Is this shea butter still good?

[AliOop]

Adventures in Soaping!
So I just finished the Super Shea batch. I added a touch of NS Cyber Grape for a lovely soft lavender to complement the sweet jasmine scent.

Yes, @AliOop , you warned me it would be fast, but wow, was it ever! And the lovely lavender turned baby poop tan the minute it hit the batter. Had to mix the batter with a spatula because it was too thick for my SB to spin, and then I stuffed it into the mold with my gloved hand.

It began to gel almost immediately, spouting a mini-volcano out one corner. (You're not a real soaper until you've had a soap volcano, right?) The fragrance did NOT remind me of jasmine... Well I stuffed and stuffed, and kept smoothing the erupting lava over the top, and set it aside to saponify.

Not sure if it will be more than an interesting experiment or if the bars will actually be usable some day, but either way it made for fun and novel soaping adventure!

Well done! There is hope that your lavender will morph back after saponification; it does happen.

Meanwhile, you can elevate your mold on some soup cans to get airflow underneath. If possible, have a fan blowing on it, too. Looking forward to the cut!

PS - when soap traces that fast, you can leave it in the mixing bowl until it goes into gel phase - typically 5-10 minutes. That will thin it out so you can stir it quickly and semi-pour it into the mold.

 

[Savage Daughter]

Have you considered “washing” the Shea butter? It is basically the exact exact same process as rendering tallow, and probably how the Shea butter was originally cleaned and processed. I have done this with other older solid oils and had great results.

The process would basically require that you start with salt water and melt chunks of Shea into it. When the Shea is completely liquid, I use a stick blender to get it as fully mixed as possible before the Shea floats again to the top. The salt water will separate impurities such as bacteria from the oil, washing the oil clean. Put the pan in the refrigerator or outside for the Shea to harden again, then remove it from the pan and dry the salt water off. You may need to scrape the bottom of the Shea where it was in contact with the water as well.

The Shea butter you end up with will still have more free fatty acids than fresh Shea butter will, so it will accelerate trace somewhat when you use it in cold process soap.

This would have been the perfect situation to try this in, being that it was a small amount of shea I will have to try this some day when I have some dodgy butters to use up

 

[Becky1024]

I use shea in most of my soap recipes. I have never had a problem except during the Covid shutdown when I had to buy from another supplier (Not Bulk Apothecary) and the shea was VERY grainy. I used it because it was all I could get. I never had a complaint from a customer, but had a few bars left about 18 months later that developed DOS and I could trace it back to the shea butter. The shea butter must have been old or not stored properly - shea will get grainy if it is melted and cooled slowly.

Since you are using it for personal soap, go for it!!!

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

PS - when soap traces that fast, you can leave it in the mixing bowl until it goes into gel phase - typically 5-10 minutes. That will thin it out so you can stir it quickly and semi-pour it into the mold.

Another great nugget of info. (Too late for this batch though.) Would you keep trying to stir it, or just let it sit while waiting for it to gel in the bowl?

So here's a pic of yesterday's fiasco. You can see the gaps in the 2 outer bars. The cuts on the inside were actually smooth. What are the whitish lumps throughout the bars? Shea?
The color is still poopy tan instead of Cyber Grape, and the scent is far from sweet jasmine. I'll set them aside to cure for a few months and see if they're worth using. So glad I wasn't planning on these for anything but experimental personal use!

 

[AliOop]

Hmmm I don't really like the look of the dry crusty spots. I'd zap test those for sure. If they aren't zappy, then they are pockets of unreacted oils - not pretty, but not harmful. You could shred this and rebatch while still soft. But since it's for personal use, maybe you don't want to bother.

Would you keep trying to stir it, or just let it sit while waiting for it to gel in the bowl?

Just let it sit until it's in full gel. You can also add heat to encourage gel.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

What are the whitish lumps throughout the bars? Shea?

No, not Shea unless the Shea was never melted to begin with. It looks to me like the soap batter was never thoroughly mixed, and you have lumps of soap that weren’t blended with colorant. It also may indicate that your lye and fats and fragrances may be out of whack.

I had that happen to one batch of soap recently. I immediately took the soap and chopped it into 1 inch cubes, added a bit of water to the cubes, and put them in the oven at 200 degrees F to turn them into hot process soap. I was able to stir the batch into a homogeneous batter, and pour it back into the molds.

The soap surprised me by curing at almost the same speed as my CPOP soap. Try it with your batch because then you’ll be sure it’s safe to use.

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

Hmmm I don't really like the look of the dry crusty spots. I'd zap test those for sure.

Zap test was fine, not lye heavy (just tastes yucky!)

It looks to me like the soap batter was never thoroughly mixed, and you have lumps of soap that weren’t blended with colorant. It also may indicate that your lye and fats and fragrances may be out of whack.

It can't be colorant because I colored the batch before adding the lye. I suspect it's likely fragrance because it was so thick and hard to mix.

No more heroic measures for these soaps. It's only 4 bars of mostly free and questionable ingredients. I put them on the back of a shelf where can sit for a few months, and then either use myself or toss them. Ya gotta know when to hold 'em and when to toss 'em...

 

[Zuleika]

Looks like the same problem as mine. FO added then boom! Settled into curds. Chopped them up with a palette knife while drizzling red liquid dye in then squashed them into the loaf. Heated up quite a bit when squashing in. I'm sure it gelled as the insides are nice and smooth unlike the lumpy outsides.

Smells lovely, looks questionable, totally unexpected but good learning experience. No Shea in this one but I'm glad I read this thread. I've been putting off using my stock of Shea due to colder weather. Guess it's time to use it up before it's too late.