Nettles in cp soap

[Roisin]

Hi all,
Was looking for some advice please.
I made some soap today with nettle mascerated olive oil, coconut oil and cocoa butter. When I added the lye a thick trace was immediate! A bit of a shock!
Lye was 100°f and oils 106°f.
The fresh nettles were mascerating for 2 weeks.
Is this normal?
Thank you!
Róisín

 

[Tara_H]

Welcome! I'm afraid I can't help with your question, but I'm curious to hear about this nettle soap...

You might also want to drop by the introduction section to say hi

 

[Roisin]

It was a gorgeous green
I'll pop over there mow
Thank you x

 

[glendam]

I have only used dry powdered nettle in an oil infusion, not fresh, it did not accelerate for me.

 

[Tara_H]

On reflection, what was your percentage of the various oils? Is it possible the slightly cooler lye caused a false trace?

 

[lsg]

I was wondering about your oil percentages, also.

 

[Roisin]

Morning,
It was only a small batch so nettle olive oil was 150g (50%), coconut oil 105g (35%) and cocoa butter 45g (15%)
Thanks

 

[vnLori]

Hi all,
Was looking for some advice please.
I made some soap today with nettle mascerated olive oil, coconut oil and cocoa butter. When I added the lye a thick trace was immediate! A bit of a shock!
Lye was 100°f and oils 106°f.
The fresh nettles were mascerating for 2 weeks.
Is this normal?
Thank you!
Róisín

Hi, not sure why that happened. I make soap using fresh nettle (blended with the amount of water required for this batch), and no problems. Batch stayed really nice and fluid until I poured it into a mold. I could send you my recipe if you want it.

 

[lsg]

Did you use pomace olive oil in your recipe? Others have stated that pomace accelerates trace.

 

[vnLori]

Hi, I use the following: Palm oil, coconut oil, Olive and canola blend (olive only 10% of this blend. I find that even
tiny amounts of olive oil in a batch, helps to prevent premature saponification. I left me with enough time to do
a swirl.

 

[AliOop]

I second the question about pomace OO, since that does accelerate my batter every time. Also, with the fairly high percentage of CO + butters you listed, that would be a quick-moving recipe for me even without pomace.

 

[vnLori]

I've never used pomace. Only extra virgin olive oil in combination with other oils - mostly palm and coconut. I find
that the addition of olive oil lets you work longer with the batch before trace 'happens'

 

[Misschief]

Did you use pomace olive oil in your recipe? Others have stated that pomace accelerates trae.

I second the question about pomace OO, since that does accelerate my batter every time. Also, with the fairly high percentage of CO + butters you listed, that would be a quick-moving recipe for me even without pomace.

I find this very interesting. In my beginner soaping days, all I used was pomace. I still would if anyone still carried it. I never had an issue with acceleration.

In this case, though, could the cocoa butter (at 15%) contribute to acceleration?

 

[ImpKit]

Question: "The fresh nettles were mascerating for 2 weeks."

What do you mean by this? Do you mean you left the nettles in the olive oil to infuse for those two weeks? Or did you macerate the nettles in something else?

If the latter, what were they macerated in? Is it possible they fermented? Because if they did, you may have added some alcohol to the soap. Having done a bourbon soap, I can say that, even adding a cooked down bourbon to my post-emulsion batter, alcohol makes things set up FAST.

 

[Roisin]

Question: "The fresh nettles were mascerating for 2 weeks."

What do you mean by this? Do you mean you left the nettles in the olive oil to infuse for those two weeks? Or did you macerate the nettles in something else?

If the latter, what were they macerated in? Is it possible they fermented? Because if they did, you may have added some alcohol to the soap. Having done a bourbon soap, I can say that, even adding a cooked down bourbon to my post-emulsion batter, alcohol makes things set up FAST.

Ahh this may be it.
The fresh nettles were in the pomace olive oil for 2 weeks so maybe this is what happened.
I use the same basic recipe a lot but it never goes to trace this quick. I'll pick and dry the nettles before I add them next time.
Thanks everyone

 

[AliOop]

I've never used pomace.

Thanks, I was responding to the original poster, who was @Roisin, and who did use pomace for the infusion. Pomace olive oil, in contrast to EVOO, is known to accelerate trace for many people. I think @Misschief's experience is somewhat of an exception in this area.