I'm sorry this is so long, but I figured I'd include the troubleshooting I've tried in the hopes that someone might have run into this before, even though its a longshot, and i think most members are more familiar with CP.
Aztec natural goat milk is giving me a run for my money. The other bases i bought are fine so far (knock on wood). I've used well over a dozen different bases from a few companies, including craft store bases, but this is the first that's just impossible for me to figure out, and unfortunately, I bought (and at this point wasted) a lot, and I really can't waste anymore time/sanity/money on unusable soap, and was hoping maybe someone here could help.
They have no info listed online other than ingredients, nor did they send any in the shipment. No directions/melt point. I took a chance since they had a lot of good reviews on this base, but maybe that was a mistake. None of the reviews include anything about temp/directions. The ingredients they list on their website and soap packaging:
Vegetable Glycerin
Sodium Stearate
Soidum Myristate (their misspelling, lol)
Sodium Cocoate
Coconut Oil
Palm Oil
Sunflower Oil
Purified Water
Goat's Milk
Titanium Dioxide
Germall Plus (side note, isn't this recommended at Temps lower than 122 or so?? Don't recall seeing it in MP before)
In order to get the base to mostly melt (to the point i always work with MP, where it's hot, mostly liquid, but not boiling and i can stir in the tiny remaining chunks), I have to get it around 150F, but once it cools even a few degrees, it develops a skin that won't stir in, and an insane amount of clumps that almost look like the clumps when CP soaping too cool with Shea. After a few seconds or so, the clumps stick together and get stringy, like snot when making liquid soap, getting bigger and bigger over the next minute or so, until the soap is one giant, lumpy, pile of goop with half of it being solid and unworkable.
It solidifies even as I'm pouring, so if I'm doing a cavity mold, I get one decent looking bar, and the rest are lumpy with chunks. Half of the cavity mold is solidifying while part is still liquid and I'm pouring. All the bars I've gotten in the mold, even the nice looking soap, have ZERO lather after cooling and unmolding. Ive tried several different molds. The soap doesn't smell scorched, and the base isn't boiling during heating.
I've tried melting to only 140 and taking out the larger unmelted pieces, but it still develops skin and clumps within seconds. I tried melting to 120-130, but the base was half melted and still tacky.
I've tried scraping the sides and not scraping the sides, doesn't make much difference. I've tried heating in small increments from 130F all the way up to180F with similar results.
I've used the microwave at full power and half power, in increments from 5-30 seconds. I've used the double boiler from low up to medium. I melted as low and slow as possible. I've melted as fast as I can without boiling.
I've tried cutting the base in tiny, tiny uniform pieces. I've tried adding a minute amount of vegetable glycerin at various points when melting. I tried glass pyrex and my normal plastic containers. I've covered it with plastic wrap and left it uncovered while melting - there was quite a bit of sticky condensation on the plastic wrap, so I'm thinking it's losing a decent amount of something... maybe Glycerin when being heated.
I've tried using no additives and it still happens. I've tried everything I can think of, and spent days googling and searching different forums and communities, and nothing has worked. I'm at my absolute wits end with this, and around 10lbs of zero lather "experiments," and i still havent successfully melted this base. It's really frustrating, and although at first I figured it was me, now I'm wondering if it's a defective base, or if the germall plus has something to do with it, or something else?
I called aztec last week with an unrelated question and while several employees I spoke to were nice, I don't have high hopes they can help with what's happening here, and I honestly don't know what else I can do. If anyone has literally any suggestions, I'm willing to try anything. And seriously, thanks if you read all that, I'm probably rambling incoherently at this point.
Aztec natural goat milk is giving me a run for my money. The other bases i bought are fine so far (knock on wood). I've used well over a dozen different bases from a few companies, including craft store bases, but this is the first that's just impossible for me to figure out, and unfortunately, I bought (and at this point wasted) a lot, and I really can't waste anymore time/sanity/money on unusable soap, and was hoping maybe someone here could help.
They have no info listed online other than ingredients, nor did they send any in the shipment. No directions/melt point. I took a chance since they had a lot of good reviews on this base, but maybe that was a mistake. None of the reviews include anything about temp/directions. The ingredients they list on their website and soap packaging:
Vegetable Glycerin
Sodium Stearate
Soidum Myristate (their misspelling, lol)
Sodium Cocoate
Coconut Oil
Palm Oil
Sunflower Oil
Purified Water
Goat's Milk
Titanium Dioxide
Germall Plus (side note, isn't this recommended at Temps lower than 122 or so?? Don't recall seeing it in MP before)
In order to get the base to mostly melt (to the point i always work with MP, where it's hot, mostly liquid, but not boiling and i can stir in the tiny remaining chunks), I have to get it around 150F, but once it cools even a few degrees, it develops a skin that won't stir in, and an insane amount of clumps that almost look like the clumps when CP soaping too cool with Shea. After a few seconds or so, the clumps stick together and get stringy, like snot when making liquid soap, getting bigger and bigger over the next minute or so, until the soap is one giant, lumpy, pile of goop with half of it being solid and unworkable.
It solidifies even as I'm pouring, so if I'm doing a cavity mold, I get one decent looking bar, and the rest are lumpy with chunks. Half of the cavity mold is solidifying while part is still liquid and I'm pouring. All the bars I've gotten in the mold, even the nice looking soap, have ZERO lather after cooling and unmolding. Ive tried several different molds. The soap doesn't smell scorched, and the base isn't boiling during heating.
I've tried melting to only 140 and taking out the larger unmelted pieces, but it still develops skin and clumps within seconds. I tried melting to 120-130, but the base was half melted and still tacky.
I've tried scraping the sides and not scraping the sides, doesn't make much difference. I've tried heating in small increments from 130F all the way up to180F with similar results.
I've used the microwave at full power and half power, in increments from 5-30 seconds. I've used the double boiler from low up to medium. I melted as low and slow as possible. I've melted as fast as I can without boiling.
I've tried cutting the base in tiny, tiny uniform pieces. I've tried adding a minute amount of vegetable glycerin at various points when melting. I tried glass pyrex and my normal plastic containers. I've covered it with plastic wrap and left it uncovered while melting - there was quite a bit of sticky condensation on the plastic wrap, so I'm thinking it's losing a decent amount of something... maybe Glycerin when being heated.
I've tried using no additives and it still happens. I've tried everything I can think of, and spent days googling and searching different forums and communities, and nothing has worked. I'm at my absolute wits end with this, and around 10lbs of zero lather "experiments," and i still havent successfully melted this base. It's really frustrating, and although at first I figured it was me, now I'm wondering if it's a defective base, or if the germall plus has something to do with it, or something else?
I called aztec last week with an unrelated question and while several employees I spoke to were nice, I don't have high hopes they can help with what's happening here, and I honestly don't know what else I can do. If anyone has literally any suggestions, I'm willing to try anything. And seriously, thanks if you read all that, I'm probably rambling incoherently at this point.
