Discouraged Again

[dwolanin]

Please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here. I made Easter soap and this was my first larger batch 4 lbs. Here are some pictures. It just broke my heart when I cut it and there are Glycerin Rivers all over. I understand that they are only aesthetic and don't effect the soap, still I'm getting discouraged with this
Here is my recipe;

Olive 25%
Palm Kernal 20%
rice bran 10%
shea butter 10%
lard 30%
castor 5%

BB kumquat and mango FO
colors
BB tangerine wow
BB Fizzy lemonade
WPS Neon Purple play date
WPS Neon Pink Pleasure

I soaped at approx. 120 F
And Gelled on a heating pad set on low.

Am I soaping to hot? Gelling to hot? These are Glycerin Rivers aren't they?
Why is this happening

 

[Obsidian]

Gelling too hot seems to be the issues when I have glycerin rivers like that. Using full water can sometimes affect how bad they are too. This is why I rarely gel and when I do, I use CPOP and start to cool the soap as soon as its hit full gel. No reason for it to sit around in full gel for hours on end, I pop it in the fridge until its completely cool then bring it back out to room temp.

 

[dwolanin]

Gelling too hot seems to be the issues when I have glycerin rivers like that. Using full water can sometimes affect how bad they are too. This is why I rarely gel and when I do, I use CPOP and start to cool the soap as soon as its hit full gel. No reason for it to sit around in full gel for hours on end, I pop it in the fridge until its completely cool then bring it back out to room temp.

What degrees do you usually soap at please?

 

[Luckyone80]

Despite the glycerin rivers, I still think its a very pretty soap.

 

[shunt2011]

They are still very pretty. I would soap between 80-90 tops. I gel all my soap and rarely get glycerin rivers. I would also discount your water just a bit as well. I personally use almost full water all the time and I soap at room tems as well and have had really good luck. Also, I would recommend you not soap larger batches until you have a recipe that works pretty consistently for you. 2 lbs is a great place to start and stay for awhile.

 

[Obsidian]

What degrees do you usually soap at please?

I have no idea, I never take temps anymore. I would guess around 80* when I want to slow trace and around 100-120 when I don't care if it traces fast.

 

[dwolanin]

They are still very pretty. I would soap between 80-90 tops. I gel all my soap and rarely get glycerin rivers. I would also discount your water just a bit as well. I personally use almost full water all the time and I soap at room tems as well and have had really good luck. Also, I would recommend you not soap larger batches until you have a recipe that works pretty consistently for you. 2 lbs is a great place to start and stay for awhile.

I really like this recipe cause it's a slow mover. I agree about going back to the 2 lb mold.

One thing is I'm not really sure how to discount water

I'll also let everything cool down more, I get antsy and want to start soaping! :razz:

 

[dwolanin]

I have no idea, I never take temps anymore. I would guess around 80* when I want to slow trace and around 100-120 when I don't care if it traces fast.

Wait, The higher the temps the faster it traces?

 

[newbie]

Yes, the hotter, the faster it goes. OTher things make soap trace faster too but higher temps is one of them.

 

[shunt2011]

I really like this recipe cause it's a slow mover. I agree about going back to the 2 lb mold.

One thing is I'm not really sure how to discount water

I'll also let everything cool down more, I get antsy and want to start soaping! :razz:

Just change the default of 38% to 35% or so. It's on the soap calculators to adjust the concentration.

 

[dwolanin]

Just change the default of 38% to 35% or so. It's on the soap calculators to adjust the concentration.

Thank you so much! I'll do that