crumbly final product

[dggriffi]

ok, so my second batch was a fail. The didn't seem to gel up over time, cooked for a long time, and ended up being very crumbly. It falls apart into particles.


My recipe is pretty simple using around 50 ounces of 50/50 coconut and palm kernel with about 7.5 ounces of NaOH.

I think i know that problem in that i never got to trace before i started cooking. I think i need a stick blender.


My question is, can i rebatch and how do i do it.

 

[honor435]

just coc and pk? yikes, unless you superfat at 20% its going to be very drying soap, how bout adding some oo?
yes, sb or you will be stirring forever!!!

 

[dggriffi]

just coc and pk? yikes, unless you superfat at 20% its going to be very drying soap, how bout adding some oo?
yes, sb or you will be stirring forever!!!

Any thoughts on rebatching?

 

[honor435]

Im not so good at rebatching, maybe someone else will chime in?
Are you new to this? you need to go on soapcalc.com and put in some oils and see what kind of soap you get or want.
I really like oo, po, pk, castor, but using pk and co alone, not so good. I have tons of recipes if you pm me, I can give them to you, did you hp or cp?

 

[IrishLass]

Color me confused - did you use palm oil or palm kernel oil? I ask because I thought from your other thread that you were going to use palm oil and not PKO. I also ask because the two oils are very different from each other. Although its true that PO and PKO will both make hard, white soaps, that's where the resemblace ends. PO is interchangable with and very close to lard and/or tallow in its fatty acid makeup, while PKO is interchangable with and close to coconut oil in its fatty acid makeup. In a nutshell, PKO will make a very bubbly soap, but PO will not.

Anyway, if you used 50% CO and 50% PKO and happened to have waited until the finished soap completely cooled off before cutting, then I'm not surprised at all that you got crumbles/particles. That's what happens to this particular kind of soap recipe (High CO, High PKO) when one waits too long to cut it. For this type of soap, its best to cut it when the soap has just come out of the gel stage and hardnened back up some, but is still quite warm or hot to the touch. That's the perfect time to cut it without it breaking apart on you.

Yes, you can rebatch it. Just grate it up and cook over low heat until it softens and reaches the gel stage again before glopping/pressing it into your mold. You may add a little bit of water to the gatings, but not too much. Just enough so that the soap doesn't dry out as its cooking. You can also add extra oil if you want to. How much? Well, that's the tricky part. What I would do is punch your recipe into an online lye calculator like SoapCalc and play around to get the amount you think you would like.

Holler if you need any help.

IrishLass

 

[dggriffi]

Im not so good at rebatching, maybe someone else will chime in?
Are you new to this? you need to go on soapcalc.com and put in some oils and see what kind of soap you get or want.
I really like oo, po, pk, castor, but using pk and co alone, not so good. I have tons of recipes if you pm me, I can give them to you, did you hp or cp?

Yes im new and i have never been to soapcalc before. That was an awesome tip. It really let me see specifically why oo might be a good addition. I have been having trouble getting a straight answer on that topic for a while now.

 

[dggriffi]

Color me confused - did you use palm oil or palm kernel oil? I ask because I thought from your other thread that you were going to use palm oil and not PKO. I also ask because the two oils are very different from each other. Although its true that PO and PKO will both make hard, white soaps, that's where the resemblace ends. PO is interchangable with and very close to lard and/or tallow in its fatty acid makeup, while PKO is interchangable with and close to coconut oil in its fatty acid makeup. In a nutshell, PKO will make a very bubbly soap, but PO will not.

Anyway, if you used 50% CO and 50% PKO and happened to have waited until the finished soap completely cooled off before cutting, then I'm not surprised at all that you got crumbles/particles. That's what happens to this particular kind of soap recipe (High CO, High PKO) when one waits too long to cut it. For this type of soap, its best to cut it when the soap has just come out of the gel stage and hardnened back up some, but is still quite warm or hot to the touch. That's the perfect time to cut it without it breaking apart on you.

Yes, you can rebatch it. Just grate it up and cook over low heat until it softens and reaches the gel stage again before glopping/pressing it into your mold. You may add a little bit of water to the gatings, but not too much. Just enough so that the soap doesn't dry out as its cooking. You can also add extra oil if you want to. How much? Well, that's the tricky part. What I would do is punch your recipe into an online lye calculator like SoapCalc and play around to get the amount you think you would like.

Holler if you need any help.

IrishLass

sorry for any confusion. i have been using PKO and CO in 50/50. I was getting crumbly soap right off the bat. Bear in mind that what i mean by crumbly is soap that doesn't stick together at all and it just a series of particles. Thanks for the rebatch advice, i think ill give it a try.

 

[Zenobiah]

Try this link together with SoapCalc. Soapcalc alone can be pretty confusing, I think.