please help, zappy soap

[lionprincess00]

Well yea. My soaps are zapping on the top only. The goats milk soap was made Saturday, August 30 almost a full 5 days ago. Why oh why?!?!
Did not gel.
Recipe, I used ounces for the oils because in soap calc they were to the nearest tenth of an oz...but I used grams off soap calc for lye and water because it was more precise that way. I know switching can be confusing, but it seemed to work out at the time. I should mention my scale does to the hundredth oz as well as whole grams.

Total oils 12 oz for precure wt of 18.736 oz in a 20oz loaf mold.
38% water discount, 6% SF, .85oz ppo FO
3oz CO
.6 oz castor
3oz oo
1.2oz RB
1.2 oz Shea
2.4oz almond o
.6oz cocoa butter

Water was 4.560oz/129.274 grams SO I premeasured 70 grams canned GM concentrated and refrigerated, and premeasured 60 grams distilled water in my stainless lye bowl. So I rounded up to 130 total liquid grams, to be safe.

I poured 2 1/4 tsp sugar into the water until it was completely dissolved well before adding lye. I then poured 47 grams of lye into the sugar water. It super heated. I stirred, saw a couple undissolved granuoles I broke up with the spatula. Let it cool. Restirred. Double checked for crystals. I had a cloudy crystallization that occurred on the sides of the bowl I didn't rub or scape or anything.

I poured the lye at about 110 deg or so into a completely melted 100 deg or so oils. I stick blended two pulses, added the cold milk, and blended. It looked like oil seperation on the bowl sides for a while so pulse, stir, pulse, stir etc. It traced upon the surface, I separated 2/3 into one container, 1/3 into another, and proceded to add td that I had premixed into a splash of water that was ADDITIONAL TO the 130 grams called for. So if anything I had a tad MORE liquid than called for. I also drizzled copper sparkle mica on the tops premixed into additional almond oil, so it had that reabsorb atop as well.

The tops of the soap look beautifully clean, no soda ash and no nuthin, just zaps still! Why would it do this?

Lye works itself to the surface, correct? It's just on the tops. Can anyone better explain this to me or help me out here? Sorry so long!!!!!
Tia!

 

[Susie]

If the sides/bottom of the soap do not zap, and the top that you applied copper sparkle mica to, I would look to the copper sparkle mica as being the problem. I will run your recipe through a calculator, but you need to zap test just the mica on your tongue.

*Edit* You rounded up on the NaOH, which essentially gave you 5% superfat, but the recipe checks out as perfectly safe. Again, have you tongue tested the mica?

 

[lionprincess00]

The copper mica zaps faster and stronger than the soap itself. Ihad a little left over batter I poured into a silicone round mold, and if I leave my tongue on it for about 3 seconds, it zapps too. Not as strong on the plain soap as the direct mica, but still zaps.
The mica zaps good. Ow.

 

[lionprincess00]

And to reiterate, only the tops. These are for me only and I dang near licked the entire underside of the bars lol. My peacock swirl I made 48 hours ago is zapping on the tops as well.

I use bb lye flakes. I used sugar in both batches, gm in this and water only in the other.

 

[lionprincess00]

Oh, and a clarification. The total precure weight is with a .7 oz ppo fragrance. I wanted a tad more saffron honey and added .15 more oz I didn't calculate on the lye calc. So if running my recipe, I had .7 oz fo ppo in it. That will give the precure wt of 18.736 oz. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[lionprincess00]

Well, I checked my first batch I made. It too is doing this. The soaps aren't zapping like a volt, but if I leave my tongue it feels like a slow burn causing me to pull away and a ton of saliva to build up. It's the tops only. I sprayed liberally with alcohol after each pour.
I was thinking, because I only have food thermometers I was reluctant to leave the digital therm in there for extended periods. Could not soaping within 10 degrees of the lye water and oils cause lye water to not blend properly? There are no crystals persay, but it looks like water droplets on the tops of the soaps that have hardened and cooled. They bite the tongue vthough not a real zap). Can soaping temps cause lye problems? My temps were, to the best of my knowledge, 95/100 degrees to no more than 125. But that's a potential 30degree difference between oils and lye.

I did say but will say again, the mica swirls seem worse than the rest, though it all bites.

 

[Dorymae]

I think your soap is going to be fine, and that you are almost in a panic over nothing. Honestly. Give it a few days more, or try this. . . Take one bar that zapped you. Dip it into ice water for about 10 seconds, let it dry completely. Now try the zap test again. From your recipe and how careful you were, I'm willing to bet you soaps are alright.

 

[lionprincess00]

K. I'll do that and wait. I'll rebatch in 4 weeks I suppose if it continues. Do you have a good rebatch thread or website I can bookmark? Haven't studied much on rebatching. Thx dorymae (and of course Susie!!).

 

[lsg]

Here is one that I like:

http://www.pvsoap.com/instructions_for_rebatch.htm

 

[Dorymae]

K. I'll do that and wait. I'll rebatch in 4 weeks I suppose if it continues. Do you have a good rebatch thread or website I can bookmark? Haven't studied much on rebatching. Thx dorymae (and of course Susie!!).

With complete honesty I can tell you that my rebatches are terrible. I'm not very good at HP at all. I think I cook too long. Usually when I do rebatch something it is because I forgot something, or if I question the lye content. Then I end up cutting up the rebatch to use as embeds.

I am planning to try some HP again because there are some good threads on here explaining how to keep the Hp fairly liquid - enough to swirl, mine is usually glopped into a mold.

Someday I hope to be able to make nice HP soap that doesn't look like it belongs in a shack - but until then I would advise searching the forum for HP. Some of the soapers here are so good at it you would be hard pressed to tell it apart from CP and that is saying something!

 

[shunt2011]

I would just give it a bit more time and see what happens. I too hate rebatching and the only HP I do is my shaving soap and liquid soap. I envy those that make amazing looking HP.

 

[Susie]

Do not rebatch yet. I think that recipe is going to be fine. Just give it a bit of time. And BTW, I NEVER leave my tongue on soap 3 seconds. One quick touch is enough to tell you zap or no zap.

 

[Seawolfe]

Yeah, Zap means just that - a quick sharp IMMEDIATE sensation. Leaving it in your mouth until it hurts kinda means you don't have a zap, by definition.

 

[lionprincess00]

Lol. Thx. I am so very new to this. All the reading in the world is no match for experience. It burns, not zaps. I'll recheck later today. I had some things come up last evening and this morning, so I haven't had a moment's time to check. I was really unsure how harsh it should still be. Thx to all of you for your comments. I sincerely appreciate everyone's insight.

 

[lionprincess00]

UPDATE
Just made it back there are quickly tapped my tongue to the mica swirls, the regular gm soap portion, and the peacock soap. NO BURN lol (and definitely no zapping)!



I am singing songs of joy in my head right now

 

[wetshavingproducts]

You might want to zap test your soap at trace next time so you know for sure what zap tastes like.

FO's can cause a burning sensation to your tongue (lasts a bit too), ask me how I know....

 

[Seawolfe]

FO's can cause a burning sensation to your tongue (lasts a bit too), ask me how I know....

Been drinking the FO's again? :mrgreen:

 

[IrishLass]

Lionprincess- just for future reference (and to ease any fear), ungelled soap can zap for up to 7 days or more, at least mine do before they mellow out. And it's not unusual for them to zap in different places and not others depending on which parts of the soap were cooler or hotter during saponification. Because of that fact, I no longer zap test my soap early on. I like to wait a couple of weeks first.

IrishLass

 

[lionprincess00]

You all, haha. Ok I DID zap myself on the freshly poured peacock soap and it really zapped. The sensation of zapping was gone on the soaps in question, however, but it was more like burning intensely. I suppose being brand new, I am and was really scared of doing something harmful. I'm good now.

Batch 4, thinking about an avocado puree activated charcoal salt bar. Bought two avocados today, and am feeling frisky (in the soap lab hehe).