My soap seized

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AtomicKitty

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Location
Ottawa, ON
So, I'm making my first batch of cold process soap - I did lots of research and found a recipe I liked. It has more olive oil (by percentage) than any of the hot process soaps I've made so I was expecting trace to take a little longer. To my complete and utter surprise, it seized completely when I added a fragrance!!:headbanging:
I've dumped it in my slow cooker (yay hot process) and will try again tomorrow. (Thanks for listening to my whining!)
What I'm wondering is this: I really REALLY want to try cold process. I've made a few hot process soap, so I'm not a complete rookie! What recipe would you suggest for a newbie with cold process? The oils I have are: olive, coconut, avocado, castor, sweet almond, grapeseed, sunflower.
 
Seizing is most often caused by your fragrance oil, I believe. It's always important to read reviews on that particular FO to see if it accelerates/rices/seizes in cold-process. FOs can be a bit finicky, especially florals.

Most definitely it was caused by my FO. I was hoping the larger amount of olive oil would give me more time!
 
Some FO's are not intended for CP soaps. Did you get the FO from a local store and does it contain alcohol. That will cause trouble with CP soaps too. I got some from a hobby store that did that but not again...

On the other hand I have several florals that my DW loves that I have to be REAL quick with.
Take the batter to light trace. Whisk in the FO and pour. Not much time between adding the FO and set soap. It's still raw and needs to saponify - I can watch the temperature climb while it does it's thing.

Fragrances are nice but they add another level of difficulty to soap making.
 
Most definitely it was caused by my FO. I was hoping the larger amount of olive oil would give me more time!

What's the FO, out of curiosity?

One thing you could try is adding the FO to your melted oils before adding the lye water. Then stick-blend just enough to incorporate the lye water and oils, then switch to a whisk or a spatula to bring to trace. It should give you more wiggle room.
 
If you have a FO that seizes, the recipe isn't going to make much of a difference.

I use a high amount of lard, it's just about the slowest tracing fat you can use and it still seizes with naughty FO's.

Try cp without scent or list what FO's you have and where they are from, we can help you pick one that behaves well.
 
Companies that specialize in soap - such as Brambleberry and Nurture - are very good about reporting honestly on their FOs performance in soap. I like WSP but I have found that they don't report on that as thoroughly.
 
I am sort of a newbie too, so maybe I should not say, but what the heck .... here it is .... from the oils you listed, seems to me that many of them are soft oils, except for the coconut one. Did you say it seized before the FO? Perhaps the oils you used also played a part. Try adding some palm oil or lard to your recipe for more stability.
But what do I know, I am a newbie at CP too. But I had been making HP for a year.
 
A recipe soft i high oils won't cause seize. Seize in my experience, is always caused by some kind of additive, whether a naught FO or adding beer/wine that still has alcohol present.

Another way to deal with seize beside a crock pot is to just cover the bowl its in with a towel and let it gel right there in the bowl. It should produce enough heat to gel then you can finish stirring it together and mold.
 
Most definitely, it was a naughty FO.

I agree with Obsidian that the oils used in your recipe are not going to make much of a difference. A least they never have in my own experience.

A naughty FO will behave naughtily because of the particular constituents in the FO or EO that react excitedly when it comes in contact with lye. One of the most notoriously reactive-with-lye constituents is eugenol, found in abundance in clove oil, which is why clove eo is such a notorious seizer. It's also present in sundry other oils as well.

The absolute best way to deal with a known naughty FO or EO that you have on hand is to do HP with it and add the FO/EO once the batter no longer zaps.

If you want to CP it, you can either try adding full water to your batch and soaping cooler (although soaping cooler could backfire on you depending on how many hard fats are in your formula), or using less of the FO, or adding the FO to your melted oils/fats first, or hand-stirring only (no stick-blending). Neither are 100% guarantees against acceleration with all naughty FOs, but I have found either one or all of those things to help with certain of my naughty FOs. This will call for much experimentation on your part, but it's worth it if the FO/EO is very important to you.

The best preventative strategy of all is to prowl about on all the FO/EO review sites to read of other's experiences with the FO before deciding to buy it in the first place. This is my favorite strategy. I just don't buy FOs that are notorious seizers for others, or else I'll go ahead buy it, but resign myself to doing HP with it.


IrishLass :)
 
The FO is from a set I purchased at my local craft store (Michaels) - The selection is small and where I live, it seems that soaping quality fragrances and colourants are hard to find. I have actually tossed the packaging, but the bottle says "Distributed by MSPCI" - They're in Texas. I was using the raspberry and vanilla FOs. They worked well in a melt and pour, but I bet they have alcohol in them - especially since melt and pour is all my craft store sells.
Good to know about Brambleberry, Nurture and WSP. Brambleberry charges an arm and a leg to ship to Canada (I am looking into a US PO. box in Ogdensburg, NY. But that is an adventure for another day....) I will check into Nurture and WSP. I have ordered colourant and palm oil from Saffire Blue, but just like everyone else, I'm still waiting for my package to ship!
I have tonnes of EO's from another business I have... I want to try them eventually, but I think I'll stick to trying to colour my soap before I try adding fragrance again. I do have a different recipe for cold process to try. The colour in the olive oil heavy recipe I tried yesterday isn't quite what I was looking for. (In hindsight, I really should have realized before I even started!)

Thanks everyone for your advice!!! I love you all for helping!

AtomicKitty
 
The FO is from a set I purchased at my local craft store (Michaels) - The selection is small and where I live, it seems that soaping quality fragrances and colourants are hard to find. I have actually tossed the packaging, but the bottle says "Distributed by MSPCI" - They're in Texas. I was using the raspberry and vanilla FOs. They worked well in a melt and pour, but I bet they have alcohol in them - especially since melt and pour is all my craft store sells.
Good to know about Brambleberry, Nurture and WSP. Brambleberry charges an arm and a leg to ship to Canada (I am looking into a US PO. box in Ogdensburg, NY. But that is an adventure for another day....) I will check into Nurture and WSP. I have ordered colourant and palm oil from Saffire Blue, but just like everyone else, I'm still waiting for my package to ship!
I have tonnes of EO's from another business I have... I want to try them eventually, but I think I'll stick to trying to colour my soap before I try adding fragrance again. I do have a different recipe for cold process to try. The colour in the olive oil heavy recipe I tried yesterday isn't quite what I was looking for. (In hindsight, I really should have realized before I even started!)

Thanks everyone for your advice!!! I love you all for helping!

AtomicKitty


That's likely why it seized. Those are made to be used in M&P soap.
 
You have a real lack of hard oils to work with. The best recipe I could give you would be

45% Olive
30% Coconut
20% Avocado
5% Castor
Superfat- 7%
Water to Lye- 2:1

This recipe would need a VERY long cure to start being decent (though nowhere near a castile). If you could procure another hard oil, shave off 10-15% from the coconut oil and 5-10% from the avocado, this might be a much more balanced recipe. Mind you, I have not tried this at all. I could though...
 
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