After all these years EMERGENCY, need HELP!!

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Atihcnoc

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After some years of soap-making this is the first time something happens to my soap and I have no idea what is it, so I am in panic and thinking a lot!! What can make this happens? maybe the Sodium Hydroxide? Maybe the coconut oil? I really don't know but this was a simple recipe...Pure coconut oil soap!!

Coconut oil
Sodium hydroxide
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20% SF & 30% Cc.

The first recipe had NG Coconut coast F.O .8ppo

The second recipe I made it was unscented just the Coconut oil & Lye. (More white) (sml batch after the bad soap-to verify the problem). To see if the fragrance was the guilty

Photos better than words, hope you can help me....Thank you!! Conchita

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Note: I try to upload the photos and it was impossible, I will put the link so you can see the results of the soap, hope you can help me.

Here is the link with the photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/150777430@N07/albums/72157685117385140
 
Wow. Only thing I can think of is somehow it's getting way hot? Even in the individual molds though. Wow. Are you heating or insulating at all? What is CC?

Coconut oil
Sodium hydroxide
20% SF & 30% Cc.

Have you zap tested? Are there pockets or bubbles inside the soap? Were you able to cut either loaf, or did they just crumble?
 
Coconut soap can get very hot, and if the fragranceoil is naughty it can contribute to the problem. I never cover coconut soap, it gets hot without needing cover. Did you insulate/cover it with something? It can still overheat without covering it.

You may have several problems:
Soap that grows - volcanoing. Oozing of liquid - eiter lye or fragrance separating out of the soap. I can`t see if you have some separation of soap in there too. The soap isn`t even and smooth, so it may have started to rice some after you poured it.

When handling soap like that PLEASE use gloves, if there are lye residue etc, it is very important to protect youself from lyeburn..

Check this thread http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=52097
 
Hi, I just cut the second batch, the unscented one, it is kind of oily, both are oily. The deposits are not lye as I touched and rinsed and leave my fingers oily and not burning sensation...so it is not lye.

I thought in the lye, so I bought a new one to make another test batch and see how the batch behave. The one I used it is about 2 yrs old from Essential Depot, I normally buy my sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide from them, I love how my soaps look with their lye, but this time something happens.

I normally CPOP my soaps (1 hour 170F then off and leave it all night) been doing this for 8 years and never happens something like this. The only soap I do not CPOP is the one with milk instead of liquid or with honey.

I was thinking it could be possible the coconut oil?, it is a new brand I bought in Costco, normally I used extra-virgin super white and beautiful, and this new brand is not extra-virgin and it is not white, it is kind of beige, so I will do it again using the same coconut oil and new lye, I will keep you post it about the test.

S.F = Super Fat Cc= Lye concentration.

Thank you for your help!

Conchita
 
Yea, I'd kind of lean toward it maybe being the coconut oil at this point, since it seems to be the only other new factor, and you eliminated the FO as the culprit already. Is there anything at all added to the coconut oil? Stabilizers or what have you? I've never seen coconut oil be any color other than white or very very slightly off white, whether virgin or refined.

If your next batch with the new lye acts the same way, I'd say that fairly well nails down the coconut oil as the problem.

Thank you for clearing up your abbreviations. I couldn't for the life of me think what Cc might stand for.
 
Hi, I just cut the second batch, the unscented one, it is kind of oily, both are oily. The deposits are not lye as I touched and rinsed and leave my fingers oily and not burning sensation...so it is not lye.

I thought in the lye, so I bought a new one to make another test batch and see how the batch behave. The one I used it is about 2 yrs old from Essential Depot, I normally buy my sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide from them, I love how my soaps look with their lye, but this time something happens.

I normally CPOP my soaps (1 hour 170F then off and leave it all night) been doing this for 8 years and never happens something like this. The only soap I do not CPOP is the one with milk instead of liquid or with honey.

I was thinking it could be possible the coconut oil?, it is a new brand I bought in Costco, normally I used extra-virgin super white and beautiful, and this new brand is not extra-virgin and it is not white, it is kind of beige, so I will do it again using the same coconut oil and new lye, I will keep you post it about the test.

S.F = Super Fat Cc= Lye concentration.

Thank you for your help!

Conchita

You can not detect the presence of free lye with your fingers. Sorry, it has to be your tongue.

You do not need to CPOP Coconut Oil soap. It heats up plenty by itself.
 
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Hi, well last night I make the new batch with new lye and one with the beige coconut and another one with super white(new) extra virgin coconut oil and new lye. I CPOP both to follow the same process and see if the new batch can give me more answers.....Ok here we go......

Definitely the lye was responsible, In the batch with the new lye - beige coconut & F.O. the mix reacted almost immediately with a strong trace, like gelatin (very strange), and thicker when I added the fragrance. The top grew but not that much, actually a very nice effect, like foam.

The second batch with the new lye and new extra virgin coconut oil (the brand I always use) reacts beautifully, very thin trace, very nice and very white, also a very nice effect on the top like foam, but very light not as thick as the original one.

Another thing I found was that the first soap (the one with problems) had a lot of free oil, this tells me that the lye did not saponify completely, I tested with my tonge and it is not lye it is oil, for sure more than 20% of S.F.



I clean the soap with water, check again 30 minutes later and the soap was dripping oil.

Photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/150777430@N07/albums/72157685085781194/with/36462222061/

Thank you for all your help!!:bath1:

Conchita
Xy3qoz
 
I think they just overheated a whole lot. The coconut coast I know get's pretty hot in a regular batch. But since one was just CO just plain overheating especially if you put it in the oven at 170. 100% CO soap gels hot all on it's own.
 
I think they just overheated a whole lot. The coconut coast I know get's pretty hot in a regular batch. But since one was just CO just plain overheating especially if you put it in the oven at 170. 100% CO soap gels hot all on it's own.

All the recipes and new tests was just plain CO.

The Coconut Coast you know it is from the same company NG? from my experience some fragrances or essence oils behave different and in most cases depends of the company. The ones I normally use are from Bramble-Berry and from Lebermuth and never in all these years have any problem with my batchs, I wanted to try new scents and NG have a good ones, but I'm still learning about the behave of the F.O from this company.

The soap with problems did no gelled completely it was dark in the outsides (gelled) and in the center have a big portion of lighter soap, that is telling me it did not gelled 100%.

The new test, with exactly the same recipe as the original one and new lye, same temp. f.o. etc. it was at the end the same color inside & outside (gelled), but without the excess of oil like the one with problems, this one is clean and beautiful.

The differences tells me the lye was the cause, if was the overheating, the new test had to be exactly as the first one, in this case it was not like that. But just to be 100% sure I will make the same recipe with the old lye without oven processing, just to be sure.

Thank you for your help, I really learned a lot with this experience, the first one for me, I hope this will help somebody in the same situation.

Again thank you for your help.

Conchita.
 
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