No idea where i keep going wrong!?

[navigator9]

Also, as a new soaper, are you remembering to tare your scale? Just trying to think of all the possiblities.

 

[mikvahnrose]

Tare my scale every time i put a new ingredient in. But i will change batteries just to make sure. I also make sure that the titanium dioxide is well mixed with the oils.

I did take a look at my lye. It isn't clumped, but is past expiration. Is that the possible culprit? I still have a lot left, i don't know how to dispose of it.

Plus my house is VERY cold. Set to 65f right now in October.

 

[artemis]

I have sometimes thought that my soaps are a little softer the nearer I get to the bottom of my bottle.

 

[DeeAnna]

Expiration dates on NaOH aren't very useful. It doesn't go bad in its original container just from time passing -- it goes bad from exposure to water and carbon dioxide. Here's a video and step by step instructions I did about a quick purity check for NaOH or KOH. It might be worth doing if you have concerns about your NaOH purity. See http://classicbells.com/soap/purityCheck.html

 

[HappyGoNaturally]

This has been interesting reading for someone like me who hasn't gotten their feet wet yet!
It looks as though you've all possibly solved the mystery. I decided to further my education about lye, how to store it, etc. and see that there is a photo on the following page that shows what expired lye looks like (grayish), with some tips on how to test it. I thought this might be useful ...
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/expired-lye/

 

[redhead1226]

My batch isnt setting up! Its a 5lb batch and Im afraid I have to throw it out. I wanted to keep the batter thin but I reached trace so thats not the problem. Please advise if there is anything I can do?

 

[lenarenee]

Tare my scale every time i put a new ingredient in. But i will change batteries just to make sure. I also make sure that the titanium dioxide is well mixed with the oils.

I did take a look at my lye. It isn't clumped, but is past expiration. Is that the possible culprit? I still have a lot left, i don't know how to dispose of it.

Plus my house is VERY cold. Set to 65f right now in October.

Did you zap test the liquid? That way you'd know if you've got excess oil, or lye.

 

[penelopejane]

Tare my scale every time i put a new ingredient in. But i will change batteries just to make sure. I also make sure that the titanium dioxide is well mixed with the oils.

When I commented on the TD I wasn't thinking that you hadn't mixed it in well. I know you used oil from the recipe to mix it but did you compensate for the oil with TD that you put into part of the mix with the other part of the mix?

I guess this could lead to one part of the soap being hard and the other being soft with extra oil if you used a fair bit of oil to mix.

So sorry you've been bombarded with suggestions but we all know how awful it is to make a soap that doesn't work and we are trying to help.

 

[mikvahnrose]

"did you compensate for the oil with TD that you put into part of the mix with the other part of the mix? "

I'm sorry if i don't quite understand the question. What do you mean by compensate for the oil with TD?

As in, did i take out oil? Add extra oil? Or something else?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Aye - if you mixed your td with oil and added that in, how much extra oil is that? Or did you reduce another oil in the recipe to account for the td?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

My batch isnt setting up! Its a 5lb batch and Im afraid I have to throw it out. I wanted to keep the batter thin but I reached trace so thats not the problem. Please advise if there is anything I can do?

I would make a new thread for your issue or it will get messy and confusing here

 

[penelopejane]

"did you compensate for the oil with TD that you put into part of the mix with the other part of the mix? "

I'm sorry if i don't quite understand the question. What do you mean by compensate for the oil with TD?

As in, did i take out oil? Add extra oil? Or something else?

So say your soap has two colours. (You haven't said so far). You reserve 50 g of oil.
You bring your oils and lye to emulsion or trace.
You separate your batter into two equal lots part A and part B.
You add you TD to 25 g of oil and put it into part A.
Then you have to add 25 g of reserved oil (without TD) back into Part B to make them even again. If your colour isn't half and half this is more complicated. You have to do this with water too.

Did you do that?

 

[dixiedragon]

I have to disagree with Penelope here. Unless your batch is tiny, say a 1 bar batch, you don't have to do that. I am assuming you used a small amount of oil - 1 tablespoon or less - with your TD?

If you are doing something big, like an 8 color swirl, I can see how that extra 1 tablespoon per color could be too much.

 

[redhead1226]

I have a problem and not sure what to do next. I hate to dump a 5lb loaf. I made a Salt bar with the following recipe – – OO 14.8oz – CO 14.8oz Palm Kernal 10.2 oz Shea Butter 4.48oz Cocoa Butter 1.46 oz Hemp oil 2.47oz Castor 2.32 oz 7.17 oz Lye 18.62 oz Water Superfatted at 8% And I used 12 oz Himalyan Sea Salt – very fine grind. I didnt want that much salt in it. Well now it wont set up properly and its now 14 hours and even though it set a little more its still very gooey. What went wrong and whats your best advise. I dont think I can rebatch it.

 

[DeeAnna]

Hey, Redhead -- I agree with The Efficacious Gentleman that you should start your own thread asking for help with your soaping problems. Here's how:

Go to the main page of the Beginners Forum by clicking this link: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=47

Look for the "NEW THREAD" button at the upper left hand corner of the main forum listing that will appear.

Type a title and message in the form that will appear. Hint: You might want to break your message into paragraphs so it is easier to read. Also HOW did you make the soap -- what techniques did you use?

Click "SUBMIT NEW THREAD".

Hope this helps!

I have a problem and not sure what to do next. I hate to dump a 5lb loaf....

 

[redhead1226]

Thank you - Sorry - I just made a separate New thread

 

[dixiedragon]

I may have missed it, but did you use a fragrance? If so, what is it and where did you buy it?

 

[mikvahnrose]

No fragrance, no e.o's.

I didn't add extra oils. I used an ounce of the oils that were meant to go into the batch already to make a paste like mix to put "back into" the rest of the oils seeing that titanium dioxide is rather clumpy.

So i don't believe it was a miscalculation of adding too much product.

I have a feeling it was the temperature of my room. I soaped rather warm that day, but my room temp was around 65-66 degrees. Making for very uneven cure.

 

[penelopejane]

No fragrance, no e.o's.

I didn't add extra oils. I used an ounce of the oils that were meant to go into the batch already to make a paste like mix to put "back into" the rest of the oils seeing that titanium dioxide is rather clumpy.

So i don't believe it was a miscalculation of adding too much product.

I have a feeling it was the temperature of my room. I soaped rather warm that day, but my room temp was around 65-66 degrees. Making for very uneven cure.

So your soap is all one colour?

I can't believe it was the temp but I always CPOP just to keep its own temperature contained, so I guess it could have been, others may know. So frustrating for you. I certainly have less problems (but usually related to trace) when I soap cooler.