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The rebatch worked. Still needs a few more weeks to cure. Lathers nice (I assume thanks to the sugar). Skin feels really nice. Pine tar smell is very dominant, I think I lost some of the volatiles from the EOs during rebatching lol. Didn't make it for the smell though so that's ok. I'm happy...

Biology degree but I work in pharma and have done media and buffer batching etc. Wish I had gone the chem route lol. 6 weeks already seems like forever from now. I can't imagine waiting 12 months. I have a little bar I cut off and have been testing every day to see how it smells and feels (and...

Thanks for the welcome! I'm pretty stubborn and I have my mind set on pine tar lol. I think, next batch I make, I'll make it a little easier on myself and add the pine tar after I've added my lye water to my other oils/fats. I've worked with sodium hydroxide in various applications and made lots...

Ambient was 68-70F

After thinking about some of the input from this thread and looking at my bars closely, I think, most likely, there were gaps and those got filled in as the soap got hot during gel phase. Any gaps or voids on the outer edges of the bars where it was cooler are still present but there's no gaps...

I didn't use a thermometer but I had allowed my lye water to cool to room temp. Maybe it was too cold and it made some fat solidify? Hadn't thought of that possibility. Especially because I added too quick. My fats had been warmed just to the point of fully melting so they were warm.

I mixed the pine tar into the liquid fats and whisked pretty thoroughly before adding my lye water. Fats were completely liquid at that point. It was also more of a paste when I mashed it into the molds. Not perfectly consistent but no big chunks. It got pretty hot in the molds and stayed hot...

I believe they we homogeneous. I had melted them and stirred well after adding the pine tar but maybe I didn't stir well enough. Thanks for the link. I'm working till Monday then I think I'll try and rebatch it in the oven.

Cold process. Allowed lye water to cool to rt. Fats were just warm enough to melt fully. Fragrance was 10g each of cedarwood eo, bergamot eo, and white pine resin dissolved in olive oil and were added after it started seizing. 5.5g sugar added to lye water. No colorants. I didn't use heat...

So I poured the lye water in too quickly and it didn't mix evenly and then started to seize up bad so I mashed it into a mold. Cut into it after 32 hours. Used a soap calc. 65% lard, 25% olive oil, 10% pine tar. Obviously not smooth or even. I don't think the lighter bits are lye. Any way I can...