is this ricing?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Missjulesdid

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Messages
255
Reaction score
4
Location
Massachusetts
ok, so I made a batch of birch beer soap yesterday and had a problem Here's my recipie:

15% castor
30% CO
15%OO
30%RBO
20% Palm

8% superfat

I used aloe juice for my water. and added 1.5 teaspoons of titatnium dioxide ppo into the melted oils (the titatinum dioxide is oil soluable)

for Eo's I used a EO blend containit 4parts birch, 1part anise, 1part black pepper I used it at a strenght of .25 ounces ppo I also added coconut powder to the EO blend.

I also added a handfull of poppy seeds

I tried discounting water for the first time with this recipe. I usually work with a 27% lye solution, but this time I went for a small discount by using the formula (Lye weight x 2) +2 = water so there was still more than twice as much water as there was lye in the solution.

so my batter came to trace very quickly- in less than a minute. I actually thought I was experiencing a false trace for the first time, so I stirred with a spoon for a little bit, but the trace was genuine, When I added my eo/coconut milk mixture, my soap immediately got little lumps in it everywhere. The majority of the soap still looked great, but it just had lumps... kind of like if you make gravy but add the flour right into the pot without first mixing with cold water... Is this what is referred to as Ricing???

My coconut/eo mixture was not lumpy and I've never had a problem with this in the past.

So anyway, I poured the mixture into the mold lumps and all, and I cut today and the lumps are orange in the center with a halo of clear around each orange spot. These spots are orange, but they can't be the Dreaded Orange Spots, since this soap is only a day old! (or can it be???)

Can one of you experienced soapers advise me on this??? How can I avoid this in the future. I wouldn't sell this batch, but is it safe for personal use???
 
It could be but I think you're soap seized so it would be hard to tell. Ricing literally looks like you dumped rice into the mixture. Do your "lumps" look like rice?
 
The lumps looked more like someone poured about 1/2 cup of special K in the batter. The batter was still very easy to pour.
 
maybe, everything was too cool. i've never intentionally done the room temp thing, but I've noticed that sometimes things start to solidify when the temp is too cool.

i tried playing with beeswax in soap a while back and was having a hell of a time--until i increased the temp. it worked a lot better; too low, and the beeswax starts to solidify. a little higher and everything comes together beautifully. i've never worked witha palm, and have no idea what the melting temp is, but maybe you had a <<similar>> experience?
 
I know if it's too cool, the fats can start to congeal before saponification, I did have a problem a while back when I was working with high amount of tallow and 92 degree coconut and it didn't look anything like this. when that happened the lumps were large and undefined, more like blobs,

With this batch, it was beautiful texture, nice thickness, Everything was lovely until I added the EO... Strange though, I have worked with these EOs before and never had a problem! The only things I did different this time was take a water discount and use titanium dioxide
 
Ok what is titanium dioxide? And what is it used for? Many Thanks for the answers!

Krickett
 
Back
Top