new soaper needs help

[Ann]

well I made my first batch of soap today. it never went to trace??? I was so disappointed. I poured it up and put it in my closet hopeful that I might get a miracle. 6 hours later still liquid. what did I do wrong. 5 oz water 2 oz lye 7.5oz canola oil 7.5 oz olive oil both were at a temp. of 100.
using a stick mixer I beat and beat very thin yellow liquid:cry:. not counting the money I spend on buying my stuff to make it. can someone tell me what happened? what did I do wrong. I hate to quit. I read and read and watch videos for a full 2 weeks before I tried making my first batch.

 

[Soapering]

The first batch I tried making was with 80% Olive Oil and 20% Canola, because that's all I had. It took hours to get to light trace using a 3:1 water/lye ratio. I eventually got tired of mixing it so i poured it into a mold and about three days later solidified. It was the worst soap I've ever used.

There are a few different factors involved in the amount of time needed to trace. 1)Oil profile of the recipe, 2)water to lye ratio, 3)oil and lye temperature. There is also a number of additives that can increase or delay trace, but you can look into those later.

1) Soft oils take a long time to trace, try using at least 50% hard oils in your batch to help your soap set up quicker. I regularly use between 60%-75% hard oils to avoid delayed trace. My favorites are Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter and Mango Butter, but if you don't want to spend very much money on soapmaking, try buying lard or coconut oil. Both are relatively inexpensive and excellent for soap.

2) For those rare occasions when I use less than 60% hard oils I use a 2:1 lye solution. This comes with it's own problems when making small batches. It's more time consuming to mix a 2:1 solution than a 5:2 solution...

3) The higher the temperature, the quicker your batch will come to trace. If your making this recipe again in the future, I would advise that you combine the oil and lye at a higher temp. You could try 110 and see if that helps. I wouldn't go above 120.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome Ann!

Here's my take on things..... (please excuse me while I think out loud).....

Your oil recipe written in percent is 50% olive oil and 50% canola, which tells me right away that the recipe will make a soap that is on the softer side of things.

And to compound things, you used what is known as a 'full water' amount along with it, which for this particular oil combo, explains why the soap batter never seemed to come to trace, even though you were using a stick-blender.

The absolute most water I would have used for such an oil combo would have been 4 oz. if I wanted it to come to trace in a somewhat reasonable time.

Ideally, though, I would have used 2 oz. of water, which I bet would have brought it to trace within 10 minutes tops.

Also- over on SoapCalc, the lye amount is telling me that your batch has a zero % superfat/lye discount. I don't know if you meant to do that on purpose or not (I know of a small handful of experienced soapers that do so on purpose), but it is highly recommended- especially for those that are new to the craft- to have at least a 5% buffer of superfat/lye discount to ensure against potential lye-heaviness in the soap which is responsible for a soap ending up being very harsh and drying.

At this point, I would take a 'wait and see' attitude. The lye and oils have been mixed, so let's see what it'll do over the next few days. At best, it will eventually saponify and all will be well. And at worst, it will separate, but even then, all is not lost, for you could still re-batch to health it by pouring it all into a pot and heating it into submission. You can even add more oil to the pot as it's heating to increase the superfat %.

IrishLass

 

[DebiB]

Irish Lass: I am just leaning how to input and read soap calc.

When I put the recipe in the calculator at a 15 oz batch, it looked like the recipe used had a small water discount and a little more lye than called for.

Would you kindly share how you did it so I can learn?

 

[Ann]

Irish Lass: I am just leaning how to input and read soap calc.

When I put the recipe in the calculator at a 15 oz batch, it looked like the recipe used had a small water discount and a little more lye than called for.

Would you kindly share how you did it so I can learn?

how I did what? lol I'm sorry I'm not very savvy on soaping terms I got the recipe off the internet

 

[KatsKreations]

I got my first and second batch of soap ingredients strait off the net. I then learned about soap calculators and have been making my own since then. There are some dangerous recipes out there! I am a newbie to soaping as well. When I started learning about soaping I watched youtube videos but I also started learning what oils did to the soap. I also have learned here that soft water in a house vs hard water in a house affects how you do your soaps. SO much to learn. I hope your soap batter turns into soap for you. Just remember though that the cure time for that soft type of soap is a looooong time. You might want to make another batch with some different ingredients to use in the meantime after the 4-6 week cure. Pretty soon you will find your own way and feel more comfortable with all this.

 

[shunt2011]

Hi Ann,

I had a similar scenario to yours with a very similar recipe when I made my first batch. It took hours and hours. I was about to give up and finally it looked like trace I put it in the mold and hoped for the best. You have been given some good advice. Always make sure you run any recipe through a calculator. Hopefully you'll have soap when all is said and done.

 

[xoticsoaps]

Hi Ann,

I'm preparing to make my first batch of soap very soon, but I've been researching soapmaking for the last couple of months. Some of the most helpful things I've come across as far as beginner info was SoapQueen.com & Soaping 101 Youtube videos. Also, using soapmaking oil charts have been another cool find. It tells you exactly what properties each oil will add to the soap. So it seems that either discounting some of the water in the recipe or adding something extra to harden the soap would work.

Best,
- xs

 

[Susie]

OK, newbies, rule #1 is to always, always, always run every recipe through a reputable lye calculator! I used the Bramble Berry one until I learned the soapcalc one. Just get on there and try the oils in the recipe(s) you already made. Then tell it to calculate. It does not take long to get the hang of them!

http://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx

http://soapcalc.net/

Rule #2 is to never throw away a bad batch until you ask here first.

 

[KatsKreations]

If you are on a very tight budget, lard here in east Texas runs about 1.44 for a 1 lb package. You do not have to use extra virgin olive oil. I use the pure and I can get a small bottle of it about 17 oz for 3.88. I then add in my coconut oil which does get expensive if you are just picking up stuff in a grocery store. I get mine locally for 76 degree coconut oil 3 lbs for 8.55. It works out to 2.85 a lb. I like some castor oil as well at 8 oz for 2.25 at my local supplier. I have hard water in the house. You do not need a million ingredients to make a decent soap. You can also do this on a budget. You can also do this so expensive that a bar of soap can cost ridiculous amounts. I stood in line for 30 min because I left walmart and they did not put my 2 -1 lb packages of lard in my bag. My husband asked me if standing in that line was worth 3 dollars and I said yes it was!!! I then spent that 3.00 on an ounce of fragrance oil! Now I have some blueberry cheesecake soap and it smells great! Can not wait for it to cure and then use it.

 

[Susie]

I buy lard in the 4 lb tubs at Walmart, coconut oil and olive oil(cheap yellow stuff) at Sam's, castor oil at Walmart(pharmacy section by laxatives), lye(NaOH) at Lowe's(Roebic-be sure to check that it says 100% lye), and used to buy essential oils at Hobby Lobby. Although, if you are buying other items, you can get NaOH cheaper at Essential Depot. And if you are an Amazon Prime member, order it through them, and shipping is free.

From Dollar Tree, I bought the plastic drawer dividers as molds(no lining required), silicone spatulas, gloves, safety glasses, and now mixing bowls(be sure it has a 5 in the triangle on the bottom).

Making soap is a hobby for me. I like cheap and local whenever possible. I also made friends with the gals at the thrift store(bribed with soap) and they let me know when they got in another stickblender and crock pot so I have spares now.

The only thing I would tell a new soaper to go buy the best of is a scale. You want a good digital scale that weighs down to 0.1 oz and grams at least and can hold at least 10 lbs. You would be wise to get one with no auto shut off.

 

[shunt2011]

You can also find EO's at health food stores. They are more expensive than buying from a supplier but will work in a pinch. I bought mine that way when I first started. I also tried the FO's from Hobby Lobby and those didn't work well at all. It's a huge learning experience.

 

[IrishLass]

Irish Lass: I am just leaning how to input and read soap calc.

When I put the recipe in the calculator at a 15 oz batch, it looked like the recipe used had a small water discount and a little more lye than called for.

Would you kindly share how you did it so I can learn?

Hi Debi! No problem!

-The first thing I did was to click on 'ounces' in the "Weight of Oil" box.
-Next, I moved over towards the right of the page to the "Recipe Oils" section and clicked on "ounces" instead of "%".
-Then I clicked on "olive oil" and entered it in the first box, and entered an oz. amount of 7.5. And in the next box below, I did the same for "canola oil".
-I didn't change any of the default settings at this time or click on anything else except for "Calculate Recipe" and then "View/Print Recipe" down at the bottom of the page.
-Once the second page popped up and I was able to see the default lye amount and how it differed from Ann's given amount, I returned to the first page and tinkered with the numbers in the superfat box, hit "Calculate" and "View/Print recipe again, and re-checked the second page to see the changes made to the lye amount. I kept doing this until the lye amount matched Ann's given amount of 2 oz. It turns out the number in the superfat box that resulted in 2 oz lye was a zero% superfat.
-Then I did the same for the water amount. For this, I played with the lye-concentration box. Ann's given water amount matched the water amount for a 27% lye concentration, which means it had a ratio of 1 part lye to 2.7 parts water, which is considered to be a full-water amount.

I should mention at this point that on SoapCalc, you have 2 different ways of calculating your water amount: You can either use the "Lye Concentration" box or the "Water as percent of oils" box. I like to use the Lye Concentration box, because it is more logical to me and (I believe) a more precise way of calculating the water.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[DebiB]

Irish Lass: thank you for helping me understand!

Ann: thank you for letting me high jack your thread for a moment!

 

[Ann]

Ok lady's my soap has set up for 3 weeks nothing. its still a hot mess. sooooooooo should I re-heat the hole think to 110 and beat it, or add more lye, or more oil, or dump it out. I so wanted to be successful. I guess I need someone to come over and keep a eye on me while I try again.
can i do lard and canola oil. and how much should I use. and how much lye? take pitty on me.:roll:

 

[cmzaha]

My very first soap I made was 100% lard so I could get the feel of how it all works. I still happen to love 100% lard soap, but it does not give real big bubbles. You can use canola but I would recommend when starting out to keep it around 15%. It will slow trace and lard is also not fast tracing. If you can get some castor oil, it is available at most health stores, I would add in 5% to boost bubbles. 80% lard and 20% with a 5% superfat will also make a nice inexpensive easy to work with soap.
I would dump the 3 week old batch, and this comes from someone that does not believe in dumping anything, since you may not know exactly what you did wrong, and I am not sure why you call it a hot mess. It should not be hot after 3 weeks. Once a batter is brought to emulisification, no oil floating on the surface of your batter, you can pour and it will set up. Although it is better when new to soaping to get, at the least, a slight trace.