I am new to soap making and I think I ruined my first batch

[BuddyLee]

Hello Everyone,

I am completely new to soap making and after weeks and weeks of thinking about giving it a go I did. Everyone in my family and my friends think I'm nuts considering no one in my family ever even thought about doing it and I have zero past experience with this.

I was super excited because I ordered the ingredients, followed the steps and everything was going as planned, it looked great ...but then today, after allowing it the obligatory 24 hours to set so that I can move forth with slicing I was disappointed.

I began slicing when half way through my cinnamon scented soap log I had to stop because the bar were crumbling once my knife got half way down.

The bars themselves look solid, feel firm and smell great but the texture seems all wrong.

Has this ever happened to anyone, can you please share your thoughts as to what might be happening here and if there is any remedy.

For now I am just letting them continue to sit in their molds while I seek out answers. I have included some pics to show what I am describing.


http://imageshack.us/g/838/sam0691o.jpg/

 

[Hazel]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm so sorry this happened. I know how disappointed you must feel. I'm not very experienced but it sounds like too much lye.

Could you please post your recipe?

 

[krissy]

yes, a recipe might be helpful. also have you zap tested to see if it is the lye that caused it?

 

[BuddyLee]

Thank you for your responses.

I used this recipe to make an 8 lb batch:

24 oz. olive oil
24 oz. coconut oil
38 oz. vegetable shortening (Crisco)
12 oz. lye
32 oz. distilled water
3-4 oz. any essential or fragrance oil

that I found online at http://www.pvsoap.com/instructions_for_ ... making.htm

It did strike me as a lot of lye.

If that is the case, is there any way to save it?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Sunny]

the lye and water seem okay.

where was your fragrance oil from? what brand is it?

 

[Hazel]

I checked your recipe on soapcalc and that is the correct amount of lye. 8 lbs is a very large batch so perhaps the problem was inadequate mixing or too much heat loss while mixing.

I'm not sure it can be saved but I would try to rebatch it. I use a double boiler to rebatch but I only make small batches. Do you have a large crockpot? If you do, you can chop the soap into small pieces and cook them in the crockpot. Once the soap has "melted", stir the soap very well and then pour it back into the mold. It actually won't pour. It will be more like glopping it back into the mold.

If I was doing this, I'd also add a couple more ounces of oil and probably some more water to make it a little easier to mix.

Recently, pure&simple (a member) posted a different way to rebatch which might be easier for you. Here's the links to where she discusses it.

http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29012
http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewto ... sc&start=0

This is just a suggestion but you might want to consider making smaller batches until you get used to making CP.

 

[carebear]

the lye and water seem okay.

where was your fragrance oil from? what brand is it?

this

 

[ToniD]

I checked your recipe on soapcalc and the lye amount is correct.

BTW a good first step for any recipe you find is to check it on a lye calculator like soapcalc.http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp


Assuming your scale is accurate, and you measured correctly, the soap should be good. But, crumbly and dry is often lye heavy. So you can check your scale, and make sure you measured correctly.

You can check with a zap test. wet your finger and rub it on the soap and then touch your finger to your tongue. No zap and your lye amount is good. Zap and you need to rebatch.


If it does not zap, Read the section at miller soap, the table at the bottom of the page on soft and crumbly soap. I have not had that happen, so I can't say from personal experience how accurate that info is. http://millersoap.com/trouble.html

Also what fragrance did you use? Was it made for soap? That can be a culprit.

HTH
Sorry your first experience did not go so well, don't give up! soapmaking is a wonderful hobby. You may want to do smaller batches in the future--if they go wrong it is not so much waste and they are easier to manage.

edited to say--Oh, posted at the same time as others

 

[BuddyLee]

Hi everyone,

I ordered the oils via amazon.com and they are the NOW foods brand. They had good reviews on amazon.

I had to learn my lesson the hard way, I should have definitely started with smaller batches but I got overzealous thinking I could make everyone soap for Christmas,

I don't want to leave that all to waste so I am going to attempt to re batch it.

I am going to keep at it as a hobby but I have a lot of practice to go.

Thank you all SO VERY MUCH for all of your help and suggestions!

 

[BuddyLee]

Hazel

Thanks for sharing those website with me, I think I found the problem. This description I pasted in below from the site describes my problem to a T.

" Soap is soft and crumbly

Soft and crumbly... soap that just wants to disintegrate when you cut it but when rubbed between the fingers produces an oiliness... is generally caused from inadequate mixing and saponification. There is usually a factor of too much heat loss during the stirring period. The smaller the batch, the quicker it will lose heat. With hand stirring, it could be from heat loss during stirring time and/or the stirring was not vigorous enough or until a real trace was reached. With a stick blender, it might be heat loss and too much mixing without frequent breaks, which created the illusion of trace when the thickening was really from hardening fat particles or emulsification.

If the recipe you started with was quite small, you should raise your initial mixing temperatures. As an example, soap that might have been blended at 110 degrees would be mixed at 120 or 125 degrees. People who make really huge batches will often drop their temperature below 100 degrees since large batches retain and build up more heat after pouring.

If the soap begins to look grainy right away after mixing in the lye solution, it's a good idea to apply some gentle bottom heat to the pot for a minute or two... until you see it smooth out and develop a satiny texture on the surface. You will be doing your stirring during this warming time. Then turn the burner OFF. For those using the stick blender, review the suggested stick blending technique on the "Modern Procedures Page" and be sure you mix in short bursts and turn the blender off and hand stir in between. This will ensure that you are not fooled by a "false trace" and pour your soap before it's really ready."

 

[Hazel]

I didn't realize your soap was soft, too. Sorry about that - I thought it was hard and crumbling. If I had realized it was also soft, I would have mentioned inadequate mixing or heat loss first because I have a bit of experience with this problem. Quite a bit of experience, actually. :roll:

Good luck with rebatching it. I've been lucky with rebatching and all of my batches turned out fine. However, I usually only do about 2 lb batches. Please let us know how it turns out for you.

The nice thing about rebatching is I've found that I can start using my soap after a couple weeks cure.

 

[judymoody]

You mentioned that you used a cinnamon fragrance. Don't know if it's EO or FO but it's likely that it caused your soap to overheat which can result in uneven texture - soft and oily in some places, dry and crumbly in others. Or as other people have mentioned, it could derive from inadequate mixing.

By all means, try to rebatch. And yes, small batches are your friend. I still prefer a batch size that is a little less than two lbs.

Good luck!

 

[SchenckOrchard]

Thank you for posting this question and pictures as I have been getting crumbly batches too. Be careful with the colorants that seemed to be my issue, as soon as I omitted that, no more crumbly soap.