HI, New to soap making (CP)

[alsoCass]

HI,

I am new to soap making. I just made my second batch of soap yesterday. It has turned out strange and I don't know if that is good or bad. I have a lot of questions.... Is there a newbies section?

I made my first soap batch a few months ago and it turned out great.

my first recipe:
450ml water
172g caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide)
1000g olive oil
250g copha (which I am told is a coconut oil substitute).

This came to trace in 10-15minutes. I remember having to switch hands a few times with the stick blender.

For the second batch we wanted to try adding scent, and I had rice bran oil to use.
495ml water
215g caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide)
400g Olive Oil
600g Rice Bran Oil
500g Copha
40ml Lavendar (Huggies) oil

I made a mistake with this one, I had heated the oil and was waiting for the caustic soda to cool when I realised that I had forgotten to add the rice bran oil. So I quickly added it in and put the pot back on the heat. The oil got to the right temperature with a few minutes to spare.
I also may have had the caustic soda a few degrees too hot (55-60Celsius).

This mix came to trace in about 10seconds. I stopped mixing and went to get the fragrance and when I came back the soap mixture looked like a solid custard that had been stirred around. I pushed on and added the fragrance and then scooped the mixture into the molds.

Within 5minutes the soap appeared to seperate with lots of oil rising to the top, even bulging at the top. It had a yellow oily colour from the oil, with a lighter outside where the soap was happening
Within an hour or two the soap had begun to harden and was a white colour, the oil had disappeared.
24hours later I turned the soap out of the molds and cut it. It looks like a white soap, but is definetly very oily. It also appears to have 'chunks' of a pale yellow through it.

So my questions:
what happened, why did it do this, does it matter, will it be okay to use.

my second question is about the 6week period in which the soap dries. Is it okay to use the soap early. Is this drying process just to prolong the life of the soap. I had initially thought it was because the caustic soda would burn if it is used before that period. However my friend reminded me that the chemical reaction happened in the mixing pot.

Thanks for the responses... I am already addicted and planning my next batch.

Moved from the Intro section

 

[Lottee]

Just wanted to say hi and welcome from a fellow newbie! I can't offer any real help i'm afraid as i've only made 6 loaves of soap myself. I too am addicted!

 

[lsg]

I always just melt my solid fats or oils and add them to the liquid oils. I hardly ever measure the temp. of the oils or lye. I wait until my lye water is clear and then add to the mixed oils. You can add the e.o. or f.o. directly to the oils and blend it up before adding the lye water and then blend the whole to trace.

 

[booboo]

Hi and welcome, I have never had this happen to me, I would go back and check all the ingredients and make sure everything you are using is 100% with nothing added.

I have never had soap trace that fast, I have had false trace when my temps were to low.
Did it get hot in the mold? I would not trust a soap that traced that fast.

Once I bought some coconut milk with a E number in it and within seconds it went like concrete, it got chucked in the bin straight away.

 

[judymoody]

I ran your second recipe through soapcalc.net and your lye discount is only about 3%. That's a bit low and might possibly have contributed to your fast trace. However, I suspect that the main reason is that you soaped too hot. Your lye was at 55/60 C or 130/140 F. I typically soap at between 90-110 for oils and lye. I usually don't measure carefully - I just check to see if the container is warm to the touch. Overheating can cause acceleration and separation as you describe.

Next time, try soaping at around 40 C and use a lye discount of 5-7% and see what happens. Don't get discouraged!