Help me figure where i went wrong

[dippy]

Ok I did a honey and oat bar yesterday.

Recipe: 33% oo 14% co, 18% shea butter, 6% castor oil, 18% cocoa butter, 11% sweet almond oil. 7% sf. Lye concentration 33% and half liquid was goats milk blended with oils.

1 used 1tsp salt mixed with water before lye. I mixed 2 tbs honey with a little water until dissolved then mixed it in with the cool lye solution (it was 65g lye, 65g water) then I let it cool again. It went very dark brown and slightly thicker than usual.

It seemed to blend ok and traced as others have. I added 1tbs ground oats before trace.

I did 3 with the same recipe (apart fromthey had no honey and oat) and they look fine and cut fine.

So what did I do wrong with the honey and oat? It's gone crumbly. Will it still be useable?

 

[BattleGnome]

Looks like you waited too long to cut.

sugars cause soap batter to heat up which usually means you need to cut a loaf earlier than the same recipe without the sugar. The honey, milk, and possibly the oats all add sugars.

in short, your soap should be fine after curing. It won’t be the prettiest bar possible and it may be a bit rough for the first few uses but it’s nothing you should worry too much about.

 

[dippy]

Ah thank you BattleGnome! I was thinking leaving it overnight would be fine - that's another thing I need to think about then.

At least I haven't ruined it completely. I am not even going for pretty yet, that will be my next level of education so it's all good.

 

[shunt2011]

I agree with BattleGnome. Sugars heat things up and force it to gel faster in most cases and therefore will be ready to cut sooner than others.

 

[Susie]

I always check my recipes with heat causing ingredients starting at about 6 hours. I first look at the soap, does it look like the center is still in gel phase. If not, I gently press on the corner with a gloved finger. If it resists denting, it is ready to cut.

 

[atiz]

Agree. Also, cocoa butter at 18% can cause crumbliness (esp. with the sugar as noted above).

 

[dippy]

Thanks for the tips Suzie & atiz. I was planning on using less cocoa butter next time anyway because of cost but that's good to know. I was thinking of increasing the shea butter instead as I can find that cheaper here. I also read that I might need to superfat lower if I am using milks.

 

[amd]

I agree with everyone's assesments - too much cocoa butter and waited too long to cut. I use 5% Cocoa butter, and my OMH soaps have to be cut within 12-15 hours or they're too hard.

Also... on a side note, you can add the honey and ground oats to your oils with the milk and blend well before adding your lye solution. I've found this helps keep the honey from scorching, and I don't forget to add the oats later, haha. It just makes the soapmaking process so much easier if you're only combining two containers (oils+additives and lye solution), mixing, and then pouring into your mold.

 

[dippy]

I will try that next time thanks amd.

Does the same apply when you add a little sugar instead of honey? I read on a thread to add sugar to the water before the lye was added. I was going to try putting sugar in some bars and putting honey in another batch to see what the difference is.

 

[artemis]

Does the same apply when you add a little sugar instead of honey?

Dissolve the sugar in your water BEFORE adding the NaOH. If you put it into the oils, it won't dissolve.

Or, you could make a simple syrup and add that to the oils.