separating soap?

[bhelen]

My latest soap turned out like this - white on the bottom and yellow on the top. It was not supposed to! The yellow part is also significantly softer than the white part.

This is my recipe: Olive oil 45%, palm oil 30%, coconut oil 20%, castor oil 5%, mint and lavender EOs. 100% milk, lye concentration 31.5. TD (1/2 tsp for 600g oils) added to lye/milk solution.

Possible cuplrits:
1. I poured it quite thin and it's separated?
2. This is the 1st time I use TD and don't have any experience of what effects it can have.
3. I just noticed on the label of my coconut oil that it also contains salt, water and preservatives! Time to look for a new brand?

Any ideas? And is it usable or will I have to rebatch?

BTW it smells divine

 

[Obsidian]

Have you zap tested yet? Make sure you check both top and bottom. If its zap free, it's safe to use. If its zappy, you probably need to rebatch but you can wait a few days then check again.

Give each color a good sniff, does the yellow smell stronger? Maybe the FO separated some but thats just a wild guess.

Definitely find a different coconut oil, it shouldn't have any additives. What brand is it? is it labeled coconut oil or coconut cream?

 

[bhelen]

No idea what the brand of CO is, it's written in Hebrew which I don't read. The tiny label of the distributor is in Arabic, which I read, but I had never looked at it before, never thought it would have additives in it. It's from Thailand, that's all I could ascertain!

 

[cmzaha]

I really do not think it is the coconut oil since the salt, water and preservative will not hurt anything. The water would only add a little extra liquid, the salt hardness, and the preservative is probably BHT or BHA which will help deter rancidy not stop rancidy which will also help deter dos.
Let it cure and see if the top hardens. If it is not zappy it will be fine to use. Many things can happen when making soap to change texture, color, hardness, etc and sometimes it is just impossible to figure out no matter how long you have been making soap.

 

[bhelen]

I really do not think it is the coconut oil since the salt, water and preservative will not hurt anything. The water would only add a little extra liquid, the salt hardness, and the preservative is probably BHT or BHA which will help deter rancidy not stop rancidy which will also help deter dos.
Let it cure and see if the top hardens. If it is not zappy it will be fine to use. Many things can happen when making soap to change texture, color, hardness, etc and sometimes it is just impossible to figure out no matter how long you have been making soap.

Thanks, yes that makes sense about the CO. I am leaning towards early pouring having caused separation, I mean it really hadn't reached even light trace, but I thought it had emulsified. It's a fine line between having a perfectly smooth soap and not reaching emulsion and I guess maybe I was on the wrong side of the line. Anyway I will do the zap test tomorrow and wait it out for a few weeks before deciding what to do with it!

 

[bhelen]

I zap tested today and it is very zappy on the bottom (white) part and not at all on the yellow part. I'm thinking this confirms my theory that the soap separated and that the top is basically oil while the bottom therefore has too much lye. Anyone disagree?

 

[Obsidian]

Sounds like a good possibility. Are you going to rebatch?

 

[cmzaha]

If it is still zappy after 72 hrs I would rebatch it. Normally I would try to wait it out, but with the seperation and the top soft with zappy bottom I would go with rebatching. You will get a smoother rebatch now opposed to a few weeks down the road

 

[bhelen]

Yes I will rebatch. Smells too good to waste!