Beer soap reaching trace immediately without a blender!

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sasha_88

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Hello all,

I made a batch of beer soap today and as soon as I was pouring the lye in the oils, the mixture reached trace while stirring with a wooden spoon only... I think this is very strange and never experienced it before - I've made around 20 batches before, including with beer. Do you have any suggestions why this could be? I didn't use the stick blender at all, just stirred well for 5-10 mins and poured in the mold. I soaped at 38 Celsius (100 F). Here is the recipe:

Coconut oil - 25%
EVOO - 30%
Sunflower oil - 14%
Rice bran oil - 10%
Shea butter - 8%
Cocoa butter - 7%
Castor oil - 4%
Beeswax - 2%

Beer - 340g (Stella Artois, no discount)
Lye - 124g

Total batch - 1400g

Do you also think that 5-10 mins stirring is enough to incorporate the batter or should I have used the stick blender?

Thank you in advance!
 
Do you always use beeswax? It can speed trace some even at small amounts. More likely though, you didn't get all the alcohol or carbonation removed. If you would have used a blender, you very well might have gotten soap on a stick.

As long as it was stirred together well, it should be fine. Keep a close eye on it for overheating, if there was a bit of alcohol left, it make it heat up and volcano.
 
Yes, I always use beeswax at 2%. You're right though, the beer wasn't completely flat, but it was cold and put in ice, I was being very careful. I also put the mold immediately in the fridge.
Should I be concerned if the alcohol is still in there?
 
Soap should be fine as long as it doesn't do anything weird like volcano. I never freeze my booze but I do boil it flat and reduce it down quite a lot then add that directly to the oils.
 

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