Getting frustrated at how fast my soap thickens

[luebella]

I've been having alot of issues lately with my soap batter getting insanely thick way too fast. Maybe you can help troubleshoot please? I use olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil rice. Bran oil and shea butter. I use 1 tsp sodium lactate per pound of oils. I've done this many times and it was fine but my last two batches drove me crazy. I blend to barely light trace and split up batter.

I then add in fragrance and colorants with a whisk. By the time I whisk in fragrance and color it's thick thick pudding. Today it was so thick it riced and was almost like hard chocolate in the bowls. It's so frustrating. I see so many people have alot of time to work with thin soap and no idea why I can't.

This has happened with lemon verbena from bb and grapefruit belini from bb. It has also happened with a lavender rosemary mint mix.

I have my oils at 115 degrees and lye Around the same when I combine. Any ideas?

 

[newbie]

I know Grapefruit Bellini accelerates and often anything with a herb type scent will move so the rosemary mint very well may and the verbena as well. Have you used these FO's before with success? What is your percentage of castor and of shea? What are your soaping temps?

I have been hand-stirring only lately if I'm uncertain of an FO and that can save your hide with a faster moving FO. You may stir for a little bit but you can catch the end of emulsion and the start of trace much more readily and the batter doesn't move nearly as fast when stirred by hand. That may be worth a go.

I just read some of the reviews on BB's site and many people complained about Lemon Verbena accelerating, ricing, seizing and just being a fast mover. The first time I soap with a new FO, I always dig around to find reviews. If I find even one that says someone had it accelerate, I prepare for the worst.

 

[luebella]

I only used lemon verbena in hp before. Man.. This was a rough batch lol! I think I'm going to try hand mixing next time. I will let u know percentage when I'm on pc. I just memorized ounces

 

[newbie]

TRy soaping cooler if you can as well. Not sure how much shea you have in there but that may determine how cool you can soap.

 

[luebella]

3 ounce of shea in a 2lb mold. I believe it's around 6 percent. Wow I should have read lemon verbena reviews. One lady said it riced and turned to a rock. That'd what happened to me

 

[Soapmaker145]

My suggestion is to remove a small portion of your batter for comparison and keep it uncolored and unscented. This way you'll know if it is your mix or the additives. You'll know how fast they're moving too. You can pour the unscented portion in small molds or yogurt cups if you don't want to add it to the rest.

 

[galaxyMLP]

I hand mix my lemon verbena BB CP soap for that reason. I also soap below 110 and my recipe is 55% hard oils (palm/shea). Sounds like it's your FO's! Thats an easy and hard fix at the same time.

 

[luebella]

Great ideas ty! Will try this next time

 

[Dharlee]

My suggestion is to remove a small portion of your batter for comparison and keep it uncolored and unscented. This way you'll know if it is your mix or the additives. You'll know how fast they're moving too. You can pour the unscented portion in small molds or yogurt cups if you don't want to add it to the rest.

This is a brilliant idea!