I didn't stir my palm oil

[Milk Machine]

So I just started making CP soaps with goat's milk. I bought a 7lb bucket of palm oil but didn't know until today that you are supposed to melt & mix it before using it. I have used about half so I have about 3.5lbs remaining. I have just been scooping from the top as I went. So far my soaps have been fine. Maybe the last batch was a little softer than the others. My recipe uses 16% palm oil, 16% coconut, 24% Olive, 9% Sweet almond & 5% Castor and around 5% superfat. I am wondering if I can continue to use the remaining palm oil if I now start to melt & mix it. Or should I toss it or use it for something other than soap? Or should I buy another 7lbs and melt & mix it with what I have? Or some of what I have?
Is it just little white stearic spots that would be the issue? Or will it change the hardness or make the soap lye heavy or anything like that? Thanks a lot!

 

[BWt]

Am new to soaping. I understand that some palm oils do not need stirring. Did the vendor indicate that you may have a “non stir” palm oil?

 

[dibbles]

IMO your palm is fine to use. I would probably melt what is remaining, stir well and repackage in smaller jars or bags so you don't have to melt the whole bucket every time you want to use it. If make the same amount of soap with the same recipe each time, you can melt the palm and repackage in the amount you use.

 

[Relle]

So I just started making CP soaps with goat's milk. I bought a 7lb bucket of palm oil but didn't know until today that you are supposed to melt & mix it before using it. I have used about half so I have about 3.5lbs remaining. I have just been scooping from the top as I went. So far my soaps have been fine. Maybe the last batch was a little softer than the others. My recipe uses 16% palm oil, 16% coconut, 24% Olive, 9% Sweet almond & 5% Castor and around 5% superfat. I am wondering if I can continue to use the remaining palm oil if I now start to melt & mix it. Or should I toss it or use it for something other than soap? Or should I buy another 7lbs and melt & mix it with what I have? Or some of what I have?
Is it just little white stearic spots that would be the issue? Or will it change the hardness or make the soap lye heavy or anything like that? Thanks a lot!

Your percentages only add up to 70 %.

 

[Milk Machine]

Your percentages only add up to 70 %.

Right you are! The Olive oil is actually 54%, not 24

 

[cmzaha]

Palm Shortening is actually what is considered the no-stir type of palm oil. When I used regular palm oil I never melted it all down and stirred it because I was using 35 lb (5) buckets of palm oil. What I did was scoop from different areas of the bucket when scooping out. Soapers Choice sells no stir palm oil.

 

[earlene]

I would advise contacting the vendor (or look on the website, if you ordered online) and fine out which type you bought. If it is palm shortening or 'no-stir' palm oil, it does not need to melted down & re-packaged. The vendor is always the first place I go if I can't recall the particulars of one of my supplies. However, adding a clear label helps, too. For future use, I often apply a strip of masking tape upon which I wrote whatever pertinent thing I need to remember for a particular item. I find that works well for me.

 

[TheGecko]

Is it just little white stearic spots that would be the issue? Or will it change the hardness or make the soap lye heavy or anything like that?

Stearic spots generally occur because you didn't get the oil a high enough temperature, either through melting the oil or via gelling your soap, to melt the stearic acid. So long as you melt the oil well, and mix it, you should be okay there, but even if you get them, it's a cosmetic issue, NOT something that is hazardous. Your bars will be undoubtedly harder, again, not hazardous. And the only way your soap is going to be lye heavy is 1) you didn't weigh it correctly in the first place and used too much, or 2) you forgot one of your larger quantity of oils.

Just use what you have left, make sure you melt and stir before weighing. Then when you repurchase Palm Oil and following @earlene suggestion, place a few labels on the bucket to remind you to melt and stir before weighing. Another option is what I did when I purchased a 35lb bucket of Palm Oil...melted that sucker down (which was a bit of a mess given the amount, that it was winter so the PO was really hard, and not enough large pots), but I eventually got it all melted, put back in the bucket, gave it a good stir every 15 minutes until it started to go cloudy and then filled 1 gallon freezer ziplock bags about three-quarters full, dipped in cold water to get all the air out and I then put the bags back in the cleaned bucket. I would then take out a bag as needed, popped into a microwave safe container to be melted and used as needed.