Beginner with a question!

[tracy]

All righty. I made my first batch of soap, and it seemed to come out okay! It was mostly oilve oil, a little canola oil, and a bit of coconut oil (I don't have exact measurements on me right now - sorry!) Afterwards I poured it into molds and covered it with plastic. It firmed up REALLY quick and was too hard to turn into soap balls less than a week later. Also, I noticed a little bit of oil on the top of the hardened soap, but this wasn't immediately. I'm wondering if this is because I covered them with plastic? I read a book that informed me that if I got a thin film of oil on top I shouldn't use the bars because they were caustic, but I thought I'd ask a second opinion . So, if I can't use them, is there anything I can do with them, such as melt them down and turn them into something else? Any ideas as to what I did wrong?

Thanks!!

 

[ewepootoo]

I am a newbie just like you but all the soaps I have made which is only 10 batches all went hard in a few hours and I would not have been able to mould any of them after an hour or so after pouring them. That is except the 100% olive oil (Castille Soap) which is only just getting hard now at 5 weeks. As very much a learner I would think if you had oil on your soap then you have had way to little Lye in your mix and this oil just did not saponify or you did not mix it properly or long enough. The experts here will certainly set you straight. It took me less time to learn how to shoe my horse than its going to take before I can make a perfect bar of soap me think's. Steve

 

[IrishLass]

Sometimes if not properly mixed, certain things can leak out, such as oil, or fragrance, or honey (If you used honey), or lye, etc... Whenever I've had leakiy batches I have let them sit for a bit (bit = a few days to a week or so), and whatever the leak was would always get reabsorbed back into the soap and all would end up well. I would let it sit an see if it reabsorbs back in, and then do a zap test to check for lye heaviness just to be safe.

 

[Deb]

every forum member, like every book, will have our own set of opinions. The difference is that some of us haven't paid to have a book published (yet!) ;-)

So take any opinions with a grain of salt and make up your own mind in the end....

having said that. I've just made 80 kg of soap with teh same recipe. Yesterday evening I had a batch that discoloured, seized and generally misbehaved. Today it has a tiny film of oil on top. I estimate 4-5 gram of it in total, over 11280 (a bit over 11 kg) gram. Am I worried ? NO, its superfatted to 7-8% and that doesn't even bring it down to a solid 7.

If you were working to 0%, or had a lot of oil leaking, I'd be more concerned.

Having siad that i"ve also had soap seperate in molds and become half soap, half oils, and beat them together with a teaspoon, having the reasorb all of it.

But that's just my experience.

 

[xyxoxy]

The only time I have had oil leak out of the soap is when I overheated in the mold. It was a first attempt at CPOP.

The soap was solid when I unmolded... just oily. I zap tested and it was not lye heavy so I let it sit and most of the oil reabsorbed. After I cut it eventually the soap was dry. It is still curing but looks like it will be just fine.

 

[tracy]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys - thanks for all the posts! You have eased my mind quite a bit, it's all cut up and curing now, and it looks perfectly normal .

I think I'll call it safe and see what happens . You guys are awesome, thanks a bunch!