Will the order matter?

kdot · Aug 19, 2014

Today I made a batch of soap, had a major blunder and tried to recover. I mixed my lye and oils and it came to trace quicker than usual. I filled the mold but it only filled about 2/3 full. Hmmm. I had forgotten to put my melted coconut/cocoa/shea into the oils!! So I scooped out all the batter from the mold and put it back into the pot. I added the missed oils to the pot and stick-blended until everything was fully incorporated. I rinsed out the mold (silicone) and refilled it with the new batter. In all the mess, I lost a small percentage of batter, and figured the waste was lye heavy any way.

My Q: The batter was already at thick trace before I added the missed oil/butters. Do you think this batch will saponify properly? Do you foresee any problems with the batch?

Thanks, k.

dalewaite48 · Aug 19, 2014

I think your batch will Turn out properly, it just might not come out as smooth as it normally would if you had added all the oils at the same time.

dixiedragon · Aug 19, 2014

I think you'll be fine. I've done that before, and it turned out fine.

kdot · Aug 19, 2014

Thank you for the replies. I hope it turns out - one of my favorite recipes. --will post back here with the results.

The Efficacious Gentleman · Aug 19, 2014

The other oils were alone in there for mere minutes before the other was added - saponification takes a good 24 hours in cp, if not more. With that in mind, the other oils have really not had too much of an advantage.

This is why adding an oil at trace in no way makes it the superfat oil. In cp the vast majority of the saponification takes place in the mould not in the pot.

Good work on the save, though