Yogurt & Cucumber Soap Questions

Hi! I have a few questions about a couple of soap batches I did this week. I made 2 batches of Yogurt and Cucumber Soap.

Both Batches have this basic recipe, Soap Calc was used to get water/lye ratio
Avocado Oil - 5%
Castor Oil - 10%
Coconut Oil 76 degrees - 25%
Mango Butter - 5%
Palm Oil - 25%
Rice Bran Oil - 25%
Maracuja (Passion Fruit) Oil - 5%
The cucumber puree and yogurt (vanilla yogurt) each made up 1/3 each of the called for water, added to both batches at trace.
Superfat 10%
Yuzu Fragrance
Both set for 2.5 days before cutting.

I made a slight mistake with the 2lb hot process batch, and used appx .8oz more lye than I should. I went ahead and made the batch anyway, knowing I could potentially have a bum batch on my hands, but chalking it up to a learning exp even if I chucked it in the bin. The batter immediately seized, but I was able to smooth it out somewhat and continue on. The finished loaf still has small pieces of the seized white batter in it. These seem to zap just a smidge, which is not surprising to me. (see first pic)


The second batch was simple cold process, using the same recipe. This whipped up to a lovely, creamy batter with a nice thick trace. I popped it in the fridge through gel as I wanted to maintain that creamy consistency. It still gelled, no big deal, but when I cut it today the middle was still very wet and there was a crack in it. This batch did not have the lye overage the first did, and the middle and crack does not zap at all. (see second pic)

So my questions:

1. Can I fix either of these by rebatching? I am pretty sure I can on the second, but not sure on the first. I was wondering if there were any suggestions on how to do so. Wait until the second sets completely?

2. While I know what I did wrong on my first batch, what caused this in the second batch and how can I avoid it in the future?

Thanks so much. This place is always such an awesome place to get answers!

Your second batch appears to have overheated. The sugar in the cucumber and yogurt are probably to blame. I know when I made a yogurt soap it heated up very quickly and tried to overheat. A tip I learned, chill your mold if you want to prevent gel. If I didn't, I always got a partial gel, so now I always put my mold in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before I make a batch.

Did any of the oil from the second batch leak out? You may have to rebatch it because It may be lye heavy in areas. If any leaked out, were you able to catch it? You'll need to put it back in when you rebatch.

The first, if you know how much extra lye you added, you should be able to correct it by calculating how much extra oil you'll need to add. Use a lye calculator and start with just ounces of your oils until you get to the lye overage. Don't forget to calculate in your SF as well.

I would honestly rebatch both. I just would not trust either of those to come out safe. Just follow what hmlove1218 said.

Actually by my calculations that was a bit more than a slight mistake with the lye useage. 0.8 oz lye will saponify 7 oz of RBO at a 10% superfat. (someone please correct me if I am wrong.) If you used 32 oz of oils your soap would be a -9 superfat according to soap calc. I would rebatch adding in an extra 2 oz rice bran oil, 2.4 oz mango oil and 2.4 avocado if you have the oils. That is what it will take with those particular oils to up the superfat to 10%. Otherwise just put in your original recipe and tweak the oil amounts until you hit the weight of lye you used. You could also lower your superfat number to 3-5% so you would need a little less additional oil. I figured it with a total 32 oz oils using your percentages. The second batch is definetly overheating and will harden over time, but will always have the dent where it tried to seperate, but if it is not zappy you really do not need to worry about it.

Oh, Thank you all for the tips! I never thought of chilling my mold before using it. I will definitely try that. And thanks for the tip on what/how much oils to add. I will be rebatching both this weekend and I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again!

I think Maracuja oil is better than any other oil. It has anti-itching properties that will help your skin. You can also use this oil for your hair. It also prevent your scalp and make your hair stronger and shiny.

Hey, and welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately, this thread is over 2 years old, so you may not get a response.

Susie said:

Hey, and welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately, this thread is over 2 years old, so you may not get a response.

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Ok, no problem susie.