Untempered Shea Butter Resulting in Crumbly, Grainy Soap?

[southernpossum]

Hey there! I've been a longtime lurker on this forum and I figured it was finally time to hop on here and contribute! I'll make a proper introduction post when the time comes, but I came across an issue in a batch today I had never seen before and wondered what I might have done wrong.

I've been making CP soap for years and have settled on a recipe I really love. I will post it below:

33% Coconut Oil
33% Palm Oil
14% Almond Oil, Sweet
10% Shea Butter
10% Castor Oil

33% Lye Concentration of Water, No Water Discount, 5% Superfat, 6% Fragrance Oil, w/ added Mica Powders for Color

I soap cool using the heat transfer method, leaving the batter at about 115 degrees F by the time the lye water melts down the oils and I begin SB.

This recipe yields beautiful swirls, firm but smooth bars, and great lather. It's worked (nearly) every time, but I made two batches with it this week that were almost utter flops. The first batch was salvageable and came out looking pretty enough...but the second was a disaster...Both soaps were crumbly and doughy, even though I let them harden in the mold using the same method and timing (covered, insulated, and left for 48 hours) as I have for all my previous batches. Parts of it stuck to the side of the mold, it flaked off, and overall just looked...messy. The only thing I did different this time was use an unrefined shea butter as a back up for my regular, refined deodorized shea butter that I normally use. I was in a hurry (I know, I know, never soap in a rush) and didn't think to temper the shea. After looking back at it, the shea butter I used is incredibly grainy as typical of shea butter that has been melted and cooled improperly (thanks a lot Georgia summertime...) Could the crumbly, graininess in my most recent batches be thanks to me failing to temper the shea? I never had any issues with my typical refined shea butter which had minimal graininess. I'm also somewhat worried improper palm oil stirring could have caused it, but I don't think that's it because I don't see any stearic or palmitic spots within the soap.

I know this can happen to body butters and other products with shea butter in it, but it never occurred to me that it could happen in CP as well. Attached are some pics of my previous batches which have turned out fine (rainbow, green and orange), along with my most recent batches, one of which was salvageable (pink + orange), the other of which is just awful (black, green, blue, yellow). Although soapmaking is an avid hobby of mine, I'm not an expert by any means and still have a lot to learn. Thanks in advance!

 

[KiwiMoose]

I'm guessing it's the shea butter if all else in your recipe was the same. I've never used unrefined shea. I find i have the same problems when i use cocoa butter in my recipe and don't gel.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Sorry to see that @southernpossum - your other soaps are lovely. Welcome

 

[DeeAnna]

You don't have to actually temper shea (or palm, cocoa butter, etc.) to make soap, but you do have to get the fats fully melted before starting the soap making process. My guess is 115 F isn't warm enough to fully melt all parts of the unrefined shea.

@Mobjack Bay has shared that they melt the fats and hold them for a bit at that temp (don't remember exactly how long). This ensures the fats fully melt to minimize problems like stearic spots. My takeaway from MB's experiments is this -- fats with a high percentage of palmitic and stearic fatty acids can look fully melted when they first get hot enough to look fully transparent, but they need a bit of time at their melting temp to fully melt all the fat particles. It might take more or less time to get to that point, depending on the particular fats involved.

My experience with high-melt-point ingredients like rosin has been similar. When rosin first melts it can look clear and fully melted, but the texture will be stringy, like melting chocolate chips and the last small bits of chocolate aren't quite melted. After the rosin stays hot for a bit longer, the texture becomes a smooth, consistent syrup.

I've never had good results from the "heat transfer" method when my recipe contains a high percentage of fats that are solid at room temperature. The fats don't get warm enough to fully melt. Maybe that is the key issue with your problem batches.

 

[BWt]

@southernpossum your soaps are pretty. Love the color combinations.

 

[GuacamoleSalad]

You don't have to actually temper shea (or palm, cocoa butter, etc.) to make soap, but you do have to get the fats fully melted before starting the soap making process. My guess is 115 F isn't warm enough to fully melt all parts of the unrefined shea.

@Mobjack Bay has shared that they melt the fats and hold them for a bit at that temp (don't remember exactly how long). This ensures the fats fully melt to minimize problems like stearic spots. My takeaway from MB's experiments is this -- fats with a high percentage of palmitic and stearic fatty acids can look fully melted when they first get hot enough to look fully transparent, but they need a bit of time at their melting temp to fully melt all the fat particles. It might take more or less time to get to that point, depending on the particular fats involved.

My experience with high-melt-point ingredients like rosin has been similar. When rosin first melts it can look clear and fully melted, but the texture will be stringy, like melting chocolate chips and the last small bits of chocolate aren't quite melted. After the rosin stays hot for a bit longer, the texture becomes a smooth, consistent syrup.

I've never had good results from the "heat transfer" method when my recipe contains a high percentage of fats that are solid at room temperature. The fats don't get warm enough to fully melt. Maybe that is the key issue with your problem batches.

This is the answer to a question for me, thank you!

 

[lsg]

Your soap contains a majority of hard oils and butter. That could be the reason it is crumbly. Next time cut the soap before it gets so hard.