Odd visual pattern

[Vitormgib]

Hello!

I made the same recipe I'm used to, which is described bellow. I melted the cocoa butter, palm oil and coconut oil to 170º to avoid stearic spots and I battered the oils and the lye together at 120º to avoid gel phase. I added no colorants or fragrances. And the soap come out with this odd pattern with random stripes which I had never seen before. Does anyone know what happened?

Recipe:

53,3% of olive oil
14,5% of cocoa butter
12,6% of coconut oil
13,5% of pal oil
6,0% of grape seed oil

Thank you!

 

[AliOop]

Those are cosmetic only and most commonly called "glycerin rivers." You can read more about them here.

As a side note, soaping at 120F is likely to encourage gel, not prevent it, especially if you are using more water (lower lye concentration).

 

[BWt]

@Vitormgib your soap is really lovely. I like the contrast pattern the rivers give. @AliOop enjoyed re-reading article on glycerin rivers recommended above. Always learning.

 

[Vitormgib]

Those are cosmetic only and most commonly called "glycerin rivers." You can read more about them here.

As a side note, soaping at 120F is likely to encourage gel, not prevent it, especially if you are using more water (lower lye concentration).

Thank you very much for your reply. I had heard of glycerin rivers, but as they hadn't happened to me before I had never studied them.

I soaped at 120° to prevent gel phase based on a Kevin Dunn's article (the link goes bellow) that indicates this should be a low-enough temperature to prevent it, but the glycerin rivers show that the temperature was not low enough. I am iffy to soap at lower temperatures to prevent stearic spots, which have been showing in my last batches. What soaping temperature would you recommend?

(Time and Temperature - Wholesale Supplies Plus)

 

[Vitormgib]

@Vitormgib your soap is really lovely. I like the contrast pattern the rivers give. @AliOop enjoyed re-reading article on glycerin rivers recommended above. Always learning.

Thank you!

I also liked the rivers, but since I am selling the soaps I would like to keep a stable visual pattern throughout the batches.

 

[AliOop]

You can help avoid glycerin rivers by:

1. Soaping at cooler temperatures. As long as you heat the oils to 150F or above, you can let them cool quite a bit and still not get stearic spots. I don't work with palm very often, but when I have, I can cool the oils and lye to 90F and not get stearic spots.

and

2. Using less water (higher lye concentration). You didn't mention what lye/water setting you used. If it was water-as-percent-of-oils, try switching to lye concentration instead. That will give you more consistent results as you change batch sizes. If you were already using the lye concentration setting, try raising it 2%, which will reduce the amount of water.

I would try just one of these things at a time so you figure out what works best for you. Let us know how it goes!

 

[Tammyfarms]

Those are cosmetic only and most commonly called "glycerin rivers." You can read more about them here.

As a side note, soaping at 120F is likely to encourage gel, not prevent it, especially if you are using more water (lower lye concentration).

Thanks for sharing this article. Now I want to try and make glycerin rivers on purpose!

 

[Vitormgib]

You can help avoid glycerin rivers by:

1. Soaping at cooler temperatures. As long as you heat the oils to 150F or above, you can let them cool quite a bit and still not get stearic spots. I don't work with palm very often, but when I have, I can cool the oils and lye to 90F and not get stearic spots.

and

2. Using less water (higher lye concentration). You didn't mention what lye/water setting you used. If it was water-as-percent-of-oils, try switching to lye concentration instead. That will give you more consistent results as you change batch sizes. If you were already using the lye concentration setting, try raising it 2%, which will reduce the amount of water.

I would try just one of these things at a time so you figure out what works best for you. Let us know how it goes!

Thank you! I will soap at a cooler temperature. My lye concentration is 34%, I will consider increasing it, perhaps to 35%. I don't want the mix to reach trace too suddenly.

I will let you know how it went!

 

[AliOop]

For me and my recipes (usually high in lard), lye concentrations around 39-40% actually slow down trace; 38% is a wobbler, and 34-37% does seem to speed it up.