Crumbly, Oily Soap

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AK_Homesteaders

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Several weeks ago I made a batch of soap in which I must have measured something incorrectly. Right after pouring into my mold, it got sort of an oil slick on top, but within an hour it was absorbed into the soap. It was still a little soft when I cut it the next morning. Never did get very firm. Felt a little oily, and when I picked up, it would leave the impression of my fingers. Last night, I tried rebatching in the oven, adding a couple of TBSP of salt (2 pound batch of soap). After 4 hours in the oven, checking and stirring every 30 minutes, it appeared to gel, but oil droplets kept coming to the top. Finally got sleepy and poured into my mold.

I cut it this morning. Not as oily feeling, but it's still soft and VERY crumbly. Won't hold together at all. Here's my question (finally :) ). Is this a waste? OR, could I possibly grate half of it, then make a new batch of equal weight (only using a stronger lye solution?), heat the oils, add the grated soap, then add the lye water and stir, stir, stir. ??? Any suggestions? I don't expect (nor want) are really smooth soap. I want kind of a rustic look, which is what I'll probably get, if I can ever get it to hold together and firm up.

Thanks,

Jenny
 
i don't know the answer to your question...as i'm a newcomer and have never rebatched yet.....but i'm curious did you add fragrance or essential oils? i've heard that if you add too much of these you can get an oil slick effect....good luck with this...i'll be interested to see what the more experienced forum members have to say
 
No fragrance or essential oils. I was using my standard recipe, except that I infused my oils separately with cottonwood buds. I weighed my oils again after straining the buds and added more oils as needed. It acted kind of strange when I mixed the lye water into the oils. Came to light trace VERY fast, then almost instantly turned gloppy, then thin and grainy. I've heard that pine tar can cause a really fast trace, and I was ready for that since cottonwood buds are very gooey kind of like spruce pitch, so I thought they might behave like pine tar. Took forever to get back to even a light trace and get rid of some of the grainy look. After 1 1/2 hours of stirring I poured it into my mold, still at light trace. It's a nice brown, and very earthy looking, but just won't work unless I do something else with it. Maybe I should try a new batch just to make sure I measured my lye properly, or maybe using a slightly higher percentage of lye?

Jenny
 
Hi Jenny
Is it zappy ? Could the cottonwood buds have given out any liquid? How big a batch was it? Could you grate the pieces ?

Kitn
 
Hi Kitn. No zap, even when I tested it when I cut it the first time. It was only a 2 pound batch. I really don't think the buds are giving off any liquid. I infuse oil with them for salves all the time. I strain them out. They are collected during the winter when they're frozen, and I infuse them in an open pan on the cool side of my woodburning cookstove where it's warm. Any water in them would evaporate over the several days I let them infuse. Most of the bars grated all right, but the ones cut from the middle of the log were almost mushy. Now the entire thing is very crumbly, more like clay that isn't moist enough to hold together and work. I have a bunch of buds. It lathers great and smells so good, so I'd sure like to figure out how to make this work.

If this matters, here's what I did: Coconut and Palm oils - 30% each; Olive Oil - 40%; and 5.25 oz. lye in 14 oz water. All the oils were infused with buds.

Thanks for your help! :)

Jenny
 
I'm no expert compared to many of the members here, but you soaped with a 27% lye solution (the standard is between 30%-35%, any less can lead to a soap that takes its time hardening) and 40% olive oil can lead to a soap that stays softer a little longer than most. I wonder if the combination of these 2 things could have caused your soap to take a few weeks to harden up.

Also, my salt bars get crumbly if I wait too long (as in more than 2 hours) to cut them, so the salt added in the rebatch may have had a small effect on the texture your soap the 2nd time around.

I can't explain the peculiar trace you had! I soap a similar recipe all the time, around 100F and I haven't experienced anything funny. Anyways, did the cottonwood buds add any nice qualities, or any smell to your soap? I'd love to try that; its such a good idea!
 
Hi Jenny , if it is all good except for the staying together part , I would add it to a new batch .If you can shred it ,that would be good but even in pieces or chunks would do. I have read that you should keep the ratio that you are adding to between 25 and 35% of the total of your new batch
I had a batch of laundry soap that did this , it had ammonia in it , so I figure that was the culprit. Now after about 2 months I was able to grate it , I am going to put it through the food processor and make it into powder .
Please let us know how it goes.:D

Kitn
 
Thanks unmouton. My soaps typically harden up very well. Maybe because it's so dry where we live. But, I will definitely up the lye on future batches of this kind of soap. Maybe all of my soaps, just to make things more consistent. I wonder too, since you mentioned about the olive oil, if I should have decreased that, and increased the coconut oil. I imagine that the cottonwood buds add minerals to the soap, and possibly act like salt. When I made it the first time and tried squeezing a piece of it in my hand, it crumbled. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should not have added the salt to the rebatch. I did it to firm it up, but I didn't think about it making it more crumbly and adding to the problem. When I poured it into the mold, I scooped out a little. As soon as it was cool enough to handle a couple of minutes later, I tried forming a ball, but it crumbled right away. I knew before I went to bed it was probably a dud batch.

Thank you, Kitn. I will add it to another batch, but only about 25%. I've never tried this before. Would I add it to the warm oils (maybe about 170F), and then when it melts pour in the lye water, and then just stir/stick blend until it traces and is ready to pour?

As far as what the cottonwood buds add to the soap --- salves from the buds are very healing. Best thing I've found for chapped lips. I love comfrey for many things, but for chapped lips and hands, Balm of Gilead beats it every time. It's fairly high in salacylic (sp) acid (natural asprin). Cottonwood buds are antimicrobial, high in vitamins and minerals. Heals scrapes on my little boys quickly and helps with the pain. So, I thought this would be a nice, soothing, possibly antimicrobial soap. I love the smell, too (but my husband hates it). It remained well in the soap. Even as oily as it is, it still bubbles great.

Thanks again! :)

Jenny
 

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