Small issues with my soap

[nickbar]

I made my third attempt to cold proccess soap making using olive oil,coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, (60%) water and (40%) milk.
The trace came after 20-25 minutes...

Now its 7 days since i unmolded the soaps and it seems the upper side of the soap has a light brown colour as the bottom has a darker tone...

What caused that? Here are some pics.

up surface:

Βοttom:

 

[DeeAnna]

Plane off the top 1/16" (1-2 mm) and see what the color of that is. I'm thinking the lighter color might be caused by a thin layer of soda ash.

 

[lsg]

You can also use a spray of alcohol and a paper towel on the top. If it is soda ash, it should wipe off.

 

[nickbar]

Ok. I tried an alcohol solution 70 o and a towel paper but it doesnt seem the colour to change... Could it be so thick so i have to try it deeper??

 

[KristaY]

I think you should just leave it be and let it cure. Set the bars on their sides and rotate 180 degrees every week or so. After 4-6 weeks see how they look. If you don't like the darker tops, plane them off. It it's soda ash (which is what it looks like to me) it's a cosmetic issue only and not harmful. Does it zap?

It could also be that the tops are drying faster than the bottom which may change the color. By drying on their sides it may help.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Is the total difference in tone caused by a partial gel? How do the sides look?

 

[ngian]

It also seems to me like a partial gel in the bottom, where maybe your mold was more insulated at the surface it was resting, and gel phase in a milk-liquid recipe always gives darker color tones...

Nevertheless a photo of the sides will help a lot...

 

[Susie]

When you unmold and cut soap, the bottom is moister than the top. Just turn the dark side up, and let it dry there also. Or turn them on their sides and let them cure. I flip my bars once a week through cure time to eliminate this very issue.

 

[nickbar]

I flip almost every 2 days the soaps... It doesnt seem to zap.

Here are some pics from the sides...

 

[penelopejane]

It seems really dark. Did you burn the milk? When did you put it in? I make pure OO soap and it hasn't taken 20 mins to trace and even if I add milk it is still pale cream.

 

[nickbar]

It seems really dark. Did you burn the milk? When did you put it in? I make pure OO soap and it hasn't taken 20 mins to trace and even if I add milk it is still pale cream.

As i said i use 60% water and 40% milk. I put the milk after i added the lye to the oils. And then i start stirring.

The trace came after 20-25 minutes...

 

[ngian]

25 minutes seems too long in order to reach trace.

Either you are not using a stick blender, or you are using too much water / liquids.

Can you post your recipe (oils - liquids) in grams?

 

[Susie]

Please post the entire recipe in weights, if you would. Including any additives. Also, please let us know what method you used to mix it, as well as method of processing.

 

[nickbar]

Here is my recipe in grams:

Basic ingredients grams
80 % Olive Oil pomace 960 g
20% Coconut Oil, 76 deg 240 g
Liquids 456 g (38% of oils)
Lye (NaOH) 164 g

Total batch weight 1,820g
Total oil weight 1,200g
Water as % of oils 38%
Water / lye ratio 2.773:1
Lye concentration 26.5%
Sat./unsat. ratio 30:70

From 456 g liquid the 274 g (60%) is water, in which i add the NaOH.
The rest 182 g of liquid (40%) is milk.

The oils and the lye mixed in 40 degrees Celsius and then i add the milk in room temparature and start stirring. As i said the trace came at 20-25 minutes.

I used cold process method.

I want your opinion about my recipe and especially for my liquid quantity!

Thank you all!!

 

[DeeAnna]

Your lye solution concentration is 26%. With that low of a concentration, especially with a high olive oil recipe, it's no surprise to me that this recipe took forever to trace.

The default 38% water as % of oils is what is getting you in trouble. Start using lye concentration (or water:lye ratio) and stop using "water as % of oils". With a high olive recipe, you should probably be using 30% to 33% lye concentration if you're a beginner with this recipe. Once you know how the soap behaves at that lye concentration and you want to move things along a bit faster, then try 40%. At a lye concentration of only 26%, there's just too much water for the olive oil to saponify at a reasonable rate.

I'm also a little mystified at the amount of lye you used. That's way too low. My personal recipe calc is telling me the superfat is roughly 25% which is much, much too high for a recipe of this type. What was the superfat you used to calculate the lye?

 

[nickbar]

hat was the superfat you used to calculate the lye?

Sorry i forgot to mention that... The superfat i used was 5%.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...The superfat i used was 5%. ..."

You really need to recheck your recipe then. You say this is the recipe you actually made...

80 % Olive Oil pomace 960 g
20% Coconut Oil, 76 deg 240 g

... and if so, then the amount of lye you say you used...
Lye (NaOH) 164 g

... is much, much too low for your recipe. This lye amount provides only 0.137 g lye per 1 g fat and that is a correct saponification value for a 100% olive oil recipe. By adding 20% coconut oil, the recipe will require a substantial amount more lye per gram of fats.

Also the high amount of water at 26% lye concentration will contribute to ash on your soap. Lots of water = more likelihood of lots of ash.

 

[nickbar]

sap value for olive oil is 0.134, so 960*0.134=129 g (solid) Lye for olive oil.

SAP value for coconut oil is 0.19, so 0.19*240= 46 g ΝaOH.

So i need a total of 129+46= 175 g ΝaOH without superfat.
But i decide to use 5% superfat, so about 166 g NaOH finally.

I get the same results for the recipe from http://soapcalc.net

Am i doing something wrong??? This is the way i know to calculate the quantity of the Lye needed.

 

[DeeAnna]

Egg on my face. I really goofed up.

I didn't change my batch size (default of 1550 g of fats for my molds) to your batch size of 1200 g. Your lye weight is correct for your recipe.

Please accept my sincere apologies!

 

[nickbar]

Egg on my face. I really goofed up.

I didn't change my batch size (default of 1550 g of fats for my molds) to your batch size of 1200 g. Your lye weight is correct for your recipe.

Please accept my sincere apologies!

Dont worry!!! You dont need to apologise!!

I am newbie to soap making and i thought i made a... serious mistake on the whole recipe cause of the lye quantity...

Its ok then but as you wrote the lye concentration is still too low and a problem. It needs less water probably,
I ll have to avoid "the water as % of oils" and work with "lye concentration". My next recipes are gonna be on that way..