my soap didnt turn out....

[Sezzah]

Well i made my first CP soap yesterday, very excited to turn it out today... only to find its a gluey mess. Its been almost 24hours, i used a lye calculator to get the right amounts, and i dont know what went wrong.
I was only just able to get it out of the mould, very soft almost butter like on the outside, im not sure if i should leave it for a little while longer in the mould, or just turn them all out and let dry to see if that helps.

Any advice??

 

[Guest]

Well i made my first CP soap yesterday, very excited to turn it out today... only to find its a gluey mess. Its been almost 24hours, i used a lye calculator to get the right amounts, and i dont know what went wrong.
I was only just able to get it out of the mould, very soft almost butter like on the outside, im not sure if i should leave it for a little while longer in the mould, or just turn them all out and let dry to see if that helps.

Any advice??

Please provide the exact recipe with lye and water amounts so we can try to figure out where you went wrong.

 

[Sezzah]

Olive oil 30% 150g
Castor oil 7 35g
Coconut oil 30 150g
Shea butter 10 50g
Palm Oil 23 115

Lye 71.2g
Water 190g
5 superfat

and thats what i did

 

[Guest]

Olive oil 30% 150g
Castor oil 7 35g
Coconut oil 30 150g
Shea butter 10 50g
Palm Oil 23 115

Lye 71.2g
Water 190g
5 superfat

and thats what i did

Ok, so far so good. Did you use a stick blender or hand mix it when you added Your lye water? And did you make sure that your soap was at trace before pouring it into your mold?

 

[Sezzah]

This is how it looks.

Its actually alittle firmer on the inside, but very creamy and soft on the outside.


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/594/dsc0026ua.jpg/

i hope it works

 

[Guest]

This is how it looks.

Its actually alittle firmer on the inside, but very creamy and soft on the outside.

PIC???

 

[Sezzah]

It was definately at trace when it went into the moulds.

I hand mixed as i was pouring the lye into the oils, then onto stick blender to do the rest.

Its reeeeally cold in my house (im in the middle of winter), im thinking maybe it just needs more time?

 

[Guest]

It was definately at trace when it went into the moulds.

I hand mixed as i was pouring the lye into the oils, then onto stick blender to do the rest.

Its reeeeally cold in my house (im in the middle of winter), im thinking maybe it just needs more time?

It is probably going to be fine in another 24 hours then. Your recipe seems fine but you do have alot of soft oils so I would wait another 24 hours and check it again.

 

[Sezzah]

i ended up unmoulding all of them thismorning, i came home tonight and they have hardened up. Note to self. Let sit longer next time before turning out.

Thanks all for your advice

:wink:

 

[soapbuddy]

It could be that your soap didn't gel. I don't gel my soaps and some of them do come out "buttery". After a few days they harden up.

 

[longlasting]

Well i made my first CP soap yesterday, very excited to turn it out today... only to find its a gluey mess. Its been almost 24hours, i used a lye calculator to get the right amounts, and i dont know what went wrong.
I was only just able to get it out of the mould, very soft almost butter like on the outside, im not sure if i should leave it for a little while longer in the mould, or just turn them all out and let dry to see if that helps.

Any advice??

I looked at ur recipe and you have

To much, enough or not enough of oils water lye

the soap you made sorry to say will take months to get hard...

Soap making is chemistry..

I broke down whare your recipe went soft

Castor oil 7% try 4% ..

Castor will make ur soap soft use no more then 5%...

Olive oil 30% is good...you can go higher

Cocoanut oil 30 % is good but for this recipe

try 37% you need the hardness in a bar.

Shea Better 10% GOOD

Palm oil 23% is good

18 % would be better.

Lye 71. 2 Grams your a little under not enough

try 6% at 72 grams

Your water is to high at 190 oz

try 156 ML, DESTILLED Water only

If you want to add extra moisturizing to your soap

try superfating with shea butter add 1 oz melted shea butter at light trace to this recipe

Make sure the shea butter stays under 110 degress when you poor..

Good luck

 

[busymakinsoap!]

Your recipe looks beautiful to me.

Dont change your lye amount, to increase it to 72grams would mean a superfat of around 3% which is too low.

You have actually made a fairly hard bar (its actually harder than my regular bars), I would say it is a gell issue. If you did not gell you might need to leave it in the mold for a few days, take it out and if its still a little soft leave it for another day or two before you cut.

if your inpatient like me, gell the soap, it should then be hard enough to cut the following day.

Only recommendation re recipe, would be too look at an increase of super fat to accomodate your highish levels of coconut oil (which can be drying in soap) I would do a 6 or 7% superfat - run it through soap calc.

Did you create your recipe yourself? great job

 

[judymoody]

Your recipe looks beautiful to me.

Dont change your lye amount, to increase it to 72grams would mean a superfat of around 3% which is too low.

You have actually made a fairly hard bar (its actually harder than my regular bars), I would say it is a gell issue. If you did not gell you might need to leave it in the mold for a few days, take it out and if its still a little soft leave it for another day or two before you cut.

if your inpatient like me, gell the soap, it should then be hard enough to cut the following day.

Only recommendation re recipe, would be too look at an increase of super fat to accomodate your highish levels of coconut oil (which can be drying in soap) I would do a 6 or 7% superfat - run it through soap calc.

Did you create your recipe yourself? great job

I agree with busymakinsoap! This looks like a well balanced recipe and along with the other posters, I suspect your only error was trying to cut an ungelled soap too soon. Next time you could try to force gel by placing your poured soap in a preheated oven. You could also reduce your water slightly (maybe 34 or 35% on soapcalc instead of the standard 38%).

Longlasting, with all due respect, I don't see the rationale behind the advice you gave on this recipe. The initial balance of hard and soft oils seems appropriate. I wouldn't go past 10% on castor but 7% is well within the norm. This bar should not take months to harden as is and with the ingredients used, it should be plenty hard enough.

 

[lovelysuds]

Recipe looks ok. It could actually be a few things. Youve got a high olive oil content which takes months to be great IMO. Secondly if it didnt gel it does stay almost tacky. I leave mine in the molds for 48 hours then take it out only if its dried more. I use 7% castor all the time its nice in that amount. Dont worry though Im sure itll be ok! Busymakinsoap had great advise about superfatting. I think since Coconut oil is moisturizing in natural state its confusing, however when its in soap its cleansing and bubbly not moisturizing so Id do a 7-8% SF if it were me. Good Luck!

 

[Kleine Teufel]

Recipe looks just fine to me as well... If you have small molds, maybe you can freeze them before removing them from the molds? I know I cannot remove my smaller molded soap unless it's frozen. My large loaf mold, I let it set for a day or two, then unhinge the sides and let it set for another two days, then remove it from the mold. Mine's a nice soft bar, with 60% OO, and it takes about 8 weeks to cure. I don't think your's will take months to cure.

 

[Sezzah]

wow thanks everyone for the advice. Im trying the same recipe again today but im tweaking it a little to see if it turns out better. Also, im using a wooden log mould today and will get it into the oven right after to encourage gel. ALSO, lol, im pre mixing my palm oil before using.
Hopefully get a better result. Fingers crossed.

 

[IrishLass]

I agree with the others who say your recipe looks absolutely fine- no need to change it at all. As busymakinsoap! said- it should actually make a fairly hard bar. Olive oil at only 30%, and castor at only 7% is on the low side compared to some of my own formulas, and I can confidently predict (based on one of my formulas with 50% OO and 10% castor) that yours will not take months to get hard. I agree 100% with the others who say that it did not gel. That's classic behavior for non-gelled soap.

IrishLass

 

[SudsyKat]

I"m not sure what kind of mold you used before, but I have found a tremendous difference in temperatures between different types of molds. The wooden mold should insulate your soap really well and help it to gel. Good luck!

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Not to worry, have another go. If you used a silicone mould last time, it pays to leave it in the mould longer and then freeze for a while (couple of hours) to get a clean release. Have fun. :wink:

 

[Sezzah]

Im so glad i found this site.

Yes i was using a silicone mould last time.

The soap itself has been very lovely. Soda ash galore but thats ok.

Today i used the wooden mould and i feel much more confident with how its going. Its in the oven on a low temp to help too.