Does sodium lactate inhibit gel?

[Timber]

Hi all, first post except for saying hi in the intro forum. I have been soaping about six months. I prefer to try for a full gel and have not usually had much trouble with getting there (the mold I made is pretty well-insulated). However the last two batches I made did not gel at all, and the major difference was that I used sodium lactate, which I had not tried before.

Here is my recipe, which normally gels ok:

Pomace olive 8.8 oz
Coconut oil 8.8 oz
Lard 8.8 oz
Castor oil 1.8 oz
Water 9.0 oz
Lye 4.1 oz

I added 2 teaspoons of the liquid sodium lactate from Brambleberry; I'm not sure what the equivalent dry weight would be.

In your experience, should sodium lactate affect the gel phase, all other things being basically equal? I did use fragrances were new to me, also, but different in each batch: BB Kentish Rain in one and sweet orange EO in the other.

 

[pinkadink]

My experience, it doesn't. Though every time I tried adding Sodium Lactate, my soap ends up crumbly when I unmold. I heard they do that if you add too much. I used 1% of my oils the first time and tried two more times at .5%, still crumbly

All batches gelled okay though. Covered with a thick towel. Used the Purasal brand of Sodium Lactate.

 

[new12soap]

I have never heard of SL inhibiting (or in any other way affecting) gel. It hasn't IME. Is it possible that your temps have been cooler? Did you get a different bottle of pomace? I am guessing there is another factor somewhere. SL will harden the soap more so you should keep an eye on it and cut it earlier than perhaps you normally would to avoid crumbling.

Just a side note, that is a relatively small batch and you are only superfatting at about 3%. I would strongly recommend measuring everything in grams to be as accurate as possible. In a batch that size the difference between 3% and 0% SF is less than one-tenth an ounce and around 3 grams, so you want to be very precise so as not to end up with a lye-heavy soap.

 

[Timber]

I hadn't thought about it but you are absolutely right, at my scale resolution grams would be more accurate <smacks head>. I will try that next time. As far as temps go, ambient has been about the same but come to think of it I did let the lye water and oils cool to about 90º before combining; usually it is more like 110º.

I actually had to wait longer than normal to cut...they seemed to lag behind initially. Both batches were nice and hard at 48 hrs though.

 

[SueSoap]

I'm not aware that sodium lactate will inhibit gel. I use .4 oz in my lye water for a 2-lb batch of soap and have never had a problem.