Piping trouble

[Megan]

So I've tried to pipe soap three times now. The first time was actually the best ironically, but since then i have not been able to replicate my results (even with the same recipe). I'm running into two main problems.

The first is that it is taking forever for the piping to set up enough to pipe. I think last night it took five hours before I finally lost hope.

The second is that the piping seems grainy after all of that time, yet it is still very runny and won't hold it's shape.

The first time I tried piping soap, I let the batter go to a thin trace and set it in the bag and waited 5 hours until I piped some okay pumpkin embeds.
The second time I tried getting it to a heavy trace before putting it in the bags... Then I waited a while for it to set up a bit more and that ended up grainy.

The third time I let it go to a thin trace, then let it sit in the buckets until it was pretty thick but still not thick enough for piping, then I'd let it set in the bag for several more hours... And it still wasn't piping well and was grainy.

For the first and second recipes I used 30% Olive 30% Palm 30% coconut 5% Castor and 5% rice bran oil. For the third I used 30% Olive 30% rice bran 30% coconut 5% Castor and 5% Shea. I was just hoping to be able to use the same recipe I use for my bar on top.... Especially the one without Palm, but I'm not sure if there are too many soft oils in that one for it to set up. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[shunt2011]

Up your palm and lower the CO. Chances are when you use that much CO and leave it sit it’s probably gelling causing it to be grainy. I use a high lard recipe and stick blend till it’s thick. Then put it in the piping bag and pipe when thick enough.

 

[lsg]

Here is a recipe that works for me, from a book by Anne-Marie Faiola:

40% coconut oil
20% cocoa butter
20% shea butter
20% olive oil

Melt oils together and refrigerate overnight. Mix lye with water and stir until dissolved. Refrigerate in a plainly marked closed container, overnight.
Next morning take out lye water and oils. Add 1 tsp. sodium lactate to lye water and stir well.
Put cold oils in microwave for about 30 seconds. Take out oils and start whipping oils until they are whipped into a smooth butter. Put mixer on low and pour a little lye at a time into the whipped oils, this will take about 5 minutes. Once the lye water is fully incorporated, turn mixer on high and beat for another five minutes. Once the soap icing is able to form and sustain peaks, add fragrance or essential oils. This may kind of flatten out frosting. Whip another few minutes until icing is holding peaks. Put into icing bag that has a 1M Frosting Tip. Fill only about half full. Twist top of icing bag and pipe icing onto soap cupcake bases.

 

[Megan]

Thank you, I think I will try an unwhipped version for now though while I'm starting out. I do have an extra mixer, so I think I will eventually try it that way, but not for now.

 

[amd]

I use a coconut milk soap (split method) with 65% hard oils. I stick blend mine to a medium trace and throw a towel over it for 10-15 minutes. I think part of the problem may be that you're putting it in the piping bag too soon. Any time I have tried to bag soap batter while too loose, it has taken much longer to setup compared to the soap batter left in the bowl. Your FO may also be contributing to the graininess as well.

 

[Megan]

I use a coconut milk soap (split method) with 65% hard oils. I stick blend mine to a medium trace and throw a towel over it for 10-15 minutes. I think part of the problem may be that you're putting it in the piping bag too soon. Any time I have tried to bag soap batter while too loose, it has taken much longer to setup compared to the soap batter left in the bowl. Your FO may also be contributing to the graininess as well.

Hmmm, I never thought that putting it in the bag could be an issue. Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't been using FO in my piping for this exact reason. Since I don't have a behaving recipe to begin with, I didn't want to add in other variables.