Palm oil heavy recipe help please

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Dec 20, 2017
Messages
297
Reaction score
438
Location
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
This is my cold process solid soap recipe. "Unapologetically Palm
"
https://wwww.soapmakingfriend.com/recipes/edit/76361#:~:text=Unapologetically Palm
I'm not sure if this is how to link to my recipe but if not, I'll try another way, if I can.
I've never made such a mostly single oil soap that's come out as well as I'd like. And there's quite a few eo's (expensive to acquire and I risked breaking them bringing them in my luggage!) that my Nanny has asked me to use for her, and I'm not willing to let her down.
I've used palm oil, THIS palm oil maybe not, but the hydrogenated stuff, but as a background player, not the main character. I'm really anxious about it also because I'm going to have to do this during the early afternoon when the temps will still be in the low 90sF (low 30sC).
I'm planning on separating the 2kg batch into 4 - 500g segments (if possible). Each with a different fragrance. One plain lavender; lavender, lemongrass, Brazil orange; Sambucus; Japanese pprmint, cedarwood.
If all goes well, I want to make a 2nd batch. This would be a 2fer. Dragon's Blood and pure lavender.
There's that big "but": how fast does an almost pure hard oil soap batter trace, and is there anything I can add to help it slow down? Like maybe full fat yogurt?
I did that to a HP recipe once and it worked like a charm. Would it help here though?
Help?
 
100% palm traces really fast. Don’t bother with a stick blender, just gently whisk it; make sure everything is as cool as the palm can be while still staying liquid. Add the fragrance immediately to the oil so that you’re not desperately stirring it in at the end once it’s a solid mass, but be sure it doesn’t accelerate trace. Maybe use more water with the lye. Don’t leave it a second alone; once you add the lye to the oil, stir and pour (eventually you might use a spatula).
 
I managed to get some olive oil (I posted it in the "What soapy thing have you done today". Sorry, but someone had responded there.
I prefer to have my discussion here though.
Anyway, temps where I am have gone from mid-90sF (about mid 30sC) to low 80sF (high 20sC). So, my oils /fats are now cloudy though the pot seems warmer than the surrounding air, or my hands. And my hands don't feel cold or cool to me. Unfortunately, my housemate has lost my instant read thermometer, and I didn't think to bring mine. Thought my soap-making equipment would still be intact.
My question: My 1st lye solution is w/the banana puree, frozen + added water ice cubes to make up the liquid wt (puree is only 2% of the lye solution). It's still very hot but not "OUCH" hot. Can I add it to the very cloudy oil/fat mix and have it be like a heat transfer type of thing?
I've never done it. I always soap at room temp, waiting until the lye solution is completely cool, and fats/oils same. But I'm in a hurry because housemate needs to go back to her biz tomorrow and I'm using their workspace... Ack!!
New and improved recipe:
https://wwww.soapmakingfriend.com/recipes/76361.unapologetically-palm
 
@Blufuz Thank you SO much for that warning. I've been working at a snail's pace but I followed your advice and did as much prep as possible so that all I had to do after mixing the lye solution was adding it to the ready oils.
I had no whisk but a ss spoon. The tiny amount of olive oil saved my bacon (pun wholly intended!) because I had no choice but to use my immersion blender. It took no more than 30 secs total to have it come to trace! Scary!
I decided that if things were gonna move THAT quickly, I better have some dinner under my belt. So I'm having dinner and finishing off the other 4, faster, portions right after.
No more surprises. Everything is ready to go.
Thank you, everyone that helped!
 
I guess you already went ahead, but to answer your other question, yes you can use the heat transfer method, especially if your solid oils are actually mostly liquid anyway. The only risk with that method is if all your solids are still solid; then there’s a risk that the lye heat is not enough, but this is mostly a problem with butters that melt at higher temperatures like Shea and especially cocoa.

I would say that if your lye (container!) is warmer to the touch than your liquid palm oil, you’re good to go 👍 you just risk tracing even faster.

Glad it worked out!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top