First batch great, second batch ??

Okay, Saturday night I made my first two batches. My first batch definitely reached the tracing point, and turned out perfect. My second batch, not so sure. My baby was hungry so I hurried through it, I didn't mix it nearly as long but I know I mixed the first more than necessary. I used a stick blender, and I thought I saw a slight trace. I poured half into the mold and added some cocoa to the second half mixed a little more and added that and tried marbleizing it. So tonight I went to take them out of the molds, the second one is drying but its still a little damp/wet in the middle...its solid but very soft. And it has a white layer, its ripple-y (its the best way to describe it), also the outer corners are much lighter than the rest of the bar. So I'm wondering if this is normal or if I didn't mix it long enough. Oh I should add they are actually two different recipes, the first was coconut 30%, palm 30%, and olive oil 40%. The second one I was running out of palm and I added castor and canola oil so its: coconut 28%, olive 40%, palm 20%, canola 7% castor 5%. I added canola because I tried making a infused oil out of it, fyi. I know this bar will be softer anyways, but I want to know if its okay or not. Sorry this is so long

A picture would be helpful as well as amounts of lye and water used and information about fragrance.

From your description, it sounds like you might have gotten partial gel with your second batch. If so the outer edges would be softer and lighter in color than the darker middle which would be firmer. Also, as you suggest, your mix of oils could contribute to a softer bar. Castor can also make your soap a bit stickier but at 5% probably not meaningfully so.

Or it's possible that you didn't get true trace and had some separation. If you cut into it and the texture is sort of spongy and it's got oozing liquid, then it's probably separation.

Hopefully it's partial gel. If it separated, you might be able to rebatch and save it. Good luck!

the second batch sounds a bit like a problem child. the wavy/wrinkly top is indicative of overheating, whereas the white edges and corners means the gel (caused by heat, often a desired stage) didn't reach those edges.

give the soap an extra day or two in the mold to see what happens to it.

both are likely just cosmetic issues and can be dealt with by controlling the temperature of your ingredients and how you insulate the mold and such.

let us know what you see.

First off: lye 129 grams, water 345 (but I used brewed chai tea). No additional fragrance oils beside the canola I had infused with cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves (I added it after I thought I saw a trace so the lye wouldn't destroy the scent ???). Oils co 254, oo 363, po 181, castor (roughly 30 g what I had), canola 60.

Second: My husband got impatient and cut it the inside looks pretty good, but the top as described. Does that help identify the problem? And does it mean its cosmetic and not a rebatch?

yep, cosmetic - and not related to mixing. enjoy it.

Glad it worked out for you. You can trim the edges if you find them unsightly.

Also at light trace, the lye is still very active and it will interact with whatever oils are present. So adding your infused oils at trace is not likely to make a difference.

Clove and cinnamon can cause your soap mixture to heat up (more so for essential oils than the spices). That may have been partly responsible for the appearance of your second batch. Soaping at cooler temperatures and using full water can help to counteract this.

Enjoy your soap!

Here they are

They look fine to me!