapyGoats]

Okay, soap-maker-problem-fixer-people Still having that "look" in my soap! What now?

I:
-Made sure all air was out of bell
-Mixed salt/clay in with a spatula
-Cut at 7-8 hours.

And I fixed the broken bottoms They look better now. BUT I still have that grainy look
So, my conclusions are:
-Either my molds keep it too warm ( they are silicon)
-My milk fats separate
-I don't know what the problem is

I made 4 soaps today, and here are pictures. All the soaps are made with the exact same recipe.
These are made with the fragrance oil "Coffee Cake & Spice". And it turned pink. The nice looking part is what I want in all my soaps!



And this is made with the Fragrance Maple Cream.


This is French Pear.


And this is Oak Barrel Cider Type
http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[gigisiguenza]

These are made with the fragrance oil "Coffee Cake & Spice". And it turned pink. The nice looking part is what I want in all my soaps!

That FO discolors to pink? Who makes it?

 

[Dana89]

I certainly can,t tell you how to fix it but I get this look a lot when using Kaolin clay. The last 2 times I put it in dry during mixing/emulsification with the blender running and I did not gel. They looked great.

 

[Susie]

If you could post your entire recipe in weights(include lye, water, and all additives), it would help us narrow down the possibilities.

 

[SoapyGoats]

That FO discolors to pink? Who makes it?

I got it from New Directions Aromatics. I'm hoping it will turn darker as it gets older.

If you could post your entire recipe in weights(include lye, water, and all additives), it would help us narrow down the possibilities.

Recipe:

8.4 oz Olive Oil
7.2oz Coconut
6oz Lard
1.2oz Castor
1.2 oz Apricot Kernel

3.2oz Lye
7.7oz Goat Milk

1 TBSP Clay
1 TBSP Dendritic Salt ( this is the help hold the scent longer)
.7oz FO

 

[Susie]

I was not familiar with dendritic salt, so I looked it up.

"Morton Salt is the only manufacturer of dendritic salt. Star Flake® Dendritic Salt is a high purity, food grade salt formed in porous, star-shaped modified cubes. Its unique and diverse physical properties result in low bulk density, a rapid dissolving rate, exceptional flow characteristics, strong blendability, unmatched liquid adsorption and a quick, salty sensation."

This is from the Morton Salt company website.

Do you have a link that explains why you think the salt will fix the scent? (maybe I just missed that info when researching the subject)

Most FOs/EOs intended for use in CP soap will not require a fixative. Unless you use citrus EOs.

But, I would look to the salt for the explanation of what is happening. The rest of your recipe looks fine. I would do a batch with no salt or clay, then one with no clay, then one with no salt just to confirm if it is either of those, and how your scent sticks or not with and without those.

 

[Sphynxbabies]

Hi There,

Third gen soap maker here.... specs look like lye which would explain the excessive heat. What do you test your soaps with?

 

[SoapyGoats]

I was not familiar with dendritic salt, so I looked it up.

"Morton Salt is the only manufacturer of dendritic salt. Star Flake® Dendritic Salt is a high purity, food grade salt formed in porous, star-shaped modified cubes. Its unique and diverse physical properties result in low bulk density, a rapid dissolving rate, exceptional flow characteristics, strong blendability, unmatched liquid adsorption and a quick, salty sensation."

This is from the Morton Salt company website.

Do you have a link that explains why you think the salt will fix the scent? (maybe I just missed that info when researching the subject)

Most FOs/EOs intended for use in CP soap will not require a fixative. Unless you use citrus EOs.

But, I would look to the salt for the explanation of what is happening. The rest of your recipe looks fine. I would do a batch with no salt or clay, then one with no clay, then one with no salt just to confirm if it is either of those, and how your scent sticks or not with and without those.

This is what Saffire Blue says about it:
"Dendritic salt is a very fine grain, star shaped salt which has been crystallized to provide increased surface area. Because of its low bulk density and high surface area, dendritic salt is used to prevent clumping or when rapid dissolution or even mixing with other ingredients is needed. Dendritic Salt has a special star-shaped molecular structure that “grabs on” to your fragrance or essential oil molecules and keeps them from being oxidized by the magnesium in the salts. Adding approximately 5 % - 10 % of dentritic salt makes for a longer shelf life for your salt formulations and makes the fragrance stay true longer. When using to make bath salts mix your fragrance or essential oil with your dendritic salts and then blend the dendritic salts into your other salts ensuring that you mix them well."

http://www.saffireblue.ca/shop/salts-lye/dendritic-salt

Maybe I understood it wrong Since it keeps mentioning salt formulations. That's what comes of not reading something completely!

Will try some batches with no salt/clay, one with salt, one with clay and see what happens

Hi There,

Third gen soap maker here.... specs look like lye which would explain the excessive heat. What do you test your soaps with?

Do you mean that it looks like there is too much lye? ( SoapMaker 3 did that recipe up) I don't use anything to test yet...any one you would recommend that works really well?

 

[navigator9]

Have you tried switching stick blenders? Sometimes it isn't air that's trapped under the bell, but air that gets sucked down the shaft of the blender. My $10 back up blender doesn't do this, but my more expensive Cuisinart does.

 

[cmzaha]

Hi There,

Third gen soap maker here.... specs look like lye which would explain the excessive heat. What do you test your soaps with?

I would agree the specks are teensy tiny air bubbles. I get this with one of my sb's and really do not stress it. Never stopped anyone from buying the soap or even asking what the tiny specks.
No, your lye is not to high and you would have know if you had that much undissolved lye in your lye solution.

 

[Seawolfe]

Fwiw I mix my clays into a slurry with the water allotment before adding. And that first pic of the red soap is just partial gel. For any soap that doesn't use salt or need a thick trace, try pouring at a thin or thinner trace - that won't hold air bubbles as easy.

For cutting salt bars, you need to cut as soon as is physically possible, which can be within 4-8 hours.