WHAT the heck happened???

[SoaperBee]

Made a batch of CP ...Olive Oil, Shea butter and Castor oil.. thought I would make a simple bar...
mixed lye with oils, zip zip with the stick blender, and WHAM!! 2 seconds it was getting hard.. I poured in the mold as fast as I could...Hard as a rock.. No color, no fragrance.... threw it out...(safely)...did another batch and the same thing happened,,,this time I wrapped it up and it went through the gel stage and 24 hours later it is hard, not rock hard, still a little soft...
What happened???? I am about to give this up..
Any help would be appreciated...

Deb ~really disappointed

 

[dandelion]

maybe it has to do with the adulterated olive oil everyone has been talking about

eta: I always heat up siezed soap to vaseline stage, that way i never lose a batch

 

[SoaperBee]

How would I heat the soap up??? It was a big hard "glob".. do I put it in the oven??
Thanks )

 

[soapbuddy]

Where did the olive oil come from?

 

[SoaperBee]

I bought it at Sam's I always use that brand.... I made other batches with it and it turned out ok...

 

[soapbuddy]

What was the temp of the oils and lye when combined?

 

[SoaperBee]

my lye was 110 and my oil was about 130.. I am always afraid to let the temps gt below 100 for some reason..I guess everything I have read they should be over 100 ....
Can you tell I am still learning after a year of doing this...Geez.. I need some lessons... LoL..

 

[IrishLass]

Made a batch of CP ...Olive Oil, Shea butter and Castor oil.. thought I would make a simple bar...
mixed lye with oils, zip zip with the stick blender, and WHAM!! 2 seconds it was getting hard.. I poured in the mold as fast as I could...Hard as a rock.. No color, no fragrance.... threw it out...(safely)...did another batch and the same thing happened,,,this time I wrapped it up and it went through the gel stage and 24 hours later it is hard, not rock hard, still a little soft...
What happened???? I am about to give this up..
Any help would be appreciated...

Deb ~really disappointed

SoaperBee- what were your oil, lye and water amounts, and also what was the temp that you soaped at? Knowing those things will help us to troubleshoot for you more effectively. For example, if your lye solution % was pretty steep, that could cause things to speed up quickly; and/or if your temps were too cool for your shea butter to remain in liquid suspension when the lye water hit it, that would cause a quick pseudo-trace, etc....

IrishLass

ETA- Woops! We all must have posted at the same time!

Your temps look okay to me. I soap on the hot side, too, whenever soaping with butters (around 120-125 degreesF for my oils and around 100 for my lye).

What was your lye solution %?

 

[LadyM]

Can I ask you hot temp ladies a question?!

I've always mix btwn 95-98 degress as per the Sandy Maine recipe.
I'm wondering what would happen if I bumped it up to 110 like you do?
What effect does soaping hotter have?

 

[SoaperBee]

@ Irishlass:

This was the recipe.... DO yo think it's too much castor oil?

Oils
Fat Amount
(oz wt) % in
recipe
Castor Oil 7.11111111111 22.22
Olive Oil 16 50.00
Shea Butter 8.88888888889 27.78
Total Weight 32

LYE=3.9oz
Water=9 oz

I used MMS lye calculator

Maybe my batteries are no good in my scale ")




\

 

[SoaperBee]

I should clarify... I round up the numbers..
7
16
9..

 

[soapbuddy]

22% castor? Wow, that's a lot.

 

[SoaperBee]

Ah!! I wonder if that is the answer.... is there a good number to keep the castor at??

 

[soapbuddy]

Ah!! I wonder if that is the answer.... is there a good number to keep the castor at??

I use it up to 5% of the total.

 

[soapbuddy]

Can I ask you hot temp ladies a question?!

I've always mix btwn 95-98 degress as per the Sandy Maine recipe.
I'm wondering what would happen if I bumped it up to 110 like you do?
What effect does soaping hotter have?

I always soap at around 110. Any lower and there is higher chance of false trace for me.

 

[SoaperBee]

Wow!! I will give that a try...I really appreciate everyones input..

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Sorry it didn't work out for you. Did it look like this? This is a seize I had in 2009.

http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15827&highlight=palm+kernel+oil[/url]

 

[kcho]

seems happens to me all the time if I use major amount of castor oil.

What was your percentage on the oil composition? It might affected your trace speed.

It is actually nice if I don't have to stand and stir forever, but also I have to worry if I don't feel like I have stirred enough- more lye will stay and might less foamier in use than I want..

But it is always good to have experience. Wonder how would you feel when you use it.

 

[SoaperBee]

@ Bubbles ~ It didn't quite look like that it just froze up in a big blob, but later it went thru gel stage.. I have sliced the soap, it is a little soft, so I can't wait to see what will happen in the weeks to come..

I guess I won't be using that much castor..anymore...
I should have saved the first batch, it might have turned out ok.. Oh well Live and Learn..