A Lye Issue?

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Cherry Bomb

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So I think I have ran into my first batch with a lye issue! I am assuming that is what these little tiny spots are. :) thank goodness it was only a one pound batch. Even though its small I believe I would like to rebatch it. Here is my recipe:

Apricot Kernal Oil: 6.67%
Macadamia Nut Oil: 6.67%
Coconut Oil: 26.67%
Olive Oil: 13.33%
Palm Oil: 46.67%
Lye: 27.494%
Coconut Milk: 38%
Superfat: 5%

This was my first time with coconut milk and I made sure it was frozen first and then slowly mixed the lye. I did not add the next batch of lye until the temp was below 100 degrees F. I also added .5 oz FO and soaped oils at 92 degrees F and Lye at 85 degrees F. I also left it uncovered so the coconut milk would not burn. So if I rebatch would adding a small amount of distilled water fix this problem?

image.jpg
 
One of the challenges when you're using frozen milk, or any frozen liquid to be honest, is that you can be tricked into thinking you have your lye thoroughly mixed in when you really don't. I had this happen the first time I did a frozen milk soap and ended up with a soap that looked a lot like yours.

You can rebatch but please make sure you have gloves on as you handle the soap. Since it is only a 1 lb batch I would grate it with a cheese grater (by hand) and then put it into a large glass bowl. Add just enough liquid to moisten the soap, be really careful with your amounts. It's better to underestimate the amount of liquid because you can always add more. Put this into the micrwave and zap it at 70% for 3 minutes, watching carefully. Give it a good stir about half way through. Keep repeating, but on smaller amounts of time until your soap is liquid and pourable. Once it is absolutely smooth you can pour it into your mould and then let it go through your normal process. Once you've cut it let it sit a couple of days before zap testing. It should be fine.
 
What are you using for that pretty color? Unfortunately I'm not an expert in this area to answer your questions :(

Hey girl! I am using Brambleberry's Wineberry Mist Lab Color. If you remember my "botched" nasty acai smelling soap that I posted in the botched batches section you can see from my pic how dark it turns. I bet you can achieve this color for good with just a small amount. I am trying to use it quickly because I didn't know that you should purchase a preservative to add with your lab colors. So this one is in the fridge and should be used within 3 months :) they last for a year with a preservative. lesson learned!!! Oh and to mix it Anne Marie says to put the glass bottle in the microwave for 10 seconds....only it's a plastic bottle and 10 seconds made my microwave a nice Wineberry mist color! 5 seconds should do it!!! Good thing it cleaned up well!!! Lol I love lab colors! I also fragranced this batch with Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey Cybilla so I am sure it will discolor my soap a little as well!!!! Thanks for your input! ;)
 
One of the challenges when you're using frozen milk, or any frozen liquid to be honest, is that you can be tricked into thinking you have your lye thoroughly mixed in when you really don't. I had this happen the first time I did a frozen milk soap and ended up with a soap that looked a lot like yours.

You can rebatch but please make sure you have gloves on as you handle the soap. Since it is only a 1 lb batch I would grate it with a cheese grater (by hand) and then put it into a large glass bowl. Add just enough liquid to moisten the soap, be really careful with your amounts. It's better to underestimate the amount of liquid because you can always add more. Put this into the micrwave and zap it at 70% for 3 minutes, watching carefully. Give it a good stir about half way through. Keep repeating, but on smaller amounts of time until your soap is liquid and pourable. Once it is absolutely smooth you can pour it into your mould and then let it go through your normal process. Once you've cut it let it sit a couple of days before zap testing. It should be fine.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!! Working with a frozen milk is tricky!!!! I will be more careful and aware next time. I am about to take your advice and make it proactive! Off to rebatch and I'll let you know how it turns out!!!!!

PS: will wear some gloves for sure!!!!!! Thanks for that advice as well!!!!!!
 
Rebatching is not fun! I definitely saw lye crystals in the mix. My pretty top is gone but maybe this batch will now be useable! Thank you.
 
UPDATE: rebatched and it took care of most of the lye crystals that were not dissolved BUT not all :( so, looks like I will toss it since its only a 1 lb batch. I do like the smell though :) on to the next one!!!! Lesson learned about mixing lye with milk products....lye doesn't dissolve as well in milky products as it does in water. Well, it does but it just takes time and stirring :)
 
I am glad it was a small batch as well Lindy :) I thought since I'd never worked with it that small would be the best way to go!
 
UPDATE: rebatched and it took care of most of the lye crystals that were not dissolved BUT not all :( so, looks like I will toss it since its only a 1 lb batch. I do like the smell though :) on to the next one!!!! Lesson learned about mixing lye with milk products....lye doesn't dissolve as well in milky products as it does in water. Well, it does but it just takes time and stirring :)

So sorry it didn't work out, it's such a pretty color. Do you strain your lye through a fine mesh strainer before you pour? That ought to help with catching undissolved crystals, and even undissolved anything. Also, if oyu want to work with milk, you could try the trick where you sub out 1/2 lyewater for milk in your oils. Good luck next time!
 
So sorry it didn't work out, it's such a pretty color. Do you strain your lye through a fine mesh strainer before you pour? That ought to help with catching undissolved crystals, and even undissolved anything. Also, if oyu want to work with milk, you could try the trick where you sub out 1/2 lyewater for milk in your oils. Good luck next time!

Thanks for the advice as well. :) I did not strain my lye through a fine mesh. Those are both very good ideas. I will definitely remember your advice next time! Thanks for color compliment! It is pretty and I am sad to toss it but I will make it again!!!! :)
 
Melstan the problem with that is if you have not stirred it in properly you are going to have a soap that is way too soft to use and rebatching is not going to save it. If you have to strain your lye mixture you're not doing it right in the first place.....
 
I don't know about that Lindy. I'm not as experienced as you are, so you probably know something I don't. I can say for sure that my silk, no matter how much I stir, doesn't dissolve completely. And I"m not about to stand with my head over the lye pitcher to make sure it does. I use one good pinch, pull it apart as much as I can, drop it in, and stir, stir, stir. come back to it, stir some more. Check it, if need be stir some more. If by the time the lyewater is cool, the silk isn't all dissolved, I strain it. In fact, I strain anyway, because you just can't tell soemtimes what's in your pitcher. On my second batch of soap I had a ton of floaters in my bucket and no clue why. I was certain the bucket was clean and double checked it before I used it, so I actually ended up straining the oils into another bucket. Lots of people strain their soaps. Does it help? I think it does, but it certainly can't hurt.
 
There is a difference between straining out silk and straining out lye. You calculate the amount of lye based on the amount of oils used, but if you do not mix in the lye well and strain some out, basically you are using less lye, or upping your superfat percentage. If there is too much undissolved lye and you strain it all out, you may not get a proper soap.

Silk, on the other hand, it is not required to make soap. It is an additive. People have made perfectly good soap without it, so if you strain out some undissolved silk it is not going make much difference.

It is one thing to strain out foreign matters (such as tiny pieces of twigs and leaves sometimes found in some shea butter) from your oils. But if you are straining undissolved lumps of oil, then you are in essence making soap with less oil and run the risk of having a lye-heavy soap.

The thing is, if you use pure water and get your oils from decent suppliers, there shouldn't be things floating around your lye water or oils. I am lucky to have good tap water and have been making soap with it for over a year although most people advice using distilled water. The only time I felt the need to strain something was making a 100% goat milk soap when the lye saponified the milk fat. But I did not strain it for fear of messing up the ratio of lye and oils. Went ahead and made soap. The soap came out looking speckled and kind of weird, but it cured to a hard bar with lots of lather and is perfectly usable (and no zap, of course).

So I am not sure where you get the idea that lots of people strain their soap. On the average I have been making 2 to 3 batches per month for about 18 months and only once there is a potential need to strain the milk/lye solution. If you use pure water, there should not be any unknown floaters in your lye water pitcher. Even with the lower grade (97% pure) lye you get in some places. It is also easier to spend a little extra time to do it right in the first place than trying to fix things afterwards with straining and, heaven forbids, re-batching. (Can't you tell I hate re-batching)?

Oh, and your silk, try using less (no sense to add too much and then strain it out and throw it away - just a waste of money), and add it to the water BEFORE adding the lye. That gives you more time to tear it apart into tinier pieces. It will also subject it to the full assault of the lye and heat from the reaction and hopefully dissolve better.
 
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I freeze my coconut milk into ice cube trays the night before soaping. I dissolve the lye into 1/2 the water required for recipe. When the lye has fully dissolved but is still hot, I add the frozen cubes of coconut milk to the lye solution. This brings the temperature down quickly so you're not wating for it to cool and has never discolored on me. It does start to saponify some of the fats in the milk though and goes thick and gunky. I do strain the lye solution to remove small particles of leaf etc that remain in my silk fibres. It wouldnt hurt to strain the lye solution if only to be sure there are no undissolved lye crystals there before combining with the oils. If there were any, I would not use it and make up a fresh solution. As has been stated, you would be under on the lye amount if you strained it and used it anyway. I'd rather waste a lye solution than oil/soap!
 
I would never in million years use tap water in my soaps. You are lucky to have good tap water; I have very hard, mineral-laden water where I live. I still think you can strain your lye. I get that you don't want to take too much out, but I think it's better just because of the floaters issue. If you have a clump in your mesh, then yeh, something is wrong with your lye, but a few crystals isn't going to hurt anything. Lots of people strain their lye - better to be underlye then overlye, a wise soaper from this forum told me. :-D
 
Melstan I've been in business for 4 years. I live on the side of a mountain and I have very hard water with a lot of minerals in it. I have never, ever used distilled water in my soaps. Until you've got some experience behind you please don't make such sweeping statements because you simply don't really know what you are talking about. If you have silk or tiwgs floating in your lye, do two things, use less silk (mine is always thoroughly dissolved and I've been using it for over 4 years). My first batch of silk had a lot of crap in it which I finally got tired of having to pick out before it went into the water for my lye, it only took me 3 years ;). I have now bought silk that is ready to be spun into thread and it is amazing, no ickies in it at all.

There is a huge difference between having lye that is undissolved and silk floating around, once you have more experience I expect you will be able to tell the difference. I do find with silk that I have trouble with it in my milk soaps so I add silk powder instead and I using a milk frother to blend it into my water prior to adding lye.
 
Melstan I've been in business for 4 years. I live on the side of a mountain and I have very hard water with a lot of minerals in it. I have never, ever used distilled water in my soaps. Until you've got some experience behind you please don't make such sweeping statements because you simply don't really know what you are talking about. If you have silk or tiwgs floating in your lye, do two things, use less silk (mine is always thoroughly dissolved and I've been using it for over 4 years). My first batch of silk had a lot of crap in it which I finally got tired of having to pick out before it went into the water for my lye, it only took me 3 years ;). I have now bought silk that is ready to be spun into thread and it is amazing, no ickies in it at all.

There is a huge difference between having lye that is undissolved and silk floating around, once you have more experience I expect you will be able to tell the difference. I do find with silk that I have trouble with it in my milk soaps so I add silk powder instead and I using a milk frother to blend it into my water prior to adding lye.

I too have been in business for years and have made at least 5 double or triple 5-lb batches every week -- and personally I'm more inclined to pay attention to veterans on basics than someone who's been making soap for only a few months.

I have never had to strain my lye, and agree that if you're straining out lye chunks your lye ratio is going to be off. I've never had to strain out undissolved silk, either -- I buy silk without vegetative matter. The only chunks I sometimes get are partially dissolved clay, and that's easy to incorporate with a stick blender or even a wire whisk at the next stage.

Melstan, maybe you could elaborate on exactly what you're doing that you need to strain out undissolved lye or silk?

Not aiming to be snippy, but we seem to have pretty varying kinds of experiences.
 
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