Help!!

[Kay]

I'm making a soap right now.
Here is what I'm making.

Total oil weight 32
Water as percent of oil weight 38 %
Super Fat/Discount 10 %
Lye Concentration 25.73 %
Water : Lye Ratio 2.887:1
Sat : Unsat Ratio 34 : 66
Iodine 65
INS 143
Fragrance Ratio 0
Fragrance Weight 0 Oz
Ingredient Pounds Ounces Grams
Water 0.76 12.16 344.73
Lye - NaOH 0.263 4.213 119.428
# √ Oil/Fat % Pounds Ounces Grams
1 Almond Oil, sweet 10 0.2 3.2 90.718
2 Castor Oil 10 0.2 3.2 90.718
3 Coconut Oil, 76 deg 25 0.5 8 226.796
4 Shea Butter 10 0.2 3.2 90.718
5 Olive Oil 45 .9 14.4 408.233
Totals 100 2 32 907.184
Soap Bar Quality Suggested Range Your Recipe
Hardness 29 - 54 33
Cleansing 12 - 22 17
Conditioning 44 - 69 64
Bubbly 14 - 46 26
Creamy 16 - 48 25
Iodine 41 - 70 65
INS 136 - 165 143
Lauric 12
Myristic 5
Palmitic 10
Stearic 6
Ricinoleic 9
Oleic 45
Linoleic 9
Linolenic

I wanted to try a first at swirling, so I cut my HP time some. Instead of about 40 minutes or so, I pulled it out at 30 minutes, split the batch in two (added about 1 oz of aloe vera juice with Rooibot tea coloring in it, and started adding to mold. After I got everything in the mold, a layer of oil has surfaced! I've dumped everything back into the crock pot and I'm going to let it cook for a while. Is this the right thing to do???

 

[Kay]

Well, I cooked it another 20 minutes, and just took it back out and put back in mold. It does look better! It doesn't seem to be separating like it did the first time.
Although my different colors have now gone by the wayside *sigh*, at least I think I'll be able to use it now.

 

[three_little_fishes]

Sorry it didn't do what you wanted. Glad you could salvage it though! I'm no help with HP troubleshooting.

 

[kazmi]

How well did you mix your additives (tea, aloe) before molding it? Are you sure it was oil seperation? Glad you caught it and put it back in the crock and saved it.

 

[Kay]

I've been trying to figure out what went wrong with this. Could it be because my aloe juice and tea mix was at room temp when I added it to the hot soap in crock pot? Everything looked fine up until then. When I added the aloe mix, it seemed to go clumpy on me. It was just about 2 oz. Would 2 oz make that much difference?
It's fine this morning. It's hardening up nicely. I'll unmold it later this morning.

 

[pamielynn]

Sounds to me like you interrupted the cook. Do you normally swirl HP? I've never been able to do that, as HP is so clumpy

 

[Kay]

Yes, I interrupted the cook intentionally, because I wanted it less clumpy, so I could try swirling. Guess that doesn't work huh? lol!

 

[jcandleattic]

Did you get the batter to full trace before you started cooking? Interrupting the cook really shouldn't have matter. All cooking really does is speed saponification, so interrupting it wouldn't harm it, it just wouldn't be fully saponified is all. (which time in the mold would take care of anyway)
The additives being at room temp shouldn't make that much of a difference but the amount might. I've never used aloe juice in my soaps though, so I have no idea how it would react as an additive. I know most people dissolve the aloe with the lye.

 

[pamielynn]

^^ I did not know this! I'm not a big HP'er because I freak out too much, watching the pot - and invariably end up messing with it