Dough DISASTER!
What a miserable, sad, disaster mess! I’m hoping to get some insights on what happened. It’d be great if it never happened again, to me or anyone else. Also, I really want good workable soap dough! I’ve made a ton of soap dough before, with this exact recipe when left over from scrapers or pull throughs. So, the only differences are no sodium lactate, no sugar, and no essential oil. I use EOs at %5, so that might be significant. My lye concentration, as I always use, was %33. My oils are %50 tallow, %15 coconut oil, and the rest liquid oils. Like I mentioned, I’ve made lots of soap dough with this recipe before.
As suggested in a tutorial, I left out the sugar, fragrance, and sodium lactate. I soaped with everything at 90F. I mixed to a medium/thick trace. Poured directly into bags, then vacuum sealed the bags. There was no air. Laid them on a cold metal counter. They never got over 80F
This morning they were super hard. I opened the bags and the dough was crumbly and awful. I sprained my hand trying to massage balls of it.
So, I busted out the food processor. Broke up the bricks, misted with water, and ground them up. Smooshed them into balls, wrapped in plastic wrap, and vacuum sealed again. I quit after the white and purple because it was too much work. I think the portion with the activated charcoal is a lost cause anyway, it’s even harder! Also, I’m not even sure it will work, they may be grainy. But, I’ll let them sit for a few weeks.
WHAT HAPPENED?! Oh wise and wonderful soap community. What should I do different next time?