CP soap leaking orange oil.

[Locklyn]

Hello I am having issues with my soap I have never had this happen before. The recipe I'm using is 38% of water to oils 5% super fat 20% babassu oil, 45% olive oil, 30% beef tallow, 5% castor oil, .5 ounce honey, and .5 ounce ground oatmeal. I do replace the water with frozen goat milk. The soap does not mix well the trace is super fast and becomes thick really fast. Then after putting it in the mold and sitting for a bit (12 hours) it leaks orange oil. I have never used castor oil and I'm not sure if this is the issue. Any advice would be great.

Thank you

 

[DeeAnna]

No, castor oil isn't the problem. I'm guessing the batter is really cool. How do you mix the honey into the batch? Also how are you mixing the batter -- with a stick blender? If so, how many seconds are you running the stick blender?

 

[lsg]

Honey and Castor oil are both natural humectants and attract moisture from the atmosphere. I have to say that I regularly use 5% Castor oil in my recipes and don't have a problem; but when you combine both honey and Castor oil in a recipe, then that might make a difference. If you live in a humid environment, that also may be a factor.

 

[Locklyn]

I have made this batch twice one at 110 degrees for oils and 80 degrees with the goat milk did the same thing and this batch was 90 degrees oils and 60 degrees goat milk. I am using a stick blender and I mix the honey with the oils first. I do also use sodium lactate forgot to mention that. I am mixing for at least a minute if not longer. It just gets to thick to work with fast.

 

[Marsi]

The recipe I'm using is 38% of water to oils 5% super fat 20% babassu oil, 45% olive oil, 30% beef tallow, 5% castor oil, .5 ounce honey, and .5 ounce ground oatmeal.

38% water (as a percentage of oils) is a lot of water for this recipe.
Honey also contains water.
Your lye concentration is under 27%.

I suggest that you use "lye concentration" instead of "water as a percentage of oils" in your calculator, to control your water content better.
A lye concentration of 33% would work much better for this recipe.

The soap does not mix well the trace is super fast and becomes thick really fast.

Carefully adding the honey to your cooled lye solution (slowly, allow for colour change and cooling, add a little more, wait for it to cool etc.) will ensure that it is fully incorporated into your mix (better than stick blending it into your oils).


These two changes should correct the problems you are seeing in your soap (not mixing well and weeping).

A great reference for honey soap is IrishLass Honey Soap

My Experimental Honey & Beeswax Soap

This is my experimental honey & beeswax soap that I made the other night, just as August 11 was turning into August 12. I made a small, 1.2 lb sample-batch just in case any chaos ensued, as I didn't want a bigger batch to be ruined, if you know what I mean. ;) Although I'm quite used to soaping...

www.soapmakingforum.com

 

[cmzaha]

I never suggest adding honey to the lye solution, it causes the lye to heat up.

I always used some of my extra batch water because I work with 50/50 lye solution would warm some of the extra water and dissolve my honey in the warm water then add this to my oils and stick blend it well. Over the years I changed to using Honey powder and powdered GM which I stick blended directly into my oils. I never seem to have as much trouble with overheating and did not have to fuss with chilling liquid GM. I started using the powdered versions of the two when I changed to soaping with vinegar and found it so much easier to use.

 

[Marsi]

There.
Now you have two methods for incorporating your honey.

Mix with some water reserved from your lye batch or
Add to the cooled lye slowly

Either method will work - the honey will add heat, whichever way ... pick your method (or try both )

 

[Zing]

I know you're new to the Forum. Are you new to making soap? A common thing for newbies -- me included -- is to overuse the stick blender. When I was new, I'd turn the stick blender on and just keep it on, and the batter would get to thick trace immediately. Now I use my blender as a spoon and I stir and stir with occasional blasts of 3 seconds.
Also, if you're new, maybe wait on using honey -- and ditto on IrishLass's post. If you want a sweetener to boost bubbles, sugar is easy to work with. Fully dissolve sugar in your liquid. Then add the lye. It'll turn slight yellow but won't affect the final color.

 

[cmzaha]

There.
Now you have two methods for incorporating your honey.

Mix with some water reserved from your lye batch or
Add to the cooled lye slowly

Either method will work - the honey will add heat, whichever way ... pick your method (or try both )

I stick to my suggestion of Not adding honey directly to lye solutions, it can cause overheating. You cannot control the size of the container and amount of honey a soapmaker, especially a newbie or somewhat newbie is using. This can result in overheating and a possible volcano situation, so I never recommend adding such to lye solutions. Safety always has to come first.

As Zing mentioned above sugar or even better sorbitol will give you bubbles without overheating issues, or honey leaking out issues.