Oil seperation after blending?

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ashdigger

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Ok guys I usually read (great place to spend time, a lot of knowledgeable people here) and do little posting but something weird happened recently. I will add my recipe below, Simple soap, after melting the solids and letting my lye cool within a very few degrees of each other (110-112), I preceded to blend. Everything appeared to be correct, the mix looked real good, at VERY light trace I added my fragrance, mixed briefly, still at this point everything looked good. setting the mix aside getting my mold ready I noticed oil within the mix separating slightly. no biggie just hit again with the stick blender and everything looked good again. Then just after pouring prior to covering I noticed oil separation again. Waiting for a day had a peek and oil was setting on top very liquid. slight touch and it appears the bar may be semi firm about half of an inch below the liquid. I really try to follow the directions exactly, the funny thing is I made two batches and the second one come out great! I'm a little confused??

This was run thru soap Calc.
60 oz batch
38% water
22.80 water (distilled)
8.5 Lye
3.75 Fragrance (1.0 oz per pound)
18.0 Oz Coconut Oil
42.0 oz Olive Oil

Cooled the lye to 110 and the oils to 112 prior to mixing, Fragrance was peach nectar from Candle science.

Thank You!







 
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I am 99% sure your fo was the culprit and I am not a fan of CS fo's. My reason is every one I have tried from them has riced or accelerated, which in your case would be ricing. Once oils start separating in the mixing bowl it is best not to pour until you SB enough to get it back together and watch for further separation. Florals, Spicy herbal and Coconut FO's are notorious for separating and accelerating. Sometimes it is best to cover the mixing bowl and let it go into gel before pouring if you have a severely naughty fo. This batch can be saved by rebatching and pouring all the oils and soap into a crock pot. If the oils re-absorb you may be okay but I suggest cutting your soap in a catch container in case the inside has separated, so you can save your oils. Now that you know it mis-behaves you can use the fo in a hp soap no problems. Someone will pop up and help you a little more since I am short on time this morning.
This is a pretty good tutorial to check out https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/soap-behaving-badly/#more-34870
 
Thats exactly what I thought it may have been the FO the second batch was coconut and I had never used the peach before. It looks like soft butter in the mold with oil still seeping out after 26plus hours. I think I will try and heat it up and rebatch, we'll see it may be heading to a trashcan somewhere near.
THANK YOU!!
 
Update to oil seperation

I removed the soap from the wood mold and about 1" from the top the soap was semi solid, still very greasy on top with what appeared to be FO running. I placed it in a broiler heated it up to nearly melting (very thin mash potatoes) then removed it and placed it in individual molds, smoothed it out and waited. 16 hours later I uncovered and to my surprise, still runny with signs of separation on top. The worst thing is when I was removing the soap I could feel the lye working on my hands like it wasn't mixed in the oils. I really don't know what happened, but it went south fast, I just chalked it up as a learning experience pitched it in the trash, 20 bars!!

Anyway thanks for the help we'll see what happens after while, I'm at it again!
Soap On!!
 
I removed the soap from the wood mold and about 1" from the top the soap was semi solid, still very greasy on top with what appeared to be FO running. I placed it in a broiler heated it up to nearly melting (very thin mash potatoes) then removed it and placed it in individual molds, smoothed it out and waited. 16 hours later I uncovered and to my surprise, still runny with signs of separation on top. The worst thing is when I was removing the soap I could feel the lye working on my hands like it wasn't mixed in the oils. I really don't know what happened, but it went south fast, I just chalked it up as a learning experience pitched it in the trash, 20 bars!!

Anyway thanks for the help we'll see what happens after while, I'm at it again!
Soap On!!
First error was not cooking it long enough and/or adding in some extra oil or milk. I would not have trashed it after a first try fix. Using a crock pot or putting it in the oven work the best for re-batching. I prefer to use a stainless pot and put it in the oven at 200-220º F. I find the oven gives the best melt down. There is very seldom a reason to trash soap that has gone south. Sorry you dumped it
 
Thats what I thought also, but why would it start burning my hands when handling, it was semi ridged when I removed the bars from the silicone molds they held intact but the burning? I was really lost
 
Thats what I thought also, but why would it start burning my hands when handling, it was semi ridged when I removed the bars from the silicone molds they held intact but the burning? I was really lost

It was burning your hands because the lye was still active. When you HP you have to cook it until it saponifies and the lye is no longer active. To test if the lye is still active perform the zap test on the soap. If it doesn’t zap it is good to go so you put it in the mold.

If it zaps you then you need to cook it longer.
 
OK understand never really tried to rebatch before, I will keep that in mind. This is exactly why I spend time here reading, time well spent!
Thank You! Have a happy new year!
 
I have had soap do that from FOs before and only once did the oil never re-absorb. Other times, when left long enough, the oil did re-absorb into the soap. Thankfully I keep pretty good notes, so I can see which FOs I don't want to bother with in the future. At least it's a learning experience.
 
Yeah keeping good notes is a must as with following the exact recipe, I have never rebatched like that before I have just grated up old sop and incorporated as design in new soap. anyway lesson learned. just FYI just for the fun of it I put about 30 oz on a paper plate and set it outside over night to see what would happen, the temperature dropped to -2 went out this morning took it in and the top was frozen but the bottom next to the paper was still soft,,I was a little surprised.. anyway its trash bound,
Thanks for the help!
 

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